“Would you teach a woman to be gentle to her child?” she cried wildly.
Without waiting for a reply, she gathered the little form tenderly into her arms and laid her down on a sofa which stood at one side of the room. Then running to the sink for some water, she wet her handkerchief and began to wipe off the child’s face.
“You mustn’t mind what I said,” she faltered the next moment. “I didn’t mean it. I’m just wild.”
“I know,” Dick returned gently. “A doctor should be called at——”
“Of course!”
She sprang to her feet and flew into another room, whence Dick heard the insistent ringing of a telephone bell, followed quickly by rapid, broken sentences. As the handkerchief fell from her hand he had picked it up and was sprinkling the child’s face with water.
Presently the girl gave a little moan and opened her eyes.
“Mamma,” she said faintly—“mamma!”
The woman ran into the room at the sound.
“Here I am, darling,” she said, as she knelt down by the couch. “Where do you feel bad, Amy dear?”