"Your little boy will soon be here; he had an accident with the milk, and he's gone to fetch some more."
A woman raised her head from a narrow bed which seemed to take up nearly all the space inside. A little boy of about two sat on the floor munching an orange.
The woman had dark hair and flushed cheeks.
"I'm so thirsty," she moaned, "and oh, so miserable! Who are you?"
[CHAPTER IV]
CHARLIE'S RAFT
FAITH lost all feeling of shyness in her desire to help this sick woman. She came up to the bedside, and looked at her with her eyes full of pity.
"I'm Faith Blair. We've only just come to live in a cottage here. Can I get you a drink of water?"
The woman pointed to a jug on a shell.
"There's a drop o' cold tea there. I'm never to get up no more, the doctor's told me. He's going to try to get me in the 'Firmary, an' I will not go. My Jim has had to join up, but I promised him I'd keep the van till he comes back, and I want Dan back. He must put the horse in and we must be off!"