"She must have a trained nurse at once," decided the doctor.
"I kin nuss huh," declared Parthy, looking anxiously from the bed to the doctor. "Dese yer train' nusses a lot o' trouble, dey tells me. Dey say yuh bleedged wait on 'em han' an' foot, an' dey so high an' mighty yuh kaint please 'em nohow. Dat what dey tells me. I kin nuss huh."
"No, Aunt Parthy, I'm afraid you can't," decided the doctor.
"What de reason I kaint?" persisted Parthy. "Ain't I nuss huh when she have de measles an' de whookin' cough, an de chicken pox? Ain't I? What Miss Jinny know 'bout nussin'. Law, doctah, I teks ker o' Miss Jinny an' Miss Nancy bofe."
"I know that Parthy, and you did well, but this is quite a different case and will require a skilful hand. I know you would do your best, and we shall probably have to call on you to help out, but this child has every symptom of brain fever. This ordeal has been too much for her."
"Ain't it de troof now?" exclaimed Parthy. "I say she boun' be sick ef she don' look out. Why, doctah, she ain't been eatin' nuff ter keep a buhd alive, dis month pas', an' den de heat an' all huh trouble comin' so sudden. Co'se huh brain giv out when she ain't feed it up."
Even the gravity of the situation did not prevent a little smile from lurking around the doctor's lips at this speech. "Well, Parthy," he said, "a trained nurse is an absolute necessity. I think I know just the right person, and I can promise you she will give no more trouble than is required. In the meantime I want you to carry out these instructions"—he gave them to her—"and then I will go back and return as soon as I can with Mrs. Bertram, the nurse I spoke of. With her help and the Lord's I hope we can pull her through. Poor little thing! Poor little thing!" So he left Nancy to Aunt Parthy's tender mercies.
Thus it was when at last Nancy opened her eyes to an actual world, instead of the weird, and often terrible one, in which she had been for so long, she beheld a strange, but kind and sympathetic face bent above her. She gazed long and earnestly before she whispered faintly "Mamma!"
The nurse stroked the frail little hand which lay outside the coverlet, but said nothing though her eyes were full of tenderness.
"Who are you?" Nancy added faintly. "I want mamma."