A Dire Mistake
"RIDICULOUS fuss and nonsense!" exclaimed Mrs. Cragg. "Never saw anything like it!"
The doctor had taken his departure minutes later than Pattie, and Cragg had into the room. Dot lay with wistful watching the door through which Pattie disappeared. Mrs. Cragg jerked her chair.
"Absurd rubbish! Just when I've no end of things to see to. But it's Pattie all over!"
"What's the matter now?" asked Cragg mildly. "Where is Pattie, did you say?"
"I didn't say she was anywhere, Cragg!"
"But she must, of course, be—somewhere. Is anything the matter?"
"Matter enough; as you'd know if you hadn't got your head in the clouds, as usual. Here am I, tied hand and foot, just for nothing in the world, but because Pattie chooses to go grumbling about herself to Mr. May he says she's to go out for a walk. Wanting a walk at this time of day! I never heard such nonsense!"
"Pattie did look white this morning," observed Cragg.
"She didn't more than usual. Pattie always is a washed-out creature. It don't make a grain of difference whether she's out-of-doors or in, for the matter of that."