"I don't want to put the blame on any one else and run off."
Fetzer saw three boys approaching rapidly.
"I saw how it happened—it'll be all right. Now you come with me."
With authority she led Ellen through a little door at the back of the house, and there in a small room Ellen saw a sofa and sank down upon it.
When she opened her eyes again it seemed to her that she was at home and that Mrs. Sassaman was attending to some childish injury. Gradually the articles of furniture appeared, and presently she realized that the woman bending over her was not Mrs. Sassaman, but a stranger.
"You just lay still," Fetzer insisted with authority. "I watched you and I said to myself, 'There's one in trouble'; and I know what trouble is. I was coming to speak to you when you ran across the street. Did you eat already?"
Ellen shook her head.
"I'll bet that's what ails you. Is any one expecting you?"
Again Ellen shook her head.