"HUMPTY-DUMPTY HAD A GREAT FALL."
All the stupor and languor which immediately followed Nan's fall passed
off during her drive home; she chatted and laughed, her cheeks were
flushed, her eyes bright. Hester turned with a relieved face to Miss
Danesbury.
"My little darling is all right, is she not?" she said. "Oh, I was so
terrified--oh, how thankful I am no harm has been done!"
Miss Danesbury did not return Hester's full gaze; she attempted to take
little Nan on her knee, but Nan clung to Hetty. Then she said:
"You must be careful to keep the sun off her, dear--hold your parasol
well down--just so. That is better. When we get home, I will put her to
bed at once. Please God, there _is_ nothing wrong; but one cannot be too
careful."
Something in Miss Danesbury's manner affected Hester strangely; she
clasped Nan's slight baby form closer and closer to her heart, and no
longer joined in the little one's mirth. As the drive drew to a close,
Nan again ceased talking, and fell into a heavy sleep.
Miss Danesbury's face grew graver and graver, and, when the wagonette
drew up at Lavender House, she insisted on lifting the sleeping child out
of Hester's arms, and carrying her up to her little crib. When Nan's
little head was laid on the cool pillow, she again opened her eyes, and
instantly asked for a drink. Miss Danesbury gave her some milk and water,
but the moment she drank it she was sick.
"Just as I feared," said the governess; "there is some little
mischief--not much, I hope--but we must instantly send for the doctor."
As Miss Danesbury walked across the room to ring the bell, Hester
followed her.
"She's not in danger?" she whispered in a hoarse voice. "If she is, Annie
is guilty of murder."
"Don't, my dear," said the governess; "you must keep quiet for Nan's
sake. Please God, she will soon be better. All I really apprehend is a
little excitement and feverishness, which will pass off in a few days
with care. Hester, my dear, I suddenly remember that the house is nearly
empty, for all the servants are also enjoying a holiday. I think I must
send you for Dr. Mayflower. The wagonette is still at the door. Drive at
once to town, my dear, and ask the coachman to take you to No. 10, The
Parade. If you are very quick, you will catch Dr. Mayflower before he
goes out on his afternoon rounds."
Hester glanced for half an instant at Nan, but her eyes were again
closed.
"I will take the best care of her," said the governess in a kind voice;
"don't lose an instant, dear."
Hester snatched up her hat and flew down stairs. In a moment she was in
the wagonette, and the driver was speedily urging his horses in the
direction of the small town of Sefton, two miles and a half away. Hester
was terrified now--so terrified, in such an agony, that she even forgot
Annie; her hatred toward Annie became of secondary importance to her. All
her ideas, all her thoughts, were swallowed up in the one great
hope--Should she be in time to reach Dr. Mayflower's house before he set
off on his afternoon rounds? As the wagonette approached Sefton she
buried her face in her hands and uttered a sharp inward cry of agony.
"Please God, let me find the doctor!" It was a real prayer from her heart
of hearts. The wagonette drew up at the doctor's residence, to discover
him stepping into his brougham. Hester was a shy child, and had never
seen him before; but she instantly raised her voice, and almost shouted
to him:
"You are to come with me; please, you are to come at once. Little Nan is
ill--she is hurt. Please, you are to come at once."
"Eh! young lady?" said the round-faced doctor "Oh! I see; you are one of
the little girls from Lavender House. Is anything wrong there, dear?"
Hester managed to relate what had occurred; whereupon the doctor
instantly opened the door of the wagonette.
"Jump out, young lady," he said; "I will drive you back in my brougham.
Masters," addressing his coachman, "to Lavender House."
Hester sat back in the soft-cushioned carriage, which bowled smoothly
along the road. It seemed to her impatience that the pace at which they
went was not half quick enough--she longed to put her head out of the
window to shout to the coachman to go faster. She felt intensely provoked
with the doctor, who sat placidly by her side reading a newspaper.
Presently she saw that his eyes were fixed on her. He spoke in his
quietest tones.
"We always take precisely twenty minutes to drive from the Parade to
Lavender House--twenty minutes, neither more or less. We shall be there
now in exactly ten minutes."
Hester tried to smile, but failed; her agony of apprehension grew and
grew. She breathed more freely when they turned into the avenue. When
they stopped at the wide stone porch, and the doctor got out, she uttered
a sigh of relief. She took Dr. Mayflower herself up to Nan's room. Miss
Danesbury opened the door, the doctor went inside, and Hester crouched
down on the landing and waited. It seemed to her that the good physician
would never come out. When he did she raised a perfectly blanched face to
his, she opened her lips, tried to speak, but no words would come. Her
agitation was so intense that the kind-hearted doctor took instant pity
on her.
"Come into this room, my child," he said. "My dear, you will be ill
yourself if you give way like this. Pooh! pooh! this agitation is
extreme--is uncalled for. You have got a shock. I shall prescribe a glass
of sherry at once. Come down stairs with me, and I will see that you get
one."
"But how is she, sir--how is she?" poor Hester managed to articulate.
"Oh! the little one--sweet, pretty, little darling. I did not know she
was your sister--a dear little child. She got an ugly fall, though--came
on a nasty place."
"But, please, sir, how is she? She--she--she is not in danger?"
"Danger? by no means, unless you put her into it. She must be kept very
quiet, and, above all things, not excited. I will come to see her again
to-morrow morning. With proper care she ought to be quite herself in a
few days. Ah! now you've got a little color in your cheek, come down with
me and have that glass of sherry, and you will feel all right."