"There's one for you in my room, Miss Darracott. You will also find a bath prepared for you, and clothes for you to put on. Your aunt gave them to me, since you cannot go to your own room at present."
"That means that you are in quarantine, Nan," said Paulina. "You seem pretty certain about the matter," she added, turning to Miss Cottrell.
"I know a few things," said that spinster with a smile, "but we shall soon know whether I am right, for Mr. Jack Upsher has ridden into Chelmsford to fetch the doctor. Now say 'Good-bye' to Miss Darracott, for I have constituted myself your nurse for the present."
Tears sprang anew to Paulina's eyes. She stretched out her arms appealingly to me, but Miss Cottrell interposed her person, and gently pushed me towards the door.
"Good-bye," said Paulina with a sob, and I promised that if I might not see her, she would be constantly in my thoughts.
"Stay in my room till I come to you," was Miss Cottrell's last mandate.
Thus strangely did the new day begin. How little we know what is before us!
[CHAPTER XII]
AT HOBBES'S COTTAGE
WHEN Dr. Poole arrived, he confirmed Miss Cottrell's verdict. Happily the doctor was an eminently practical man, and, being an old friend of aunt's, he was disposed to regard the matter as much from her point of view as from that of Josiah Dicks. So he decided that the best thing possible in the circumstances was to remove the patient to a house in the village. He assured her father that the removal could be accomplished without risk of harm to her; but he had considerable difficulty with Mr. Dicks before he could persuade him to consent to this arrangement.