"She's down stairs, she's back again, the young woman and her baby. I
knew you wouldn't like to hear it, ma'am."
"Go down stairs, and tell her I am not at home, Patty."
"I did tell her so, knowing your mind, ma'am; but she said I was
mistaken, for that she saw you at the window."
"Say that I am sick, then, and can not be disturbed; and, Patty, tell
the cook to see that her custards are ready for dessert; Mr. Finels
dines here to-day."
Patty retired with her instructions, but presently returned in great
haste.
"Bless us all, ma'am, the baby is taken in a fit in the entry, and is
rolling up its eyes horrid! Shall I tell her to go away with it?"
"Yes!" said Mrs. Howe--"yes--no--how provoking! I don't believe it--I'll
go down myself, Patty."
Throwing a large cashmere shawl over her robe-de-chambre, Mrs. Howe went
reluctantly down stairs.
The baby did look "horrid," as Patty had said, and Rose stood over it
wringing her hands.
"I don't see what you have come back for," grumbled Mrs. Howe, turning
her back upon the convulsed baby.
"What shall I do? oh, tell me what to do for him!" said the young
mother--"he will die! Charley will die!"
"All the better for him, if he should," said Mrs. Howe.
"Oh," said Rose, kneeling at her feet, "you have lost a little one, can
not you pity me."
Even this touching appeal would have been powerless to move Mrs. Howe,
had not the twitch of the bell-wire announced a visitor at the front
door. Hastily running to Patty, she said, "Take that child up stairs and
lay it on your bed. I am sure I don't know what to do with him; my
nerves are all unstrung; take him away; I suppose he will come out of
his fit before long."
Patty stooped to take Charley in her arms, but Rose anticipated her, and
carried the poor tortured child up into the attic. He came out of that
fit only to go into another, and Rose, agonized beyond endurance, fell
senseless across the bed.
"They are dying, both of 'em!" screamed Patty, bursting into Mrs. Howe's
room again; "you will _have_ to attend to it now, ma'am, sure. I know
_I_ can't stay by them."
"Go for the doctor, then," said Mrs. Howe, thinking this might be
preferable to a coroner's inquest; "not _our_ doctor, but the one in the
next street."
"Your doctor is the nearest, ma'am," suggested Patty.
"Do as I tell you!" said the frowning Mrs. Howe, going leisurely up
stairs.
"Just see what a spot of work, ma'am," said the cook, who had run up to
see what was the matter; "that child must be undressed, ma'am, and put
into a warm bath."
"Let it alone," said Mrs. Howe; "the doctor will be here presently. How
do you know it is the right thing to do with the child?"
"I am sure of it, ma'am, begging your pardon; my sister's child had just
the like of those fits, and that was what we always did for him, but
just as you please, ma'am--hadn't you better hold some smelling-salts to
its mother's face? she's in a faint, like."
Patty arrived at length with the doctor, who puffed considerably at
climbing so many stairs, and disconcerted Mrs. Howe still more by his
keen survey of the barren attic, Mrs. Howe's expensive apparel, and the
two patients before him.
Charley he pronounced in a critical state, owing to the length of time
he had lain in the fit; he then wrote a prescription, applied some
remedies, and recommended perfect quiet, and attentive nursing.
"He can not be moved, then?" asked Rose, who had recovered sufficiently
to know what was passing.
"By no means," said the doctor, "is it your child?" he asked, looking
with surprise at the girlish form before him.
Rose bowed her head.
"In fact," said the doctor, "I shouldn't think you were fit to go
yourself, if that were your intention."
Mrs. Howe's face flushed, and she walked up and down the floor uneasily.
"How long before he will be able to be moved?" asked Rose.
"It is impossible to tell. I think he may have a run of fever. I can
tell better to-morrow. Perhaps it would be better, on account of this
window," suggested the doctor, as he pointed to the broken panes of
glass, "to remove the child into another room. Don't you think so,
madam?" he asked, turning to Mrs. Howe.
"Oh, of course, certainly," replied Mrs. Howe, "he ought to have every
comfort the house affords."
Had the doctor known Mrs. Howe better, he would not have been deceived
at the seeming Samaritanism of this sarcastic reply. Rose could only
groan in anguish.
"It would be well to have those recipes attended to as soon as possible,
madam," said the doctor, handing them to Mrs. Howe, "shall you take
charge of my patient, madam?"
"Certainly," said Mrs. Howe, with another withering aside glance at
Rose.
"Well, then, madam, if you will have the goodness to watch the child
closely, until after he has taken his second powder--you see there are
two of them, one to be taken as soon as it arrives, and the other three
hours after. Should any thing unforeseen occur, you know my address,"
and the doctor, resuming his hat and cane, left the room, followed by
Mrs. Howe.
"Oh! Charley, Charley!" murmured Rose, pressing her lips to the little
hot hand which lay upon the bed, "do not leave me."
But the desolate mother had little time for reflection, for Mrs. Howe
returned immediately after having seen the doctor down stairs, and
coming up to the bed-side, demanded of Rose "what she meant by bringing
that sick child into town to burden her?"
"He was quite well when I started; I am very sorry, very, that I can not
go back. I lost a letter here, the only one I ever had from--"
"Your _husband_, I suppose you would say," said Mrs. Howe. "It is
astonishing that you will persist in keeping up that humbug; I should
think you might have learned by this time that your husband, as you call
him, could never have had much love for a woman whom he has neglected so
long; and so all this bother has come of a search for a precious piece
of his writing? 'Tis all a pretense, and you needn't believe that I
don't see through it."
Rose knew it was quite useless to attempt any justification of herself
and made no reply.
"I am glad you have sense enough not to deny it," said Mrs. Howe, bent
upon irritating her; "I am quite a match for your cunning in every
respect, Rose. I suppose you will have to stay here now, till the child
gets a little better, but I want you distinctly to understand that you
must wait upon yourself; my servants have something else to do, and when
you have occasion to go below, see that you go down the back stairs, and
do not allow yourself to be seen. You can move into the next room,
Bridget's room, if the Doctor cares for that broken window; that is some
of Patty's carelessness, I suppose. I shall insist upon your leaving the
house at the earliest possible opportunity; when the medicine comes you
must attend to it yourself;" and gathering up her flowing skirts, Mrs.
Howe left the room.