Therefore, much against his will, Donald was dispatched to take word to Miss Reese and to the doctor. "That child will be the death of me," complained Mrs. Murdoch. "I wish to heavens I had never undertaken the care of her. I know nothing about these people to whom she has gone."
But a call from the doctor reassured her. "She couldn't be in better hands," he said. "I'll stop there to-morrow and see how she is. Bless the little monkey! she ought to have come to me, if she was sick. She is a dear child, one of the sweetest I ever knew, and that is a good deal for a doctor to say." Mrs. Murdoch probably did not agree with him, but she did not say so.
But Eleanor, sleeping soundly, did not concern herself about any of this and little knew what the morrow had in store for her.
CHAPTER VII
Uncle Heath
The little girl's thoughts upon first awakening were concerning Bubbles. She slipped out of bed and as she jumped upon the braided mat which lay upon the floor the noise informed Mrs. Snyder that she was up and her pleasant face appeared at the door. "Scramble back again, honey," she said, "till I get this fire stirred up. The room will be warm in a jiffy if I put in a stick of wood and open the drafts. Mr. Snyder's gone to hunt up them gipsies; he'll be back by the time you're ready for breakfast. Can you dress yourself? If you want me to fasten any buttons, just run down to the kitchen. I've some bread in the oven and I must be looking after it."
Eleanor hurried to dress, for she was very anxious to hear if Bubbles had been seen by the gipsies, and she was at the kitchen window watching for Mr. Snyder when he drove up. He entered the room in his usual hearty blustering way. "Breakfast ready, mother?" he asked.
"All ready. I'm dishing up now."
"Hallo, little one!" Mr. Snyder drew Eleanor to his knee. "Well, I've been to the gipsy camp, and they've cleared out; every hoof. It is getting too late for them and they want to get south. I'm sorry but it don't seem to me that Bubbles could be with them; more likely she's with some of the darkies in town."
Eleanor shook her head. "No, she wouldn't go to any of them, 'cause she told me she meant to come out here to Sylvy, for Sylvy said when she left, if Bubbles couldn't get along with Cousin Ellen she could come to her. You see, she's known Bubbles all her life; ever since Bubbles was a baby, and it isn't likely she'd go to any one else."