SOLVING A PROBLEM
The girls tiptoed into the little room at the right and saw that Mrs.
Bragley was not asleep. As they approached the bed she greeted them with
a faint smile.
"It's too bad that you should have all this trouble," she said. "Here
I've gone and spoiled all your afternoon's fun just because I was too
slow and stupid to get out of your way."
"It wasn't your fault at all," declared Bess warmly. "I know I'd have
been scared stiff if I'd seen that sled bearing down upon me. The thing
we're grateful for is that you weren't killed."
"How are you feeling now?" asked Nan gently, as she adjusted the
bedclothes.
"Rather poorly," was the answer. "My ankle's hurting me a good deal. And
then I have a sort of all-gone feeling. But I suppose that's on account
of the shock. But I'll be all right by to-morrow," the woman hurried to
say bravely.
"We've sent for a doctor and a nurse," Nan explained. "They'll be here
in a little while."
A worried look came into the woman's pale and drawn face.
"A doctor? A nurse?" she repeated. "That's good of you, my dears, but I
can get along all right without them. And besides, besides----"
She hesitated, and Nan, who guessed what she was thinking of, hastened
to reassure her.
"Don't worry about anything," she urged. "There won't be any expense.
It's our fault that you are hurt, and the very least we can do is to see
that it doesn't cost you anything to get well. You just leave it to us,
please."
Tears came into the poor woman's eyes.
"How good you are!" she said brokenly. "There was a time when I had
money enough to get along comfortably, but that was before my husband
died. He thought that he was leaving me enough to take care of me for
the rest of my life. But somehow or other I guess I've been cheated out
of it or lost it somehow. It's all mixed up in my mind, and I don't
exactly know the rights of it. I never did have any head for business,
anyhow."
"There, there," said Nan soothingly, as she feared that her patient was
getting excited. "You can tell us all about it some other time. Let me
fix your pillows now and you try to get some sleep before the doctor
comes."
She brought a cooling drink, and then she and Bess withdrew into the
other room and conversed in low tones until, just before dark, the
doctor made his appearance.
He was a big, cheery man, who radiated confidence as he bustled into the
room after tying his horse to the fence outside.
"Oh, Dr. Willis, I'm so glad you've come!" exclaimed Nan, as the doctor
came in and drew off his gloves.
"Just a bit of luck that I was able to get here so soon," the doctor
responded. "I was just going out on another call when a girl rang me up
from the school and told me of the accident. She was so excited that she
stuttered, but I managed to make out what she was driving at and hurried
over at once. Where is the patient?"
They took him into the room, and he made a quick but thorough
examination.
"No bones broken," he announced, and the girls drew a sigh of relief.
"But there's a bad sprain and she won't be able to get around for a
couple of weeks."
He bandaged the injured ankle and prepared some medicine, which he left
with careful directions to the girls.
"I'll drop in again to-morrow," he said. "Sorry that I can't take you
girls back and drop you at the Hall, but she oughtn't to be left alone.
I can take one of you, though," and he looked inquiringly from one to
the other.
"You had better go, Bess," said Nan promptly.
"What! and leave you alone?" cried Bess. "Indeed not."
"But we can't both go."
"I am not going to leave you, Nan. We'll both stay."
"Well, it won't be for so very long anyway," remarked Nan. She turned to
the physician. "It is very good of you to ask us."
"It sure is," added Bess, quickly. And then she added, with a cloud on
her face, "You are sure Mrs. Bragley is going to get over it?"
"Oh, yes, she'll get over it. But it will take time," answered the
doctor; and a few minutes later the medical man took his departure.
"He certainly is a nice man," said Nan, as she and her chum watched him
go.
"A man one is bound to have confidence in," added Bess.
He had not been gone five minutes when there was a sound of sleighbells,
and a cutter, drawn by a spirited horse, dashed up to the gate. The
girls peered through the windows, but in the dark, which had now fully
settled down, could not identify the newcomer. A moment later there as a
knock at the door, and, on opening it, Walter Mason came in with a rush,
accompanied more sedately by an elderly woman with a kindly, capable
face.
"Why, Walter!" exclaimed Nan, and a close observer might have noted her
heightened color. "How splendid it was of you to get here so quickly."
Bess had it on the tip of her tongue to say that she could guess why he
had hurried, but she wisely forebore.
Walter Mason was a frank, fine-looking young man, with whom the girls
had become acquainted through his sister Grace. Nan and he had been
thrown much together, especially during the visit that Nan had made to
Grace at the Mason home in Chicago, and a mutual liking had developed
that had grown stronger with time. The girls had often teased Nan about
Walter, but she had parried their thrusts good-naturedly, and stoutly
maintained that Walter was simply a nice boy and good company. But she
was undeniably glad to see him, though she tried to explain to herself
that it was the prospect of soon getting back to the Hall that pleased
her.
After the first greeting, Walter introduced his companion as a Mrs.
Ellis, who had agreed to come along to nurse the patient until she had
fully recovered.
Mrs. Ellis, in a quiet, capable way, took charge at once, and the girls
felt the load of responsibility that they had carried all the afternoon
lighten promptly.
"Oh, I'd nearly forgotten!" Walter exclaimed suddenly, and ran out to
the sleigh, whence he returned in a moment loaded down with food and
jellies and supplies of various kinds.
"We stopped on our way through the village," he explained, as he placed
the packages on the table, "and Mrs. Ellis picked out the things that we
ought to bring along. Here they are. And now if you girls will get your
things on, I'll hustle you over to the Hall. You must be awfully
hungry."
They had not thought of that, but now that he spoke of it they realized
that he was right. They went in and spoke cheerily to Mrs. Bragley,
promising to be over the next day to see how she was getting along, and
then, followed by her tears and blessings, they put on their wraps and
furs and with a cordial farewell to the nurse they hurried off, not,
however, until Walter had brought in and stacked up enough firewood to
last for several days.
The cold, crisp air was like a tonic, and their spirits rose as the
horse drew the cutter after him over the snowy road at a rate of speed
that promised to bring them to the Hall all too soon.
"That was a close call you girls had this afternoon," Walter remarked,
as they left the little house behind them.
"It surely was," agreed Bess, with a little shiver that was not due to
the cold. "It was lucky for us that Nan kept her head. The rest of us
were screaming, but Nan didn't make a sound. If she'd steered an inch to
the right or to the left from what she did, we'd have gone into a tree,
and that would have been the end of us."
"She's a thoroughbred," declared Walter briefly. "That's just the way
she acted the day your boat upset. Nan certainly has nerve."
"There are the lights of the Hall," interrupted Nan, glad of an excuse
to divert attention from herself. "How beautiful they look on a night
like this."
"They'd look a good deal more beautiful to me if they were further off,"
grumbled Walter, as he reluctantly turned into the drive that led to
Lakeview Hall.