asked something--I guess it was whether it was raining. Anyway,
she came right across and looked out. Just then the moon came out
from behind the clouds. I was scared the woman would catch sight
of me, for I was full in the moonlight. I tried to move back a
bit. The jerk I gave was too much for that rotten old branch.
With an almighty crash, down it came, and Julius P. Hersheimmer
with it!"

"Oh, Julius," breathed Tuppence, "how exciting! Go on."

"Well, luckily for me, I pitched down into a good soft bed of
earth--but it put me out of action for the time, sure enough. The
next thing I knew, I was lying in bed with a hospital nurse (not
Whittington's one) on one side of me, and a little black-bearded
man with gold glasses, and medical man written all over him, on
the other. He rubbed his hands together, and raised his eyebrows
as I stared at him. 'Ah!' he said. 'So our young friend is
coming round again. Capital. Capital.'

"I did the usual stunt. Said: 'What's happened?' And 'Where am
I?' But I knew the answer to the last well enough. There's no
moss growing on my brain. 'I think that'll do for the present,
sister,' said the little man, and the nurse left the room in a
sort of brisk well-trained way. But I caught her handing me out a
look of deep curiosity as she passed through the door.

"That look of hers gave me an idea. 'Now then, doc,' I said, and
tried to sit up in bed, but my right foot gave me a nasty twinge
as I did so. 'A slight sprain,' explained the doctor. 'Nothing
serious. You'll be about again in a couple of days.' "