CHAPTER X
POPPY lay upon her bed like a drowned woman. She had come in almost fainting, and Kykie, meeting her on the stairs and seeing her face, had flown after her to her bedroom with water and brandy. The old woman had taken the girl in her arms bodily, and placing her on the bed, proceeded to drench her face and hair with ice-cold water and eau-de-Cologne, and to force doses of brandy between the white lips.
At last, reviving somewhat under this vigorous treatment, Poppy found breath and sense to remonstrate:
"What do you mean, Kykie? Do you want to choke me? Stop that ... I'm nearly drowned."
"You were drownded enough before you came in," responded Kykie with asperity; "your dress is soaking. Where have you been?"
Poppy had been lying in the dew-drenched grass of the garden for some two hours or more after her return from Mrs. Portal's, but she was not conscious of the fact.
"... And, Luce coming home without warning, and you not in to dinner, and everything in the world to aggravate a gracious Christian woman!" continued Kykie, panting like a stout sheep.
"Luce? Dinner?" said Poppy vaguely. "What is the time, Kykie?"
"I think you're going cracked," said Kykie with fresh ire, "not to know the time! Half-past nine it is, indeed, and me not in bed yet, when you know what I suffer if I don't get my night's rest. You and Luce simply haven't the consideration of a cow for me."