It was growing late in the fall now. Mrs. Randolph began to talk of
moving to the city for the winter. Mr. Randolph more than half hinted
that he would like as well to stay where he was. But his wife said that
for Daisy's sake they must quit Melbourne, and try what new scenes, and
lessons, and dancing school would do for her. "Not improve the colour in
her cheeks, I am afraid," said Mr. Randolph; but however he did not
oppose, and Mrs. Randolph made her arrangements.
It was yet but a day or two after the tableaux, when something happened
to disturb her plans. Mr. Randolph was out riding with her, one fine
October morning, when his horse became unruly in consequence of a stone
hitting him; a chance stone thrown from a careless hand. The animal was
restive, took the stone very much in dudgeon, ran, and carrying his
rider under a tree, Mr. Randolph's forehead was struck by a low-lying
limb and he was thrown off. The blow was severe; he was stunned; and had
not yet recovered his senses when they brought him back to Melbourne.
Mrs. Randolph was in a state almost as much beyond self-management.
Daisy was out of the house. Mrs. Gary had left Melbourne; and till the
doctor arrived Mrs. Randolph was nearly distracted.
He came; and though his fine face took no gloom upon it and his blue eye
was as usual impenetrable, the eyes that anxiously watched him were not
satisfied. Dr. Sandford said nothing; and Mrs. Randolph had
self-control sufficient not to question him, while he made his
examinations and applied his remedies. But the remedies, though severe,
were a good while in bringing back any token of consciousness. It came
at last, faintly. The doctor summoned Mrs. Randolph out of the room then
and ordered that his patient should be kept in the most absolute and
profound quiet. No disturbance or excitement must be permitted to come
near him.
"How long, doctor?"
"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Randolph?--"
"How long will it be before he is better?"
"I cannot say that. Any excitement or disturbance would much delay it.
Let him hear nothing and see nothing--except you, and some attendant
that he is accustomed to."
"O doctor, can't you stay till he is better?"
"I will return again very soon, Mrs. Randolph. There is nothing to be
done at present for which I am needed."
"But you will come back as soon as you can?"
"Certainly!"
"And O, Dr. Sandford, cannot you take Daisy away?"
"Where is she?"
"I don't know--she is not come home. Do take her away!"
The doctor went thoughtfully down stairs, and checking his first
movement to go out of the front door, turned to the library. Nobody was
there; but he heard voices, and passed out upon the piazza. Daisy's pony
chaise stood at the foot of the steps; she herself had just alighted.
Preston was there too, and it was his voice the doctor had first heard,
in anxious entreaty.
"Come, Daisy!--it's capital down at the river; and I want to shew you
something."
"I think I am tired now, Preston. I'll go another time," said Daisy.
"Daisy, I want you now. Come! come!--I want you to go now, this
minute."
"But I do not feel like a walk, Preston. I can't go till I have had my
dinner."
Preston looked imploringly at the doctor, towards whom Daisy was now
mounting the steps. It is safe to say that the doctor would willingly
have been spared his present task.
"Where have you been now, Daisy?" he said.
Daisy's face brightened into its usual smile at sight of him. "I have
been to Crum Elbow, Dr. Sandford."
"Suppose you go a little further and have luncheon with Mrs. Sandford
and me? It will not take us long to get to it."
"Does mamma say so, Dr. Sandford?"
"Yes."
"Then I will be ready in a moment."
"Where are you going?" said her friend stopping her.
"Only up stairs for a minute. I will be ready in two minutes, Dr.
Sandford."
"Stop," said the doctor, still detaining her. "I would rather not have
you go up stairs. Your father is not quite well, and I want him kept
quiet."
What a shadow came over Daisy's sunshine.
"Papa not well! What is the matter?"
"He does not feel quite like himself, and I wish him left in perfect
repose."
"What is the matter with him, Dr. Sandford?"
Daisy's words were quiet, but the doctor saw the gathering woe on her
cheek; the roused suspicion. This would not do to go on.
"He has had a little accident, Daisy; nothing that you need distress
yourself about; but I wish him to be quite quiet for a little."
Daisy said nothing now, but the speech of her silent face was so
eloquent that the doctor found it expedient to go on.
"He was riding this morning; his horse took him under the low bough of
a tree, and his head got a severe blow. That is all the matter."
"Was papa _thrown_?" said Daisy under her breath.
"I believe he was. Any horseman might be unseated by such a thing."
Daisy again was mute, and again the doctor found himself obliged to
answer the agony of her eyes.
"I do not think he is in much, if any, pain, Daisy; but I want him to be
still for a while. I think that is good for him; and it would not be
good that you should disturb him. Your mother is there, and that is
enough."
Daisy stood quite still for a few minutes. Then making an effort to
withdraw herself from the doctor's arm she said,
"I will not go into the room--I will not make any noise."
"Stop! Daisy, you must not go up stairs. Not this morning."
She stood still again, grew white and trembled.
"As soon as I think it will do him good to see you, I will let you into
his room. Now, shall we send June up for anything you want?"
"I think, Dr. Sandford," said Daisy struggling for steadiness, "I will
not go away from home."
Her words were inexpressibly tender and sorrowful. The doctor was
unrelenting.
"Your mother desired it."
"Did mamma----?"
"Yes; she wished me to carry you home with me. Come, Daisy! It is hard,
but it is less hard after all than it would be for you to wander about
here; and much better."
Daisy in her extremity sunk her head on the doctor's shoulder, and so
remained, motionless, for more minutes than he had to spare. Yet he was
still too, and waited. Then he spoke to her again.
"I will go," said Daisy.
"You wanted something first?"
"I did not want anything but to change my gloves. It is no matter."
Very glad to have gained his point, the doctor went off with his charge;
drove her very fast to his own home, and there left her in Mrs.
Sandford's care; while he drove off furiously again to see another
patient before he returned to Melbourne.
It was a long day after that to Daisy; and so it was to Mrs. Sandford.
Nora Dinwiddie was no longer with her; there was nobody to be a
distraction or a pleasure to the grave little child who went about with
such a weird stillness or sat motionless with such unchildlike quiet.
Mrs. Sandford did not know what to do; but indeed nothing could be done
with Daisy. She could not be amused or happy; she did not wish Nora were
there; she could only keep patient and wait, and wait, with a sore,
straining heart, while the hours passed and Dr. Sandford did not come
and she had no tidings. Was she patient? It seemed to Daisy that her
heart would burst with impatience; or rather with its eager longing to
know how things were at home and to get some relief. The hours of the
day went by, and no relief came. Dr. Sandford did not return. Daisy took
it as no good omen.
It was hard to sit at the dinner-table and have Mr. and Mrs. Sandford
shewing her kindness, while her heart was breaking. It was hard to be
quiet and still and answer politely and make no trouble for her
entertainers. It was hard; but Daisy did it. It was hard to eat too; and
that Daisy could not do. It was impossible.
"Mustn't be cast down," said Mr. Sandford. He was one of the people who
look as if they never could be. Black whiskers and a round face
sometimes have that kind of look. "Mustn't be cast down! No need.
Everybody gets a tumble from horseback once or twice in his life. I've
had it seven times. Not pleasant; but it don't hurt you much, nine times
in ten."
"Hush, Mr. Sandford," said his wife. "Daisy cannot feel about it just as
you do."
"Never been thrown yet herself, eh! Give her one of those peaches, my
dear--she will like that better than meats to-day. Eat one of my
red-cheeked peaches, Daisy; and tell me whether you have any so good at
Melbourne. I don't believe it."
Daisy peeled her peach. It was all she could bear to do. She peeled it
carefully and slowly; there never was a peach so long in paring; for it
was hardly more than finished when they rose from table. She had tried
to taste it too; that was all; the taste never reached her
consciousness. Mrs. Sandford knew better than her husband, and let her
alone.
Daisy could think of nothing now but to watch for the doctor; and to do
it with the most comfort and the best chance she placed herself on the
steps of the piazza, sitting down on the uppermost step. It was a fair
evening; warm and mild; and Mrs. Sandford sitting in her drawing-room
with the windows open was but a few feet from Daisy and could observe
her. She did so very often, with a sorrowful eye. Daisy's attitude
bespoke her intentness; the child's heart was wound up to such a pitch
of expectation that eye and ear were for nothing else. She sat bending
both upon the road by which she looked for the doctor to come; her
little figure did not stir; her head rested slightly on her hand with a
droop that spoke of weariness or of weakness. So she sat looking down
the road, and the sweet October light was all over her and all around
her. Mrs. Sandford watched her, till the light lost its brightness and
grew fair and faint, and then began to grow dim. Daisy sat still, and
Mrs. Sandford looked at her, till a step within the room drew her
attention on that side.
"Why there you are!" said the lady--"come the other way. What news?"
"I have no news."
"Yes, but how is Mr. Randolph?" The lady had dropped her voice very low.
"He is sensible."
"Sensible!" Mrs. Sandford said with a startled look; but then drawing
the doctor silently to her side she pointed to the watching, anxious
little figure there on the steps. It did not need that Dr. Sandford
should speak her name. Daisy had perfectly well heard and understood the
words that had passed; and now she rose up slowly and came towards the
doctor who stepped out to meet her.
"Well, Daisy--have you been looking for me?" he said. But something in
the little upturned face admonished him that no light words could be
borne. He sat down and took her hand.
"Your father looks better than he did this morning; but he feels badly
yet after his fall."
Daisy looked at him and was silent a moment.
"Will they send for me home?"
"Not to-night, I think. Mrs. Randolph thought better that you should
stay here. Can't you do it contentedly?"
Daisy made no audible answer; her lip quivered a very little; it did not
belie the singular patience which sat upon her brow. Her hand lay yet in
the doctor's; he held it a little closer and drew the child
affectionately to his side, keeping her there while he talked with Mrs.
Sandford upon other subjects; for he said no more about Melbourne. Still
while he talked he kept his arm round Daisy, and when tea was brought he
hardly let her go. But tea was not much more to Daisy than dinner had
been; and when Mrs. Sandford offered to shew her to her room if she
desired it, Daisy accepted the offer at once.
Mrs. Sandford herself wished to supply the place of June, and would have
done everything for her little guest if she could have been permitted.
Daisy negatived all such proposals. She could do everything for herself,
she said; she wanted no help. A bag of things had been packed for her
by June and brought in the doctor's gig. Daisy was somehow sorry to see
them; they looked like preparations for staying.
"We will send for June to-morrow, Daisy, if your mamma will leave you
still with me."
"O, I shall go home to-morrow--I hope," said Daisy. "I hope--" she
repeated humbly.
"Yes, I hope so," said Mrs. Sandford. She kissed Daisy and went away. It
was all Daisy wanted, to be alone. The October night was mild; she went
to the window; one of the windows, which looked out upon the grass and
trees of the courtyard, now lighted by a faint moon. Daisy sunk down on
her knees there; the sky and the stars were more homelike than anything
else; and she felt so strange, so miserable, as her little heart had
never known anything like before. She knew well enough what it all
meant, her mother's sending her away from home, her father's not being
able to bear any disturbance. Speak as lightly, look as calmly as they
would, she knew what was the meaning underneath people's faces and
voices. Her father had been very much hurt; quite well Daisy was assured
of that. He was too ill to see her, or too ill for her mother to like
her to see him. Daisy knelt down; she remembered she had a Father in
heaven, but it seemed at first as if she was too broken hearted to pray.
Yet down there through the still moonlight she remembered his eye could
see her and she knew he had not forgotten his little child. Daisy never
heard her door open; but it did once, and some time after it did again.
"I do not know what to do--" said Mrs. Sandford down stairs. There the
lamps made a second bright day; and the two gentlemen were busy over the
table with newspapers and books. Both of them looked up, at the sound of
her perplexed voice.
"That child,--" said Mrs. Sandford. "She is not in bed yet."
The lady stood by the table; she had just come from Daisy's room.
"What is she doing?" her husband asked.
"I don't know. She is kneeling by the open window. She was there an hour
ago, and she is there yet. She has not moved since."
"She has fallen asleep--" suggested Mr. Sandford. "I should say, wake
her up."
"She is too wide awake now. She is lifting her little face to the sky,
in a way that breaks my heart. And there she has been, this hour and
more."
"Have some supper directly, and call her down,--" was the second
suggestion of the master of the house. "It will be supper-time soon.
Here--it's some time after nine."
"Grant, what is the matter with Mr. Randolph? Is it very serious?"
"Mrs. Randolph thinks so, I believe. Have you spoken to Daisy?"
"No, and I cannot. Unless I had good news to carry to her."
"Where is she?" said the doctor getting up.
"In the room next to yours."
So Mrs. Sandford sat down and the doctor went up stairs. The next thing
he stood behind Daisy at her window. She was not gazing into the sky
now; the little round head lay on her arms on the window-sill.
"What is going on here?" said a soft voice behind her.
"O! Dr. Sandford--" said the child jumping up. She turned and faced her
friend, with a face so wistful and searching, so patient, yet so
strained with its self-restraint and fear, that the doctor felt it was
something serious with which he had to do. He did not attempt a light
tone before that little face; he felt that it would not pass.
"I came up to see _you_" he said. "I have nothing new to tell, Daisy.
What are you about?"
"Dr. Sandford," said the child, "won't you tell me a little?"
The inquiry was piteous. For some reason or other, the doctor did not
answer it with a put-off, nor with flattering words, as doctors are so
apt to do. Perhaps it was not his habit, but certainly in other respects
he was not too good a man to do it. He sat down and let the moonlight
show Daisy his face.
"Daisy," he said, "your father was stunned by his blow, and needs to be
kept in perfect quiet for a time, until he is quite over it. People
after such a fall often do; but I do not know that any other
consequences whatever will follow."
"He was stunned--" repeated Daisy.
"Yes."
The child did not say any more, yet her eyes of searching eagerness
plainly asked for fuller information. They were not content nor at rest.
"Can't you have patience and hope for other tidings to-morrow?"
"May I?--" said Daisy.
"May you? Certainly. It was your mother's wish to send you here--not
mine. It was not needful; though if you could be content, I think it
would be well."
She looked a little relieved; very little.
"Now what are you doing? Am I to have two patients on my hand in your
family?"
"No, sir."
"What are you doing then, up so late? Watching the stars?"
"No, sir."
"I am your physician--you know you must tell me everything. What were
you about, Daisy?"
"Dr. Sandford," said Daisy, in difficulty how to speak,--"I was seeking
comfort."
And with the word, somehow, Daisy's self-restraint failed; her head
went down on the doctor's shoulder; and when she lifted it up there were
two or three tears that needed to be brushed away. No more; but the
doctor felt the slight little frame tremble.
"Did you find comfort, Daisy?" he said kindly. "I ask as your physician;
because if you are using wrong measures for that end I shall forbid
them. What were you doing to get comfort?"
"I did not want to go to sleep, sir."
"Daisy, I am going to carry you down to have some supper."
"O, I do not want any, Dr. Sandford!"
"Are you ready to go down?"
"No sir--in a minute,--I only want to brush my hair."
"Brush it, then."
Which Daisy did; then coming to her friend with a face as smoothly in
order as the little round head, she repeated humbly,
"I do not want anything, Dr. Sandford."
"Shall I carry you down?"
"O no, sir."
"Come then. One way or the other. And Daisy, when we are down stairs,
and when you come up again, you must obey my orders."
The supper-table was laid. Mrs. Sandford expressed delight at seeing
Daisy come in, but it would maybe have been of little avail had her
kindness been the only force at work. It was not. The doctor prescribed
peaches and bread, and gave Daisy grapes and a little bit of cold
chicken; and was very kind and very imperative too; and Daisy did not
dare nor like to disobey him. She eat the supper, which tasted good when
he made her eat it; and then was dismissed up stairs to bed, with orders
to go straight to sleep. And Daisy did as she was told.