It is hard lines! Here am I dying to hear Jim Crow's voice, and nothing but an odd 'Caw!' will he give!" "So rough on you!" said Morel.
"Isn't it ?" said the nurse.
"I suppose I am a godsend," he laughed.
"Oh, dropped straight from heaven!" laughed the nurse.
Presently she left the two men alone.

Dawes was thinner, and handsome again, but life seemed low in him.

As the doctor said, he was lying sulking, and would not move forward towards convalescence.

He seemed to grudge every beat of his heart.
"Have you had a bad time ?" asked Paul.
Suddenly again Dawes looked at him.
"What are you doing in Sheffield ?" he asked.
"My mother was taken ill at my sister's in Thurston Street.

What are you doing here ?" There was no answer.
"How long have you been in ?" Morel asked.
"I couldn't say for sure," Dawes answered grudgingly.
He lay staring across at the wall opposite, as if trying to believe Morel was not there.