"The east train hit him as it was pullin' in.

He's bad off, but the doc says he'll come around if he gets good nursin', an' that's why I've come----" While he was talking the door burst open and Peggy appeared in the opening, her eyes wide with concern and eagerness.
She had heard Dale's first knock on the door, and knowing it was someone for her--perhaps Ben returning--she had begun to dress, finishing--except for her shoes and stockings--by the time she opened the door.
In the dim light she did not at first see the mask on Dale's face, and she was insistently demanding to be told just where Ben's injuries were, when she detected the fraud.
Then she gasped and stepped back, trying to close the door.

She would have succeeded had not Dale thrust a foot into the aperture.
She stamped at his foot with her bare one ineffectually.

Dale laughed at her futile efforts to keep him from opening the door.

He struck an arm through the aperture, leaned his weight against the door, and pushed it open.
She was at the other side of the room when he entered, having dodged behind a table.