"Why, Miss--Miss Murieson, I'll see you back all the way to the college
door. Not at all, not at all. Charmed. First, we'll have dinner--or,
first I'll telephone out there and tell 'em you're with us, so that if
there's any rule or anything of that sort--"
The telephone! This wretched Edward with half his wits gave me more
trouble than the Bishop and the Dowager put together. She jumped at
the idea, and left the room, only to come back again to whisper to me:
"What name, my dear?"
"What name? what name?" I repeated blankly. What name, indeed. I
wonder how "Nance Olden" would have done.
"Don't hurry, dear, don't perplex yourself," she whispered anxiously,
noting my bewilderment. "There's plenty of time, and it makes no
difference--not a particle, really."
I put my hand to my head.
"I can't think--I can't think. There's one girl has nervous
prostration, and her name's got mixed with mine, and I can't--"
"Hush, hush! Never mind. You shall come and lie down in my room.
You'll stay with us to-night, anyway, and we'll have a doctor in,
Bishop."
"That's right," assented the Bishop. "I'll go get him myself."
"You--you're not going!" I cried in dismay. It was real. I hated to
see him go.
"Nonsense--'phone." It was Edward who went himself to telephone for
the doctor, and I saw my time getting short.
But the Bishop had to go, anyway. He looked out at his horses
shivering in front of the house, and the sight hurried him.
"My child," he said, taking my hand, "just let Mrs. Ramsay take care of
you to-night. Don't bother about anything, but just rest. I'll see
you in the morning," he went on, noticing that I kind of clung to him.
Well, I did. "Can't you remember what I said to you in the
carriage--that I wished you were my daughter. I wish you were, indeed I
do, and that I could take you home with me and keep you, child."
"Then--to-night--if--when you pray--will you pray for me as if I
was--your own daughter?"
Tom Dorgan, you think no prayers but a priest's are any good, you
bigoted, snickering Catholic! I tell you if some day I cut loose from
you and start in over again, it'll be the Bishop's prayers that'll do
it.
The Dowager and I passed Edward in the ball. He gave me a look behind
her back, and I gave him one to match it. Just practice, you know,
Tom. A girl can never know when she'll want to be expert in these
things.
She made me lie down on a couch while she turned the lamp low, and then
left me alone in a big palace of a bedroom filled with things. And I
wanted everything I saw. If I could, I'd have lifted everything in
sight.
But every minute brought that doctor nearer. Soon as I could be really
sure she was gone, I got up, and, hurrying to the long French windows
that opened on the great stone piazza, I unfastened them quietly, and
inch by inch I pushed them open.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account