The cool black shadow drowned the objects in the
room and crept upon him stealthily. Presently he was swaying again, up
and down, up and down, in the all-encompassing, all-hiding dark.
So it happened that he did not hear Colonel Kent's ringing answer: "You
shall not amputate until every great surgeon in the United States has
said that it is absolutely necessary. I leave on the next train, and
shall send them and keep on sending until there are no more to send.
Until a man comes who thinks there is a chance of saving it, you are in
charge--after that, it is his case."
Day by day, a continuous procession came to the big Colonial house.
Allison became accustomed to the weary round of darkness, pain,
sickening odours, strange faces, darkness, and so on, endlessly, without
pity or pause.
The woman in white had mysteriously vanished. In her place were two, in
blue and white, with queer, unbecoming caps. They were there one at a
time, always; never for more than a few minutes were they together. When
the fierce, hot agony became unendurable for even a moment longer, one
of them would lean over him with a bit of shining silver in her hand,
and stab him sharply for an instant.
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