"Well, I confess you relieve my mind. I do not imagine Mrs. Cragg is capable of much. And I am told that there is not a servant in the house who can be trusted. If you are willing to sit up this night, it will be a great help. I shall telegraph to know if a nurse can arrive to-morrow. If Dot does not improve quickly, you must of course have help. A nurse for night-work would be needful. Meanwhile, we must depend upon you."
"Is Dot likely to get better soon?"
"Impossible to say. I will look in again later. She must be put to bed, and kept absolutely quiet. Absolutely—you understand? I should prefer that only you should be with her. There must be no crying, no talking and discussing of her symptoms, no whispering. If Dot rouses and shows an inclination to talk, you must discourage it. I will come again in two or three hours, and then you shall have fuller directions."
"Wait—one moment." Pattie was thinking seriously. "I will do my best, but I cannot make Mrs. Cragg do as I wish. Before you came in, I had asked her to leave the room if she could not stop crying, and she would not go. If that sort of thing is bad for Dot—"
"It mustn't be allowed for a moment," declared the young man. "I shall speak to her and to Mr. Cragg. If you undertake the nursing, you must have the entire management of the sick-room until a hospital nurse comes."
Pattie evidently had no fears as to what she was undertaking, and she soon proved that her confidence was well-founded.
As she had told the doctor, she had been early trained in nursing; and though she could not be reckoned equal to a fully trained nurse, she had by nature a gift in that line. She was quiet, placid, not easily flurried; she had much self-possession; her manner was gentle; she knew how to be firm; she did not worry her patient; she did not think of herself; and she recollected all directions given to her by the doctor, following his orders implicitly. He came again that night; and when in the morning he reappeared, he expressed himself satisfied with all that she had done.
"There is certainly some improvement," he said. "No,—I consider her by no means out of danger. It is impossible to say what turn may come next. Her state is not satisfactory; and I have little doubt that the shock to the spine has affected her brain. But on the whole she has gained rather than lost ground."
"You think you can trust me?" asked Pattie.
The doctor looked gravely at Pattie, before replying.