ar to her. There, by
a white-faced Aunt Polly and a weeping Nancy she was undressed tenderly
and put to bed, while from the village, hastily summoned by telephone,
Dr. Warren was hurrying as fast as another motor car could bring him.

"And ye didn't need ter more'n look at her aunt's face," Nancy was
sobbing to Old Tom in the garden, after the doctor had arrived and was
closeted in the hushed room; "ye didn't need ter more'n look at her
aunt's face ter see that 'twa'n't no duty that was eatin' her. Yer hands
don't shake, and yer eyes don't look as if ye was tryin' ter hold back
the Angel o' Death himself, when you're jest doin' yer DUTY, Mr. Tom
they don't, they don't!"

"Is she hurt--bad?" The old man's voice shook.

"There ain't no tellin'," sobbed Nancy. "She lay back that white an'
still she might easy be dead; but Miss Polly said she wa'n't dead--an'
Miss Polly had oughter know, if any one would--she kept up such a
listenin' an' a feelin' for her heartbeats an' her breath!"

"Couldn't ye tell anythin' what it done to her?--that--that--" Old Tom's
face worked convulsively.

Nancy's lips relaxed a little.

"I wish ye WOULD call it somethin', Mr. Tom an' somethin' good an'
strong, too. Drat it! Ter think of its runnin' down our little girl! I
always hated the evil-smellin' things, anyhow--I did, I did!"

"But where is she hurt?"

"I don't know, I don't know," moaned Nancy. "There's a little cut on
her blessed head, but 'tain't bad--that ain't--Miss Polly says. She says
she's afraid it's infernally she's hurt."

A faint flicker came into Old Tom's eyes.

"I guess you mean internally, Nancy," he said dryly. "She's hurt
infernally, all right--plague take that autymobile!--but I don't guess
Miss Polly'd be usin' that word, all the same."

"Eh? Well, I don't know, I don't know," moaned Nancy, with a shake of
her head as she turned away. "Seems as if I jest couldn't stand it
till that doctor gits out o' there. I wish I had a washin' ter do--the
biggest washin' I ever see, I do, I do!" she wailed, wringing her hands
helplessly.

Even after the doctor was gone, however, there seemed to be little that
Nancy could tell Mr. Tom. There appeared to be no bones broken, and the
cut was of slight consequence; but the doctor had looked very grave, had
shaken his head slowly, and had said that time alone could tell. After
he had gone, Miss Polly had shown a face even whiter and more drawn
looking than before. The patient