Presently Ellen returned to her place on the stump and there sat for half an hour.
"I think she was very disagreeable," she said, beginning to speculate about married life. She, Ellen, would never make her husband uncomfortable!
"If I get one!" said Ellen. "And he was splendid!"
They must live in a very grand house—perhaps she and her father might some day visit them. She realized that she didn't even know their name—how strange the whole incident was!
At the end of half an hour curiosity sent her back to the house. Her father had now had time to read all he wanted, she was sure. She remembered that to-morrow a dressmaker was coming to get her ready for school and she sang for joy as she walked.
But in the half-hour that she spent in the woodland, life had taken a long stride. Levis sat with his treatise open at "Dementia," his eyes still bent upon the page. He had not moved since she went away.
"Father!" she cried gayly.
He answered without lifting his head.
"I've been taken suddenly with a bad stitch in my side, Ellen, and I don't wish to move until I've had medicine. You'll find it in the right-hand cupboard in a blue bottle. Bring me a pellet."
Ellen obeyed quickly, growing pale. Levis broke the pellet in his hand and held it close to his nostril, then he straightened his shoulders. It was exactly like a tiger that the thing leaped upon one!