"It's been a long strain and you have stood it magnificently. Is there anything else you wish to tell us before Smooty and I go?"
Her strength passed through him and he straightened himself, and Mr. Higgins said:
"If brought in as an accident, what are the chances of Miss Parkins being put in this bed ... number...?"
The eyes of the other three people were upon Higgins, inquiringly.
"Because, Doctor, in view of the information I now have in hand relative to the head nurse and her niece ... by the way, what are their names?"
Only Mr. Smooty's lips fought to remain a straight line. The concentration of the other three was too intense to notice the expression.
Mr. Higgins placed his gray eyes upon Dr. MacArthur's blue ones and continued:
"If Miss Parkins goes on the ward in a routine way as a patient, she will automatically be suspected by them and therefore become less valuable to us. But if she falls upon the street with a heart attack within four blocks of the hospital, arrives at the accident room entrance in an ambulance, and is admitted to Ward B, Bed 11.... You see?"
"Can we be sure that she will be placed in Bed 11, sir? That the staff in the accident room will admit her for medical treatment and that she will be sent to that floor and put in that bed?"
"A moment and I'll see." Dr. MacArthur reached for his telephone and said:
"Superintendent of nurses, please. Miss Carruthers? Dr. MacArthur. Will you please ascertain for your _own_ information the vacant beds in Medicine Clinic and their location, and call me back immediately? Thank you."
"It's a false angina, and during the attacks causes extreme palpitation. By intense excitement I can create a definite change in my heart action, and the other symptoms are permanent."
"I see. Given you much trouble?" MacArthur was solicitous.
He answered and took his pencil, wrote upon a memorandum pad and repeated:
"Medicine, Ward A--7 & 8, Ward B--11, and 5th floor, rooms 502 & 514. Thank you."
"An unknown accident case, with a heart ailment, Mr. Higgins, picked up on the street and admitted through the accident room, would undoubtedly be placed in Bed 11, Ward B. Ward A, which has two vacant beds, is medical men, and floor five is private rooms. You are too well-dressed, though, Miss Parkins."