"Don't touch me," she almost shrieked. "I believe I'm bruised all over, and my foot is hurting me dreadfully—I think all the bones in it are broken! Oh, dear, what shall I do? Please fetch father—fetch him at once!" And the little girl burst into a storm of tears and sobs.
Tim, pale as a sheet himself, rushed to the house to do Kitty's bidding; and a few minutes later he returned, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Glanville and the two servants. Mr. Glanville carried his little daughter indoors, and laid her on the sofa in the dining-room; then he suggested sending for a doctor.
"Yes," assented his wife, who was carefully withdrawing the shoe from poor Kitty's injured foot. "There, dear, it's off," she said, soothingly, as Kitty moaned with pain.
"Let me go," said Tim, who was hovering about the doorway, deeply concerned. "Ah! Do let me go; I'll run all the way."
"There's no need for such hurry as that—" said Mr. Glanville "at least, I think not. But if you will go and ask Dr. Richards to come round and see Kitty, I shall be very glad. I dare say you'll catch him before he starts on his morning round. You know where he lives?"
"Oh, yes—just round the corner," Tim replied. "Bob pointed out the house to me, and said your doctor lived there. I'll be back in a jiffy."
In spite of what Mr. Glanville had said Tim ran all the way, for he thought most seriously of Kitty's condition; and, as it happened, it was fortunate he did, for Dr. Richards was on the point of stepping into his gig when the little boy rushed up to him—a moment later he would have been gone.
"Oh, please," panted Tim excitedly, "will you go to Mr. Glanville's first of all? There's been a dreadful accident. Kitty's fallen from a tree, and is so injured! She's bruised all over, and has broken every bone in her right foot. I'm afraid she's very bad."
"I'll go and see her at once," the doctor replied, not looking nearly so impressed as Tim had expected he would; and, getting into his gig, he drove away.
The little boy retraced his footsteps soberly, and found the doctor's gig outside the Glanvilles' house on his return. He went round to the back of the house and discussed Kitty's accident with Cook in the kitchen; and when he heard Mary opening the front door for the doctor to depart, he begged Cook to go and ascertain what was the medical opinion of the patient, which she was very willing to do.