Her companion looked at her quickly. "We'll put some more blankets on the bed. Wait a minute while I run upstairs!" She returned with the bedclothes from her own room. "You'll be much warmer before long," she said; "you must have taken a slight chill." Mrs. Kincaid lay mute awhile. "I've such a pain!" she murmured. "How could I have taken a chill?" "Where is your pain?" "In my side--a sharp, stabbing pain." The servant appeared now, alarmed by the disturbance, and Mary told her to bring some coals, and then to dress herself as speedily as she could. "Is there any linseed? Or oatmeal will do. I must make a poultice." "I'll see, miss. There's some linseed, I think, but----" "Fetch it, and a kettle. We'll light the fire at once; then I can make it up here." The old lady moaned and shivered by turns; and some difficulty was experienced in getting the fire to burn. Mary held a newspaper before it, and the servant advanced theories on the subject of the chimney. At last, when it was possible for the poultice to be applied, Mary sent her down for a hot-water bottle and the whisky. "You'll be quite comfortable directly," she said to the invalid. "Something warm to drink, and the hot flannel to your feet 'll make a lot of difference." "So cold I am, it's bitter--and the pain! I can't think what it can be." "Let me put this on for you, then; it's all ready. It won't--is that it?... There! How's that?" "Oh!" faltered Mrs. Kincaid, "oh, thank you! Ah! you do it very nicely." "See, here we have the rest of the luxuries!" She mixed the stimulant, and took it to her. "Just raise your head," she murmured; "I'll hold the glass for you, so that you won't have to sit up. Take this, now, and while you're sipping it, Ellen will get the bottle ready." "There isn't much in the kettle," said Ellen. "I don't----" "Use what there is, and fill it up again. Then see if you can find me any brown paper." In quest of brown paper, Ellen was gone some time; and, having set down the empty tumbler and made the bed tidier, Mary proceeded to search for some herself. She found a sheet lining a drawer, and rolling it into the form of a tube, fixed it to the kettle spout, to direct the steam into the room. She had not long done so when the girl returned disconsolate to say there was no brown paper in the house. Mary drew her outside. "Are you going to sit in there all night, miss?" "Speak lower! Yes, I shall sit up. What time is it?" The girl said that she had just been astonished to see by the kitchen clock that it was half-past four; it had seemed to her that she had not long fallen asleep when the bell rang. "I want you to go and fetch Dr. Kincaid, Ellen; I'm afraid Mrs. Kincaid is going to be ill." "Do you mean I'm to go at once?" "Yes. Tell him his mother isn't well, and it would be better for him to see her. Bring him back with you. You aren't frightened to go out--it must be getting light?"