Bessie talked on eagerly and quickly, too full of the plans she had thought of for helping the family over this time of difficulty to notice at first that her friend did not answer any of her proposals or appear to notice them, and at length, looking up, she saw that Dame Drayton had fainted.
The shock of being arrested and led through the streets to prison, the horror and fright that had made sleep impossible amid such surroundings, then the excitement of being brought before the Lord Mayor and the crowded court, had produced such a nervous condition in Dame Drayton that she could bear up no longer, and from sheer physical exhaustion had sunk into a state of unconsciousness.
Bessie's screams soon brought Deborah, and with her came Madam Lowe and Audrey; for Sim Tompkins, having taken home the news to his mother, she ran with it at once to the vicarage; and although the vicar and his wife professed to be dreadfully shocked at the wickedness and folly of their relatives connecting themselves with the Quakers, Audrey at once insisted that she should be allowed to go and see what could be done for her cousins in the absence of their mother and father, and, finding she was determined to do this, her mother decided to accompany her.
They were at the door when Bessie screamed, for Deb had just opened it, and they all came running into the keeping-room to see what was amiss.
"Dear heart, have you killed her?" exclaimed Deborah, when she saw her mistress looking white and lifeless as a corpse, leaning back in the stiff, upright chair, with her arms hanging limp by her side.
But the sight of her sister, even in this condition, was a relief to Madam Lowe; and she hoped no one among her friends now would hear that she had been in prison.
"When did she come home?" she asked; pushing Bessie aside, and turning to Deborah, who stood wringing her hands in a helpless fashion.
"This morning—not long ago," wailed Deb. "Oh, if she has got the gaol fever whatever shall we do!"
The mere suggestion made Madam Lowe start aside with horror, but Audrey was kissing her aunt's white cheek.
"Get some burnt feathers," she said, turning to Bessie, for this was the most approved remedy for fainting in those days.