I'll be better able to ask him.
You stay here.
Don't do anything.
I'll be back in a minute."
I sat on the bed beside Pat.
"Pat," said I softly, "we are here.
We will see to it!
No harm will come to you.
No harm dare come to you.
The professor is talking now.
He'll tell us what to do.
He's coming to-morrow himself, we've fixed that.
He will help you.
You will soon be better.
Why did you never tell me that you were ill?
A little bit of blood doesn't count, Pat.
We will give it to you again.
Koster has found the professor, Pat.
Now we'll be all right."
The doctor came back.
"It wasn't the professor."
I stood up.
"It was a friend of yours—Lenz." "Koster hasn't found him?"
"Yes.
Jaffe gave him the instructions.
Your friend Lenz telephoned them to me.
Quite clear and correct, too.
Is your friend a doctor?"
"No.
He wanted to be. And Koster?"
The doctor looked at me.
"Lenz said to tell you Koster had left a few minutes before.
With the professor. He would be here in two hours."
I leant against the bed.
"Otto," said I.
"Yes," said the doctor, "that was the one point he was wrong on.
I know the road.
At the quickest they'll need over three hours. All the same. . . ."
"If he said two hours, then you can be sure, doctor, he'll be here in two hours."
"I tell you it's not possible.
The road's nothing but bends, and besides it's dark."
"You wait," said I.
"All the same . . . if he could get here . . . It is good he is coming." ,
At last I could stand it no longer. I went into the open.
Outside it had turned misty.
The sea was booming in the distance.
Moisture dripped from the trees.
I looked about me.
I was no longer alone.
To the south beyond the horizon somewhere an engine was whining.