"And it was just like a fairy story," said Helen, telling her mother
about it afterwards, "because even while the nurse was telling how the
little girl had not spoken a word, or even looked at anybody, Rosanna
just opened those big eyes of hers, and said, 'Hello, Helen!' And I
simply didn't know what to say, so I just said 'Hello,' too."
It was indeed Rosanna, and Rosanna was herself again, aside from a very
badly bumped head that had come near being a very seriously hurt head.
She was too weak and ill to seem to wonder why she was in a hospital
room with a couple of trained nurses feeling of her pulse, and dear Mrs.
Hargrave with the tears rolling down her faintly pink old cheeks.
All Mrs. Hargrave said was, "We will be back in a minute, Rosanna," and
shooed everybody out into the hall, even the stern superintendent.
"Now then," said Mrs. Hargrave with one peek back to see that the nurse
that had stayed was doing her full duty, "now the thing is, how are we
going to get her home?"
"Oh, she can't go home," said the superintendent in a shocked voice.
"She ought to stay here for three or four days anyway."
"Fiddle-dee-_dee_!" said Mrs. Hargrave. "Home is the place for her, and
besides I have reasons for wanting her to be under the care of her
grandmother right away."
"I can't take the responsibility," said the superintendent stubbornly.
"You will have to see the house doctor, Mrs. Hargrave."
"Very well," said Mrs. Hargrave. She turned to a nurse passing. "Go get
Doctor Smith, my dear; tell him Mrs. Hargrave wants him at once."
Doctor Smith came sooner than the superintendent hoped he would.
"Well," he said, "if it is possible to get her home without jarring her,
I think it would be a good thing. Her head is not injured, but her
nerves are shaken, and if she can be at home in her own room she will
regain her strength very quickly. I want you to take a trained nurse
with you, however."
"Of course!" said Mrs. Hargrave briskly, "Now how shall we take her? In
an ambulance, or can we manage in the car? It is very large."
"Could one of you hold her?" said the doctor.
"I can and will," said Minnie decidedly. "I know just how she likes to
be held, the lamb!"
"Then she can go now if you like," said the doctor, and the
superintendent pursed up her mouth and stalked downstairs, scorning the
elevator.
How smoothly Mr. Culver drove that car! Not a jounce or bump disturbed
the pale little patient, and he "drove the car at a walk" as Mrs.
Hargrave had asked him.
When they reached home, Mrs. Hargrave asked Rosanna if she could be
comfortable there for a couple of minutes, and seeing her nod feebly,
she went briskly into the house. She looked into the library. Mrs.
Horton, exhausted by her regrets and sorrow, had fallen into a heavy
sleep.
Quickly Mrs. Hargrave went back and beckoned. Mr. Culver gathered
Rosanna up in his arms, and with Minnie leading the way, carried her to
her pretty room. She gave a sigh of happiness when she felt herself
tucked into her own soft, pleasant bed, and a tear squeezed itself from
under her closed lids, but it was a tear of joy.
Mrs. Hargrave returned to the library and sat down. It was a half hour
before Mrs. Horton awoke.
"No news?" she asked with a groan.
"The best in the world!" said Mrs. Hargrave, patting her friend's hand.
"The best in the world, Virginia, and you must take it bravely."
"Tell me quickly," begged Mrs. Horton. "They have found her? Where is my
child?"
"Yes, we have found her," said Mrs. Hargrave, "and she is in her own
little bed upstairs."
"Oh, oh!" cried Mrs. Horton, covering her eyes.
"She was nearly run over on Third Street, and has a pretty bad bump and
a cut on her head. We found her in the hospital. No one knew who she was
because she had cut off her curls, and she had on a dress I never saw
before. Helen thinks it is one she bought to give that Mary child I
told you about. Now don't mind her hair, Virginia; it will grow, and
_do_ be gentle with her."
"Mind her hair--be gentle with her!" repeated Mrs. Horton indignantly.
"I will tell you what I am going to do from this time on, and just you
try to interfere if you dare! I am going to _spoil_ Rosanna. I thought I
was doing the right thing, and you don't know how I wanted to pet her
and love her and play with her, but I was such a goose that I thought if
I didn't keep her at a distance she wouldn't respect me. Why, she cares
a thousand times more for you than she does for me this very minute! So
you just watch me. I am going to make her love me best! I am going to
begin now." She rose and started for the door.
"Don't you want to fix your hair first?" asked Mrs. Hargrave in
amazement. "It is all tousled up, and your nose is red and shiny."
"It can stay so!" said the elegant Mrs. Horton. "I don't mind at all
letting her see that I was breaking my heart for her. Perhaps it will
help her to believe that I have one."
Followed by Mrs. Hargrave, Mrs. Horton mounted the stairs as lightly as
a girl. Minnie was just coming down.
"Miss Rosanna keeps asking for you, Mrs. Horton," she said, "and the
nurse thought if you would mind coming in to see her she would drop off
to sleep."
"I _am_ coming!" said Mrs. Horton. She entered the room, and Mrs.
Hargrave again felt a keen pride in her friend. She approached the bed
and, smiling down brightly, bent and kissed the little girl softly on
the cheek.
"Well, darling," she said, "how are you feeling now?"
Rosanna lifted her arms. "Oh, grandmother, I am so sorry I ran away and
made you so unhappy! I can see it in your face. Please forgive me! I
will be such a good little girl when I get well!"
"You have always been a good little girl, my precious," said her
grandmother, kneeling by the bed and laying her arm over Rosanna. "Only
we didn't just understand each other, and now everything is going to be
different. I want you to go to sleep now, and we can talk about
everything when you are well again. And you must sleep all you can,
because the very first meal you can sit up for, Helen is coming over to
have with you. A party, you know, right up here. And Helen is very
lonesome. Now go to sleep. Minnie, your good Minnie, will stay right
with you, and I will come back soon." Once more she kissed Rosanna and
silently left the room. Outside the door she turned to Mrs. Hargrave and
for a moment cried soft and happy tears on her shoulder. Then the two
old ladies kissed each other tenderly.
"It is going to be all right, Amanda," said Mrs. Horton.
"Indeed it is, Virginia," said Mrs. Hargrave. "I am more thankful than I
can say. And now I wonder when we are going to have anything to eat. I
am not sure when I had a meal last. Down at Cousin Hendy's, I believe,
and as she was just coming out of one of her attacks, that was mostly
prepared breakfast foods. I don't mind saying that I am starved. Do you
suppose you will have enough to eat here to-night to be any inducement
for me to accept your invitation for dinner when I get it?"
Half an hour later just as they sat down to the table, in walked Mrs.
Horton's son Robert. Mrs. Hargrave shook her head when after the first
greetings he asked for Rosanna.
"In bed," said Mrs. Horton. "I will have something to tell you about her
later, Robert, but now tell us what has happened since I left you."
"The kiddie isn't in disgrace for anything, is she?" insisted Robert.
"Not at all!" said Mrs. Hargrave. "Did you find your friend?"
"I certainly did!" said the young man, smiling, "and it's a good thing
too. He was hurt worse than I was, and it is going to be a long time
before he will be able to do much of anything. He has a wife and a child
or two, so I thought the best thing to do was to get them all down on
the stock farm. That's what kept me. I went down to Lexington with them
instead of coming straight home. He took one of the kiddies with him,
and the others will follow. That is a great little girl of his, mother.
She told me some of the greatest yarns about what she did in an
organization called the Girl Scouts. It certainly is interesting and a
wonderful thing for girls. Teaches them all sorts of things, you know.
Why, that child was more self-reliant than lots of the grown girls I
know. You must be sure to have Rosanna join it, mother. She needs it, I
feel sure. I scarcely know Rosanna, but her letters always had about as
much originality as a sheet of blank paper."
"I don't think that was Rosanna's fault," said Mrs. Horton. "I think you
will find her changed greatly."
"Well, however that may be, you let her join the Girl Scouts anyway.
Why, the fun they get out of it is worth everything. And in summer they
camp and put up jams and things, at least the group this youngster
belonged to did, and she is certainly great. Such a polite little
thing."
"Rosanna can invite her up here to see her," said Mrs. Horton.
"I guess you would think she was not in Rosanna's class," he said,
staring at his mother.
"Class?" said Mrs. Horton. "Class has nearly wrecked my life twice; now
we are going to pay some attention to worth and brains."
They were sitting in the library a little later, when John Culver
entered. He did not see Robert lounging on a divan in a dim corner of
the big room as he said, "Mrs. Horton, this check that you have given me
to date is made out to John Carver and of course I could not cash it."
"Isn't that the way you spell your name?" asked Mrs. Horton.
"Culver: John Winston Culver," said Culver. "J. W. Culver will do, of
course."
"John Winston Culver!" cried Robert, leaping from the divan in a manner
you wouldn't expect from a wounded soldier. "Not Culver, the inventor?"
"A little that way," laughed Culver, "but scarcely enough to be called
_the_ inventor. I wish I was!"
Robert was shaking him by the hand.
"Well, you are all right!" he said. "Why, our people in the foundry have
been looking for you all over the East. What are you doing here?"
"It is too long a story to tell you now," said Mr. Culver, "but I will
be more than glad to get in touch with the office if there is anything
in it."
"There is a fortune in it," said Robert, "just as soon as you get the
machine perfected! We must have it, and we will give you fine terms for
a right to its exclusive use. What are you doing here?"
"I am your mother's chauffeur," said Mr. Culver. "I wanted something to
do that would give me a good deal of leisure to work on the engine and
after I came back from France we were visiting my wife's people here
and I saw your mother's advertisement and took the place."
"It is almost too good to be true!" said Robert. "If you agree, we'll
work the thing out together."
Mr. Culver looked at Mrs. Horton, then at Mrs. Hargrave. "Stay; please
stay!" was the message he read in both pairs of eyes.
"That will be fine," he said to Robert. "I need some help, and you are
just the one to put me in the way of getting it. See you to-morrow," he
added and went out, forgetting the check.
"Well, I believe in fairies now," said Robert. "Half a dozen of the
biggest concerns in the country are after that young man. If I dared, I
would lock him up for safe keeping. To think that he is here right on
the place! Talk of luck! Why, he is worth a million dollars to us right
now, with his improved engine."
"Luck; luck!" said Mrs. Hargrave. "Pretty poor luck, I call it for me!"
"Why?" asked Mrs. Horton.
"Oh, nothing, nothing!" sighed Mrs. Hargrave. "Only I had it all planned
to do something nice for Helen."