"Get him in the surgery--quick!" the girl commanded in a whisper. "I'm afraid I rather overdid it."
Examination showed the cut across Ned's forehead was more bloody than extensive, while the scalp-wound which plowed backward from his hairline needed but a few quick stitches.
Nella whispered to us as we worked. "I got him to go riding with me in my runabout. Just as we got here I let out a scream and swung the wheel hard over to the right. I was braced for it, but Ned was unprepared, and went right through the windshield when I ran the car into the curb. Lord, I thought I'd killed him when I saw the blood--you do think he'll come through all right, don't you, Doctor?"
"No thanks to you if he does, you little ninny!" I retorted angrily. "You might have cut his jugular with your confounded foolishness. If----"
"_S-s-sh_, he's coming out of it!" she warned. "Start talking to him like a Dutch uncle; I'll be waiting in the study if you want me," and with a tattoo of high heels she left us with our patient.
"Nella! Is she all right?" Ned cried as he half roused from the surgery table. "We had an accident----"
"But certainly, _Monsieur_," de Grandin soothed. "You were driving past our house when a child ran out before your car and _Mademoiselle_ was forced to swerve aside to keep from hitting it. You were cut about the face, but she escaped all injury. Here"--he raised a glass of brandy to the patient's lips--"drink this. Ah, so. That is better, _n'est-ce-pas_?"
For a moment he regarded Ned in silence, then, abruptly: "You are distrait, _Monsieur_. When we brought you in we were forced to give you a small whiff of ether while we patched your cuts, and in your delirium you said----"
The color which had come into Ned's cheeks as the fiery cognac warmed his veins drained out again, leaving him as ghastly as a corpse. "Did Nella hear me?" he asked hoarsely. "Did I blab----"
"Compose yourself, _Monsieur_," de Grandin bade. "She heard nothing, but it would be well if we heard more. I think I understand your difficulty. I am a physician and a Frenchman and no prude. This renunciation which you make is but the noble gesture. You have been unfortunate, and now you fear. Have courage; no infection is so bad there is no remedy----"