"You only say that to quiet me!" she cried. "I know it isn't true. I know Dolly has broken most all her bones and I know she'll never walk again. Why, I saw her myself, all limp and dead-looking. If she lives she'll be a cripple. Oh, my arm! my arm! I wish they'd cut it off! I'd rather not have it at all than have it hurt like this."
Impulsive Dotty tried to move her injured arm and then shrieked with the pain it caused her.
"You mustn't do that!" said Nurse Johnson somewhat severely; "if you try to move that arm it won't heal right and you'll have to have it broken over again and re-set."
Dotty glared at the nurse and then screamed: "I hate you! You go right straight out of this house! My mother can take care of me good enough and I don't want you around."
"There, there, Dotty dear," said Mrs. Rose; "don't talk to nurse like that. She has been very kind to you; and it's true if you move your arm around like that or try to do so, you'll make your injury far worse."
"I don't care! I want to make it worse! I want to have it cut off! I won't have a broken arm,— I won't— I won't!"
"Don't mind her, nurse; she's beside herself with pain and fright."
"Oh, that's all right, Mrs. Rose," and the white-capped nurse smiled; "I don't blame little girls for being cantankerous when they're laid up like this. It's awful hard on them and nobody knows it better than I do. And I'm not going to stay long, Miss Dotty. Only a day or two till your mother and aunt get the knack of taking care of you."
"I shall be head nurse," said Mrs. Bayliss, smiling at Dotty, "and your mother shall be my assistant."
"I don't want you for my nurse, Aunt Clara, and I don't want Miss Johnson, I just want Mother all the time."