"But why should she be so weak?" asked Tom. "Of course, I know she has not been very well lately, and the disappointment, when I said I was afraid I had failed, upset her; but I thought the good news that has just come would make her well again."
"Yes, dear, it will, I daresay, when she can quite understand it, but the suddenness of it has upset her for the time."
"What is the matter?" asked another voice, at this point, and looking round, they saw Mary had come in by the back gate, which Tom had left open. "What is the matter with Elsie?" she asked, in some alarm. "I have just heard from mother that Tom has won the scholarship, and came to tell Elsie."
"Tom has told us, and it was such a sudden joy to Elsie, that it was more than she could bear," said the widow.
Elsie was more quiet now, but lay back in the chair looking very white and exhausted, though she managed to smile when Mary went and took her hand. "I am so glad," she feebly whispered.
"Mrs. Winn, she must be very ill to be so faint as this, just because of hearing good news suddenly," said Mary, for Elsie had closed her eyes, and looked almost lifeless, as she lay back in the chair.
"Yes, she is very poorly, I know," replied Mrs. Winn, and she did not look much better than Elsie herself as she spoke, for what would become of them if Elsie was really going to be ill? She put the thought away from her as too terrible for contemplation. "It is only a bad cold hanging about her, I hope," she added, as Mary stood and looked at the helpless girl. She tried to rouse her, but it was of no use.
Elsie only shivered as if cold to her bones, and at last Tom and Mrs. Winn carried her upstairs again, and her mother resorted to the same remedies that had been used when she had the first shock.
Meanwhile Mary said, "Tom, I want you to go with me to look-out for Dr. Perceval. He will be in the village, I expect, this afternoon, and my father would like to see him on business, and I want to see him too; but I should not be able to walk so fast as you can."
"No, indeed, that is not to be expected," said Tom. "It is wonderful that you can walk as well as you can."