The doctor did not seem to hear the question.
"Now mind what I have told you," he said as he departed. "I'll send the medicine directly, and you must give it to her at once."
"All right," said Bert. But, left alone with his unconscious sister in that dismal room, he felt as if nothing were right.
Bert proved a better nurse than the doctor could have believed. Love helped him to find out the best way of waiting on the patient, and inducing her to swallow the milk which the doctor had ordered her to have from time to time. The thin, worn mattress had slipped out of place under Prin's restless movements. Bert was exerting all his strength to drag it back into its right position, when suddenly a strange light flashed from beneath the corner he had raised. What could it be that gleamed so in that dark room? Bert turned up the mattress, and beheld, pinned to its inner side, a brilliant sparkling thing, which on examination proved to be a tiny brooch in the shape of a star. With trembling fingers Bert unfastened it and laid it on his palm, where, as the light fell on it, the costly ornament emitted flashes of dazzling, rainbow-hued brilliance.
Bert knew instinctively that the radiant gems which composed the brooch were diamonds of the utmost value. The sight inspired him with terror. His face grew white to the very lips as he looked at it, and the hand which held the diamond star trembled. For to him that beautiful object had the ugly face of a sin. He knew now what it was that Lady Millicent had missed, and he knew that Prin had stolen it; for assuredly no such radiant star had glittered on the dingy mattress when he made the bed for his sister on the night of her return. The discovery fell like a cruel blow on the loving heart in which the Princess was enthroned.
[CHAPTER XII]
At the Last Extremity
THE diamond brooch seemed to burn Bert's fingers as he held it, and he was glad to thrust it out of sight again beneath the mattress. It was plain now why Prin in her mental wanderings continually spoke of diamonds and glittering things. Poor Prin! Her mind had been sorely troubled in consequence of what she had done. Sin had brought its penalty. Bert's first feeling of shame and indignation changed to pity as he watched her. She was very ill. Even Bert, in his inexperience, could perceive that her sickness was "nigh unto death."
The district nurse came in and looked after the patient, giving to her all the time she could spare from her other cases, which unfortunately were very numerous; for there was much sickness at this time in the close, stifling streets of this poor neighbourhood. The doctor watched the case carefully, but would answer no questions. Bert wondered sadly what the end would be. He could not bear to think of Prin lying cold and still, as he had seen his father lie.
Yet if she lived, would not the police be sure to find her and the stolen brooch, and take her off to prison? Bert had great faith in the omnipotence of the police. The thought of the Princess in prison was terrible. Yet scarcely less grievous was the thought of her guilt. God knew what she had done. God's eye could see the glittering thing hidden beneath the mattress. And God would punish sin. Was it too late to pray, "Deliver her from evil"?