‘Take Jack down to the study and have your tea there, Walter,’ she said; ‘Anne will see after you, and we will stay up here a little by ourselves. We can have a quarter of an hour’s talk; and I will have the boys quite ready by half-past six.
‘Now we will be cosy,’ she said, drawing up a low chair to the fire, and sitting down on it. ‘You too, Ralph; here is room for you on the floor at this side. Vivi can sit on my knee if he doesn’t think he is too big.’
Vivian, however, who was still sobbing, preferred to sit on the floor, and to hide his hot face in his mother’s dress, and she wisely took no notice, knowing that he would recover himself more quickly if she left him alone. ‘What a long, weary, troubled day you must have had!’ she said softly; ‘but Aunt Dora has told me how good you have been, and how little trouble you have given.’
‘How did you manage to leave Dorothy, mother?’ asked Ronald, instinctively keeping clear of the subject which was uppermost in all their minds.
‘Nicely,’ answered his mother with a smile. ‘I promised her that, if she would be a very good girl, father would bring her her Ronnie back,’ and she looked down at her eldest son with a little smile, ‘and Vivi too,’ she added, putting her hand tenderly on the little black head which was half-hidden in the folds of her soft gray gown. ‘She has missed you both so terribly that she was willing to promise anything so long as she had the prospect of getting you back. I am sure I don’t know what she will do when you go to school.’
‘Then we are going home with father,’ said Ronald. Mary thought we might, so I have packed nearly all our things.’
‘That was my good, thoughtful boy,’ said his mother. ‘I asked Anne to see to your things; but she is so busy I am glad there will not be much for her to do.’
‘Are you going to stay here then?’ asked Vivian, speaking for the first time.
‘Yes, sonnie, for a day or two, to help auntie to nurse Isobel. So Ronald and you must do the best you can at home, and look after father and little Dorothy.’
The tears came into Mrs Armitage’s eyes as she thought how very little more nursing her little niece was likely to need, but for every one’s sake she tried to speak as cheerfully as possible. It was clear that Isobel, in falling, had hurt her back as well as her head, and Dr Armitage had only been able sorrowfully to confirm what Dr Robson had feared: that there was very little hope that she would live through the night. It was evident from the symptoms that inflammation had set in, and if that could not be speedily checked the end could not be far off.