‘It is about Isobel, Aunt Dora,’ said Ronald bravely. ‘Did you know that she had had a fall?’
‘A fall? When? here? Tell me quickly, Ronald.’ His aunt’s voice sounded so sharp and strained that even Ronald was frightened, and Vivian hid his face in the clothes and wondered what was going to happen next.
‘It was last Wednesday. We were playing hide-and-seek, and Vivi and Isobel climbed up on one of the branches of the old oak-tree behind the summer-house, and when Claude and I caught sight of them they began to crawl along the branch, and all at once it broke, and they both fell on to the path.’
‘And why was I not told this before?’ asked Aunt Dora in grave displeasure. ‘The others were younger; but I thought you were to be trusted, Ronald.’
The tears came into Ronald’s eyes, but he made no attempt to justify himself; that would have been to have blamed Ralph.
‘Isobel said she was not hurt, Aunt Dora,’ he said simply; ‘and though she looked a little bit white at first, she seemed all right in a moment.’
‘That did not matter. You should not have listened to her; you should have come straight to me.’ The words were spoken so passionately that Ronald was dumb; but Vivian spoke out loyally:
‘It wasn’t Ronald’s fault, auntie, whosever fault it was. He ran into the house to tell you, even although Isobel begged him not to, and Ralph laughed at him for making a fuss. But you were not in; you had gone to see that old lady, and you did not come back till tea-time, and then Isobel seemed all right, and we never thought any more about it till just now.’
Mrs Osbourne laid her hand quickly on her elder nephew’s shoulder. ‘Forgive me, my boy,’ she said; ‘but I am so anxious I hardly know what I am saying, and this only confirms what the doctor feared. He asked me if she had not had a fall, and of course I did not know. He is coming back at ten—there is his ring—and he talked—he talked—of her head and her back.’
The last words were spoken so low that they were scarcely audible; but as Mrs Osbourne hastily rose and left the room they heard her murmur to herself, ‘My little girl, my only little girl!’ and they gazed at one another in awe-struck silence.