Mrs. Cragg recoiled, and stood staring helplessly, while Pattie very very gently tried to stir Dot into an easier position. A faint moan was the only sound in response. The girl who had charge of Dot, a mere child of fifteen, came blundering down the stairs, sobbing, and loudly protesting that it was not her fault; she had tried her very best to stop Dot, and Dot would rush away, despite all she could do. "I dare say you were idling your time somewhere. You'd no business to let Dot be near the stairs alone," Mrs. Cragg said, in angry distress. "You're always doing that sort of thing. Well, you won't get any character now, I can tell you! How far did Dot fall? All down this long flight! Why, it's enough to have killed her!" "Eh?—what's this?" another voice asked, breaking into Mrs. Cragg's angry chatter, as Cragg walked through a door. "I thought I heard something fall. DOT!" Cragg groaned aloud. He looked from his wife to Pattie. "I think she is stunned. Not—killed!" said Pattie, in a tone which sounded unnatural to herself. There was a sound just now—a moan. "I'm afraid to try to lift her! Please bring her to my room, if you don't mind. That is the nearest. And some one ought to go for the doctor." "I'll be off myself in a moment." He raised the child tenderly in his arms, walked to Pattie's room, which was on the ground floor, and laid her on the bed. Again there was a faint moaning, but no other sign of consciousness. Cragg bent over the pillow with a look of unspeakable sorrow, and then hurried away. Pattie loosened Dot's clothes, and spread a light shawl over her. As Cragg had done, she stooped once to kiss the cold white cheek. Mrs. Cragg stood by, making no offer to help, seemingly stupefied. "Sweet Dot! dear little Dot!" murmured Pattie; and Dot's eyes half-opened. Though they closed again, Pattie's heart bounded with hope. Perhaps, after all, the child had received little harm. "Dot!—little pet!" she tried again; but no second response came. "She don't hear you! She don't understand! She never will again! She's killed!"—and Mrs. Cragg burst into noisy shrieking sobs, holding the foot of the bed, and shaking it with her movements. "O hush! please, hush! If she comes to, you will frighten her. Did you not see just now that she opened her eyes? I thought you saw! She may be only stunned; not much hurt. Please stop crying, or go away," implored Pattie. "Please, for Dot's sake!" But Mrs. Cragg, accustomed only to think of herself, paid no heed to this appeal. She went on sobbing loudly, swaying herself about, and still shaking the bed. Dot moaned again; and Pattie, almost beside herself, went to Mrs. Cragg, and resolutely unwrenched the hand which held the iron bar of the bed. "Mrs. Cragg, you must not behave like this," she said. "It will not do. You are hurting Dot. She cannot bear the movement. Go out of the room, please, until you can be quiet."