human
Dear, tell me, she begged.
gpt
What has happened? Are you hurt--or ill--and haven't let me know?
human
I thought it might not amount to anything; it's only a scratch in the palm. But--
gpt
Red--did you get it--operating? On what?
human
Operating. It's the usual way, the thing we all expect to get some day. I've been lucky so far; that's all.
gpt
But--you didn't give yourself a scratch; you never have done that?
human
No, not up to date anyhow. I might easily enough; I just haven't happened to.
gpt
Amy didn't?--She couldn't!
human
She didn't--and couldn't, thank heaven. She'd kill herself if she ever did that unlucky trick. No, she wasn't assisting this time. It was an emergency case, early yesterday morning--one of the other men brought in the case. It was hopeless, but the family wanted us to try.
gpt
What sort of a case, Red?
human
Now see here, sweetheart, I had to tell you because I knew I was in for a little trouble, but there's no need of your knowing any more than this about it. It was just an accident--nobody's fault. The blamed electric lights went off--for not over ten seconds, but it was the wrong ten seconds. I didn't even know I was scratched till the thing began to set up a row. I don't even yet understand how I got it in the palm. That's unusual.
gpt
Who did it?
human
I'm not going to tell you. He feels badly enough now, and it wasn't his fault. He asked me at the time if he had touched me in the dark and I said no. It was as slight a thing as that. If we'd known it at the time we'd have fixed it up. We didn't, and that's all there was to it.
gpt
You must tell me what sort of a case it was, Red.