‘I think that’ll do for the present, sister,’ said the little man, and the nurse left the room in a sort of brisk well-trained way. But I caught her handing me out a look of deep curiosity as she passed through the door.
“That look of hers gave me an idea.
‘Now then, doc,’ I said, and tried to sit up in bed, but my right foot gave me a nasty twinge as I did so.
‘A slight sprain,’ explained the doctor. ‘Nothing serious.
You’ll be about again in a couple of days.’”
“I noticed you walked lame,” interpolated Tuppence.
Julius nodded, and continued:
“‘How did it happen?’ I asked again.
He replied dryly.
‘You fell, with a considerable portion of one of my trees, into one of my newly planted flower-beds.’
“I liked the man.
He seemed to have a sense of humour. I felt sure that he, at least, was plumb straight.
‘Sure, doc,’ I said, ‘I’m sorry about the tree, and I guess the new bulbs will be on me.
But perhaps you’d like to know what I was doing in your garden?’
‘I think the facts do call for an explanation,’ he replied.
‘Well, to begin with, I wasn’t after the spoons.’
“He smiled.
‘My first theory.
But I soon altered my mind.
By the way, you are an American, are you not?’
I told him my name. ‘And you?’
‘I am Dr. Hall, and this, as you doubtless know, is my private nursing home.’
“I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to put him wise. I was just thankful for the information.
I liked the man, and I felt he was straight, but I wasn’t going to give him the whole story. For one thing he probably wouldn’t have believed it.
“I made up my mind in a flash.
‘Why, doctor,’ I said, ‘I guess I feel an almighty fool, but I owe it to you to let you know that it wasn’t the Bill Sikes business I was up to.’
Then I went on and mumbled out something about a girl.
I trotted out the stern guardian business, and a nervous breakdown, and finally explained that I had fancied I recognized her among the patients at the home, hence my nocturnal adventures.
I guess it was just the kind of story he was expecting.
‘Quite a romance,’ he said genially, when I’d finished.
‘Now, doc,’ I went on, ‘will you be frank with me?
Have you here now, or have you had here at any time, a young girl called Jane Finn?’
He repeated the name thoughtfully.
‘Jane Finn?’ he said.
‘No.’
“I was chagrined, and I guess I showed it.
‘You are sure?’
‘Quite sure, Mr. Hersheimmer.
It is an uncommon name, and I should not have been likely to forget it.’
“Well, that was flat.
It laid me out for a space.
I’d kind of hoped my search was at an end.
‘That’s that,’ I said at last. ‘Now, there’s another matter.
When I was hugging that darned branch I thought I recognized an old friend of mine talking to one of your nurses.’
I purposely didn’t mention any name because, of course, Whittington might be calling himself something quite different down here, but the doctor answered at once.
‘Mr. Whittington, perhaps?’
‘That’s the fellow,’ I replied. ‘What’s he doing down here?
Don’t tell me his nerves are out of order?’
“Dr. Hall laughed.
‘No. He came down to see one of my nurses, Nurse Edith, who is a niece of his.’