Silverthorns
Page 23
boy's parents to come and see him the next morning.
"My aunt feels sure the doctor will wish your brother to stay in bed allto-morrow," wrote Claudia, "and he will be taken every care of. Butshould Mr and Mrs Waldron feel uneasy, she begs them not to hesitateto come to see him for themselves."
The doctor came, and confirmed the good account of the patient whichMrs Ball had already sent down-stairs.
"He will take no harm I fancy," he said. "But he is evidently adelicate child, and he has had a narrow escape. He would have been deadlong before morning."
"Does he seem frightened?" asked Lady Mildred.
"No," the doctor replied. "I don't think his nerves have suffered. Heis still sleepy and confused, and of course he feels sore and aching.But he can remember nothing very distinctly, I fancy."
"I will go up and see him," said Lady Mildred. "It must be pastdinner-time, Claudia. This affair has made the servants forgeteverything."
The doctor took his leave, promising to look in again the next morning.Lady Mildred went up to the chintz room and Claudia ran after her.
"Mayn't I come in and see him too, aunt," she said; "I'd like to see himlooking better. He did look so dreadful when they first brought himin," and she gave a little shudder.
Jerry was looking very far from dreadful by this time; he washalf-sitting up in bed, with more colour than usual on his face, hiseyes very bright and blue. Lady Mildred's face changed as she looked athim.
"I hope you are feeling better, my dear," she said quietly. "The doctoris sure you will be quite well to-morrow."
"Yes, thank you," said Jerry. "I'm nearly quite well now, I think,except that I'm aching rather. If you please," and he hesitated, "youdon't think I could go home to-night? I don't know what o'clock it is--it isn't the middle of the night, is it? Oh," as Claudia just then cameforward, "I--"
"This is my niece," said Lady Mildred. "She was anxious to know how youwere."
Gervais looked up at Claudia, and a glance of understanding passed likelightning between them.
"I'm all right, thank you," he said to her.
"How was it?" said Claudia. "Did you lose your way in the snow?"
"I suppose so," said Jerry. "I was going along the road past the `JollyThrashers' the last thing I remember. I thought I should have met ourdog-cart, but I didn't, and I walked on as fast as I could, but itsnowed dreadfully heavily, and I got _so_ tired I had to rest a little.I'm lame, you know," he added, flushing a little. "I knew one shouldnever go to sleep in the snow, and I only meant to rest a minute. But Isuppose I went to sleep--I remember a very nice feeling coming over me,and then I don't remember anything else."
"Ah," said Lady Mildred. "You have had a narrow escape, my dear."
"I'm very sorry to have given you so much trouble," Jerry went onpenitently. "But if I could go home--they'll all be so frightened."
"Your going home to-night is out of the question, my dear," said LadyMildred; "but we have already sent a groom to tell your family that youare quite safe."
"Thank you very much. I'm very sorry to have given you so muchtrouble," Jerry repeated.
"Well, then, take care to give no one any more, by getting well asquickly as ever you can," said Lady Mildred kindly. "Try to go tosleep, so that you may wake quite well in the morning. Good night, mydear."
"Good night, Lady Mildred," said the boy.
But Claudia, who had already learnt to know his face and itsexpressions, detected an uneasy look, and when her aunt had left theroom she lingered a moment behind.
"Gervais," she said,--"I know your name, you see--are you uncomfortable?Is there anything the matter--anything to do with what we were speakingof this afternoon?"
Jerry looked up wistfully.
"No," he said. "I'm sure you'll never tell any one--will you?"
"Oh, no; I will keep my promise exactly; and whenever I can do sowithout betraying you in the least, I will let Charlotte know that I amnot going to try for the prize."
"Thank you, oh, thank you so very much," said Jerry fervently. "I knowyou will do it nicely."
"It may be quite easy," Claudia went on. "I am not sure but that weshall be going away very soon, and that I _couldn't_ try for it even ifI wanted," and she smiled a half-sad little smile.
"But I shall always know how good you were," said Jerry, as if thatshould console her for all other misapprehension.
Claudia smiled again.
"Thank you," she said; "and good night."
But Jerry still fidgeted about.
"I am afraid I can't go to sleep," he said; "I am so aching all over,and it seems so strange. Isn't this the chintz room?"
"Yes," said Claudia, a little surprised. "How did you know it?"
"Oh, I--I heard the name," he said. "Is it far away from everybodyelse's rooms?"
"No; mine is very near. There is a swing door across the passage, andmine is the first door through it. But some one--Mrs Ball or someone--will sit up with you if you would the least like it."
"No, no," said Jerry. "I told them not to. I wouldn't like it at all.Miss Meredon," he went on, beginning to laugh, "don't I look like RedRiding Hood's grandmother, rather, with all these fussy things round myneck?"
Claudia burst out laughing too. She saw what made the child look socomical. He was enveloped in one of her own nightgowns with voluminousfrills.
"Is it one of yours?" said Jerry gravely, tugging at the frills andsolemnly regarding them. "I don't like wearing girls' things, but Idon't mind so much if it is yours."
At this moment Mrs Ball returned.
"Miss Meredon, my dear," she said, "the young gentleman must really goto sleep. My lady wouldn't be pleased if she knew you were still heretalking to him."
"We couldn't help laughing at the nightgown, Mrs Ball," said Claudia."It's one of mine, isn't it?"
"Yes, we made so bold. It was the nearest his size you see, missydear."
"Well, good night again, Gervais," said Claudia as she left the room."I do hope you will sleep well." Jerry smiled back a good night. Heseemed in better spirits now.
"Isn't he a nice little fellow?" she could not help saying to Mrs Ball.
"And quite the little gentleman," said the housekeeper. "But he seemsdelicate, poor child. Just to think of it--what a mercy that Stobbs'sboy was coming up that way, and that he had a lantern. For all that thesnow had stopped, he'd have been dead before morning. I don't like tothink of it--at our very door, so to say, Miss Claudia, and us with nothought of it. But there--my lady's just going down to dinner."
Lady Mildred was very silent that evening. Her mind seemed full of manythings, and Claudia, after one or two attempts at conversation, thoughtit best to give it up. Not very long after dinner the groom returnedfrom Wortherham with a note addressed to Miss Meredon. He had found, sohe informed his friends in the servants' hall, the family at NorfolkTerrace in a fine taking about the boy.
"They were sending out in all directions," he said. "The poor ladylooked like dead, and the young ladies were crying fit to break theirhearts. I never see such a sight. The other young gentlemen had beenout skating on Gretham pond, and they thought as this one had got homehours before, as he should have done. I'm almost sure as it was he asstopped our young lady when we was a-driving home this afternoon."
"Stopped our young lady!" exclaimed Ball in surprise.
"Oh, it was just some message about the school. The Waldron youngladies goes where Miss Meredon does," said the groom. And as no morewas said about the matter, Jerry's and Claudia's secret remained theirown.
The note was from Charlotte. It scarcely bore traces of the agitationdescribed by the groom.
"Dear Miss Meredon," it began,--
"My father and mother wish me to thank Lady Mildred most sincerely for her kindness to my brother Gervais. They also thank you for writing to tell us of his safety. We were becoming very uneasy about him. My father will go out early to-morrow, and hopes to be able to bring
him home in a close carriage. He and my mother regret exceedingly the trouble all this must have caused you.
"I remain,--
"Yours sincerely,--
"Charlotte Waldron."
Claudia handed it to her aunt.
"Humph!" said Lady Mildred, "a very school-girl