"Could you have helped?" asked Coral. "Wouldn't it have made you feel bad? His foot was bleeding dreadfully when he came in. You can see the marks now on the doorstep."
"Yes, I know," said Beryl; "there was a cut just above his boot. I tied my handkerchief round it. Aunt Cecilia said it made her feel faint to see the blood; but I should not be like that. What would be the good? If every one felt like that, there would be no doctors, I should think. Miss Burton does not mind it, you see."
"Do you think he will be able to go to London to-morrow?" asked Coral.
"I am afraid not," said Beryl, suddenly remembering how she had counted on his departure.
"You don't think he will stay till Friday?" asked Coral anxiously. "It will be tiresome if we have to give up the birthday party."
"Yes; I've just thought of that," said Beryl, looking grave; "I can't tell at all how it will be. I shall be vexed if we have to give it up. And we have told the children about it—oh dear!"
Beryl drew a deep sigh, and was silent for a few moments.
"After all, Coral," she added presently, in a softer voice, "it is worse for Percy than for us. I am sure he must be in dreadful pain. And he will be sorry not to go to-morrow, for his school begins on Tuesday, and I heard him say that he likes to be there on the first day."
It seemed to the children, as they waited anxiously on the staircase, that the doctor was a very long time attending to Percy. But at last they saw Mr. Hollys come out of the dining-room, followed by the medical man. The two gentlemen went into the library for a little private talk, and Beryl, judging that operations were suspended for a time, crept quietly downstairs to inquire into Percy's condition. She was pleased to learn that he was in less pain, and that the doctor hoped that his injuries were not serious. After hearing this news, Beryl consented to take her tea in the nursery, though before she had decidedly negatived Lucy's suggestion that she must be feeling hungry and faint.
Percy passed a night of pain, and was far from being in condition for a journey on the following day. But happily no bones were broken, and though his foot was badly bruised and cut, and his ankle slightly sprained, there seemed no cause for great anxiety concerning him. Miss Burton was his careful nurse, and shoved great skill in dressing and bandaging his wounded foot. He kept in his room all day. Beryl continued to feel the deepest interest in his sad case, and harassed her governess with innumerable questions regarding him at every opportunity.