In a few minutes a cheerful fire was roaring in the stove. Then, following the directions of Mrs. Bragley, they found some tea and brewed it, and set out a little lunch which they pressed the woman to eat. The food and tea refreshed and revived her, and, as her shyness wore off, she talked with them freely.
Nan found some arnica with which she bathed the injured ankle, and then they helped their patient to undress and get into bed. And having done this, and seen that she was as comfortable as it was possible to make her, the girls withdrew into a corner to hold, as Nan expressed it, a "committee meeting to discuss ways and means."
"Now, girls, just what are we going to do?" demanded Nan, as her friends gathered round her with anxious looks on their faces.
"Take care of this poor woman until she is able to be on her feet again," responded Bess promptly. "We can't do less."
"Of course, that goes without saying," agreed Nan. "We're the cause of her present trouble, and it's up to us to get her out of it. The only question is as to the best way to do it."
"Go ahead and tell us, Nan," urged Grace. "You've got the best head of any of us when it comes to an emergency like this."
"The first thing," suggested Nan, "is to get a doctor."
"I'm so glad it isn't an undertaker we have to call for," put in Grace, with a shudder.
"And the next," continued Nan, "is to find a nurse. The poor thing is utterly helpless just now with that hurt ankle. She can't even keep up the fire, and the weather's so cold she'd freeze to death if the fire went out."
"If we only had a telephone," murmured Rhoda, as her eye wandered over the place, though she knew beforehand that such an instrument would not be found in that poor cottage.