"No. She has gone to the hospital, and I could only give the people this address, for she was too sleepy and stupid to tell us anything; so you go and tell her friends that she was taken to the fever hospital last Thursday."
Miriam nodded. "Whatever was the matter with her?" she said.
"She caught scarlet fever, but the doctor thought she would not have it very bad," added Mrs. Lewis; and then she shut the door, without waiting to hear any more from Miriam.
For a minute she stood still, wondering what she had better do, and how she could let Fanny's friends know what had happened to her, considering she knew no more of their address than that they lived at the other end of the town. At length she remembered Mrs. Lloyd, and thought she would be sure to know where Fanny's friends lived, and she felt sure that she should find the lady at home, as she seldom went out on Sunday evening. So she hurried to Mrs. Lloyd's, and, as she expected, that lady answered the door herself.
"If you please, ma'am, can you tell me where Fanny lives?" she said quickly.
"Fanny?" repeated the lady. "She has left my service."
"Yes, ma'am, and she's in the fever hospital, and nobody don't know nothing about it," interrupted Miriam.
"In the hospital! But the authorities there will know where she lives, surely!" exclaimed Mrs. Lloyd.
"No, ma'am, I've just seen the lady at Fanny's new place, and she says Fanny was sleepy and stupid-like when they took her away, and they put down that address, and she doesn't know where Fanny lives. She never told her, and she never told me," concluded Miriam.
"Dear me, what is to be done, then? For I don't think she ever told me her proper address. I know where she went to school, and I will go and see her teacher the first thing to-morrow morning."