Adventurous Seven

by Bessie Marchant

  CHAPTER XV

  A Great Shock

  There was a whirling confusion in the mind of Nealie as she crossed thethreshold and stood in the little room which was her father's home.

  What a poor little place it was! There were only two rooms, the one uponwhich the door opened, and which was evidently dining-room, kitchen, andsurgery rolled into one, and beyond this there was a bedroom, very bareand poor, with an iron bedstead, on which was a mattress and some darkrugs, but no sheets.

  Coming straight as she did from the almost palatial comfort of the greatliner and the luxury of the Sydney hotel, this poor hut struck a realnote of dismay in the heart of Nealie, for the place was as poor as thepoorest cottage that she had ever seen at Beechleigh or Bodstead inEngland.

  But it was her father's home, and perhaps he had lived in such povertyin order that he might have more money to send for the support of hisbig family in England, and at the thought of this her heart grewwondrously soft and pitiful, for she had no idea how very small was theamount that her father had ever contributed to the support of his familysince disaster had fallen upon him.

  While she stood looking round, her heart growing more and more pitifulfor the father whom she had come so far to see, Sylvia came bustlinginto the house and took her by the arm, giving it a gentle shake.

  "Dreaming, are you, dear? Come and help me lift Rupert out of the wagon,and let us get him to bed as quickly as we can, for I am afraid that heis dreadfully ill. Where are the bedrooms? Oh, what a dreadfully pokylittle house it is!" and Miss Sylvia turned up the tip of her nose indisdainful fashion.

  "Sylvia, there is only one bedroom, with one small bed in it, withoutsheets. Where can we put poor Rupert?"

  "On that bed, of course; and if there are no sheets, we have some amongour luggage, for remember we brought the best of Aunt Judith's houselinen with us, and I know where it was packed. Come along, Nealie, andlet us hustle things a bit, and then we will have Rupert quitecomfortable by the time Father comes home. That dirty woman who unlockedthe door says she thinks he must have gone out Pig Hill way, whereverthat may be."

  There was no withstanding Sylvia when her mood was like this, and Nealieknew only too well that Rupert must be attended to without delay, so shefollowed her sister back to the wagon, where Rumple, Don, and Billykinswere already hard at work unpacking the baggage which had been loaded onto the rack at the back of the wagon; and when this was all cleared awaythey let the backboard down. Then, while Nealie and Sylvia stood on theground, Rumple and Don managed to lift Rupert into their arms, and withmuch difficulty they contrived to carry him through the garden patchinto the house.

  He had left off shouting and talking now, and seemed almost in a stateof collapse, a condition that frightened Nealie far more than hisdelirium had done. There was no time just at first to look in thebaggage for the sheets which had belonged to Aunt Judith, so theystraightened the rugs on the hard mattress, and laid their brother down.

  "It is a beautifully clean bed anyhow, and on the whole I think thatclean rugs are better than fusty sheets; but of course a doctor wouldhave his things clean," remarked Sylvia, as she patted the pillow into amore shapely lump and laid it under the head of poor Rupert.

  "I am going to make a fire, and warm him a little milk; perhaps he willlike it better if it is warm, and he has only had cold things all day,"said Nealie, and then resolutely turned her back on the four juniors,who were so hard at work unpacking the wagon and bringing the boxes,bundles, and cases into the house.

  Rockefeller had been unharnessed and turned into the doctor's paddock,which stretched away from the back of the house up to a line of hillsthickly wooded. The horse was rolling with all four legs in the air,uttering equine squeals of delight, as if rejoicing in the fact of thelong journey being safely accomplished. Ducky, tired of helping tounload, had perched herself on the top bar of the gate, clapping herhands in delight at the performances of the horse, which she imaginedwere being enacted solely for her benefit, and she grumbled quitevigorously when Billykins ran out to tell her that supper was ready andshe must come in.

  "We have supper every night, but it isn't every night that Rocky willcut capers like that," she said, with a swing of her plump little arm inthe direction of the horse, but upset her balance in the process, andtumbled into the arms of Billykins, who proved unequal to the strain ofher sudden descent, and so they rolled over in the dust together.

  "I think that you are most astonishingly clumsy," said the small maiden,scrambling up with an offended air, and not even saying "Thank you" toBillykins for having been bottom dog for the moment.

  "When you want to fall off gates on to people you should choose big, fatpeople, and then perhaps they wouldn't give way as I did; but you reallyare fearfully heavy," answered Billykins, who was shaking the dust fromhimself as a dog shakes off the water when he comes out of a pond.

  Then they took hold of each other's hands and ran back to the house,where Rumple and Don had got supper ready in the outer room, whileNealie and Sylvia were busy with Rupert in the bedroom.

  The luggage had all been stowed away in as shipshape a style aspossible, the wagon had been drawn in at the paddock gate, and now theplace was crammed full with the big family, who were all, with theexception of Rupert, strung up to the highest pitch of excitement,waiting for their father's return.

  But, having had no proper meal since breakfast, they simply could notwait until he came before having their supper.

  Yet, despite the fact that the long journey was safely over, and theyhad reached their father's house, it was not a cheerful meal. Rupert'scondition forbade any laughter or joking; besides, Nealie and Rumplelooked so fearfully nervous that it was quite impossible to be even aslively as usual.

  Rumple's trouble was simply and solely because of that letter which hehad forgotten to post, and that had led to there being no welcome forthem when they arrived. Of course it was surprising that Mr. Runcimanhad not written again; but then everyone knew that Mr. Runciman neverwrote a letter when he could possibly shirk the task, and that was whythey had been so urgent in their entreaties that he should write theletter while they waited on that momentous occasion when they went tosee him to ask him to send them out to the land of the Southern Cross.

  "If Father is cross because he did not know that we were coming I shalljust stand up and say that it was all my fault, and that the others werenot to blame at all," said Rumple to himself, and then he mentallyrehearsed the little scene and the speech he would make until he forgotall about his supper, and just sat by the table staring out through thedoor, which had been left wide open for the sake of coolness, and thestrained look on his face made Nealie's heart ache.

  On her own part she was a prey to acute anxiety, and she was dreadingmost of all the first look which would show on the face of her fatherwhen he knew that his family had come to him. If the look were pleasure,then everything would be possible, and nothing else would matter; butif there were dismay or regret in his expression, she felt that shewould never be able to bear her life again. Sylvia had no such fears;her nature was so different from Nealie's, and she rarely troubled aboutthings which were under the surface, and so was spared many worries andmuch heartache; while Don, Billykins, and Ducky were only tired of thelong waiting until their father should come, and they were alreadybeginning to yawn widely because they were so sleepy.

  "Where shall we all sleep to-night, Sylvia?" demanded Ducky presently,breaking in upon quite a lengthy silence, and voicing the very questionwhich was so sorely troubling Nealie at that moment, although she rosefrom the table and passed into the other room, where Rupert lay, andpretended that she had not heard the query.

  "Oh, we shall manage somehow, and there is always the wagon, you know,if everything else fails!" said Sylvia vaguely; and then she sprang toher feet with a sudden eager movement, for to her strained listeningthere had come the sound of a horse's feet on the road, a smart trotwhich slackened down by the gate outside, not as if the animal had b
eenpulled up, but had stopped of its own accord.

  "It is Father!" she said in a whisper, just as if the power of audiblespeech had left her, and then she started for the door, followed byDucky and the three boys; but Nealie, busy with Rupert, had heard nosound of arrival as yet.

  They had lighted a lamp when the sun went down, and now Sylvia stood onthe threshold, with the four younger ones crowding about her, and thestrong light showing the group up in outline, although it left the facesindistinct.

  The horseman had stopped and dismounted; then, leaving his horsestanding where it was, he came striding along the path towards the groupat the door.

  Sylvia tried to speak, but the words would not come, as she stood withone hand tightly pressed against her wildly beating heart. And then, asthe man halted in front of her, she saw that it was quite a young man,and not her father at all.

  "It is only someone come for the doctor. How disappointing!" was herunspoken comment, and she was just going to tell him that the doctor hadnot come home yet, when to her amazement he asked a question in asurprised tone.

  "May I ask why are you here?"

  "We are waiting for Father, but he has not come yet. The woman in thenext house told us that she thought he had gone out Pig Hill way, andthat he would not be long before he was back. I hope that your businesswith him is not urgent?" Her voice quavered slightly in spite of herefforts to keep it steady, for surely it would be dreadful if her fatherwere called away to another case when Rupert was so badly in need ofcare.

  "Pardon me, but I do not seem to understand," said the man, with so muchbewilderment in his manner that Sylvia longed to laugh, but managed topull herself together and to maintain a decent gravity of expression.

  "We are expecting Father, that is Dr. Plumstead, home every minute, andwhen he comes he will find a very great surprise in store for him," shesaid, flinging up her head with a happy gesture, and now her laugh wouldhave its way and rang out on the hot air, being promptly echoed by theyounger ones, who stood pressed close to her on both sides.

  "But I am Dr. Plumstead, and I have just returned from a case at PigHill," said the man.

  It was at this moment that Nealie came hurrying to the door, and,sweeping the others to the right and left to make way for her, stood infront of the man, her face white as the handkerchief she held in herhand, while her breath came in troubled gasps as if she had been runninguntil she was spent.

  "Whom did you say that you were?" she demanded, her voice having asharp, dictatorial ring.

  The stranger, who had merely lifted his hat when he spoke to Sylvia,swept it off his head and held it in his hand when Nealie thrust herselfto the front.

  "I am Dr. Plumstead, and this is my house," he answered. "But----"

  Nealie, however, cut into the explanation he was trying to make, and nowher bewilderment was as great as his had been at the first.

  "But Dr. Plumstead is our father, and we have come from England to livewith him," she cried, and then stood staring at the man withever-growing dismay.