"I ought to have guessed. I ought to have taken heed."
"She was with Jane. Dot did not fall when she was alone. Don't you see? You really were not to blame. Dot went upstairs all right. Jane was in fault,—not you."
"No, so I hoped at first. But she was not with Jane. The girl saw her coming, and supposed one of us to be with her. And then Dot started off full speed for the top of the stairs, before Jane could get up with her."
"Because Jane is naturally slow. Anybody else might have been in time. I suppose she cannot help being stupid, but I do think she ought to have made more haste. I don't think you need blame yourself. Dot seems so much older than her age—I suppose we forget what a baby she is."
"Wouldn't you blame yourself in my place?" asked Cragg sorrowfully. "I think you would. If she dies, I shall never get over the feeling. I shall always know it was my doing—being so angry with my wife's extravagance, that I couldn't give a thought to anything else."
That was news to Pattie, and Cragg had not intended to speak of his wife's doings; but in his distress he for the moment forgot. Pattie took no advantage of the slip. She asked no questions, and she never afterwards alluded to what he had said.
For Cragg's sake, as well as for her own, it was an immense relief when they could begin to feel that the worst was over, and that Dot was taking steps towards recovery.
The main injury had been, as at first conjectured by the doctor, to the spine; and the blow upon the spine had affected the head. The little one's mind wandered much, fever ran high, and weakness became extreme.
"If Dot gets through, it will be due chiefly to Miss Dale," the doctor remarked more than once, and the hospital nurse said the same. So far as experienced nursing was concerned, she of course was far superior to Pattie. But Pattie had a power, possessed by none other, of soothing Dot in pain, of quieting her in restlessness, of making her take the food and medicine from which she turned; and these things were invaluable. The nurse often sent for Pattie to influence the child, and so to save a needless struggle, which would have exhausted the little one's strength. Dot would do anything at Pattie's request.
At the end of three or four weeks, however, the worst was really over. Dot was to be accounted convalescent, and the household began to settle into something like its usual state. Dot would have to lie flat for many a week yet—perhaps even for many a month; but the doctor gave every hope that the jar to the spine would not be of a lasting nature. Great care would be needed, he said; but there was no reason why, in a year or two at most, she might not be as well and vigorous as ever.