Suddenly Isaac was roused from the half sleepy state into which he had fallen, by a smart ringing and knocking at the front door. He sat still, wondering what it could all be about. Then the door was opened and he heard a suppressed shriek from the girl, Bess, and a voice said, "Hush, hush, you will frighten the old man. Where is he? Let me go to him first."
"He's in yonder," gasped Bess, in tones of blank dismay.
But Isaac rose and came out, in a tremor of fear. He thought the house must be on fire, and he wanted to go after a certain strong little iron box, locked up in another room. Mrs. Roper met him just at the parlour door, and she began to say pityingly, "Stop a moment, Mr. Meads, stop,—such a sad thing has happened."
Isaac would not stop. He pushed past her into the passage. There he was brought to a standstill. For Daisy, carried by two men, lay, white and helpless and senseless, with shut eyes and no sign of life in her.
"Which is Daisy's room?" asked Mrs. Roper. "Upstairs, I suppose?"
"No, it isn't," said the dismayed Bess. "There isn't no upstairs room used. Miss Daisy, she sleeps in here."
Daisy was carried in and laid upon her narrow bed. As they placed her, so she remained, one little hand dropping weakly over one side, and not a tinge of colour in the still face. The half-closed lids had a stiffened look, and only a faint twitching now and then round the parted lips showed her to be alive.
Daisy had lain thus, ever since she and John Davis were struck down together. The cruel flash which had torn and shattered John's right arm, burning the hair from his head and the very eyebrows from his face, and melting the metal buttons of his shirt, yet strange to say not killing him, had not even scorched Daisy. Only, from the moment that she had dropped to the ground, she had not stirred, or spoken, or looked at anybody.
The two men, Jem Humphrey and Will Saunders, who had carried Daisy, stood waiting for further directions, and old Isaac gazed at Daisy with a fixed stare, which might have meant grief, or bewilderment, or both.
Mrs. Roper, a slight and active little lady, with kind eyes, and a quick manner which could become very cordial at times, went close to Isaac and laid her hand on his arm, to draw his attention. He had only stared vacantly when she spoke, seeming not to understand.