“If she should die before I find her folks! If it’s ’cause I haven’t done the best I could for her—Oh, what shall I do!” wailed Take-a-Stitch, herself grown haggard with watching and grief, so that she looked like any other than the winsome child who had flashed upon Miss Bonnicastle’s vision at that memorable visit of hers to that crooked little alley where they had met.
And Timothy Dowd, the only one of the big household near, whom Mary Fogarty permitted to enter the wagon-house-hospital, sighed as he answered with an affected cheerfulness: “Sure, it’s nobody dies around these parts; not a body since I was put to work on this section the road. So, why more her nor another an’ she the youngest o’ the lot? Younger, betoken, nor the twinses theirselves.
“An’ it’s naught but that crotchetty woman, yon,” continued Tim, “that’s cousin to me own sister’s husband, ’d have took such fool notions into her head. Forbiddin’ me, even me, her own relation by marriage, to set foot inside her door till she says the word, an’ somebody tellin’ her we should be smoked out with sulphur an’ brimstone, like rats in a hole, ere ever we can mix with decent folks again. An’ some of the boys, even, takin’ that nonsense from herself, an’ not likin’ to dig in the same ditch along with the contagious Tim. Sure, it’s contagious an’ cantankerous and all them other big things we’ll be, when we get out o’ this an’ find the old captain, your grandpa, an’ the biggest kind of a celebration ’twill be, or never saw I the blue skies of old Ireland! Bless the sod!”
But in his heart, faithful Timothy did not look for Bonny Angel’s recovery. Nobody knew what ailed her, since physician had not been called. Against such professional advice, Mary Fogarty had set her big foot with an unmovable firmness. Doctors had never interfered in her household save once, when Dennis, misguided man, had consulted one. And witness, everybody, hadn’t he been sick and useless ever since?
So, from a safe distance, she assumed charge of the case; sending Glory a pair of shears with which to shave Bonny’s sunny head, directing that all windows should be closed, lest the little patient “take cold,” and preparing food suitable for the hardest working “boarder,” rather than the delicate stomach of a sick child.
However, had they known it, there was nothing whatever infectious about little Bonny’s illness, which was simply the result of unaccustomed exposure and unwholesome food; nor did good Mary’s unwise directions cause any great harm, because, though a delicate child, the baby was a healthy one. She had no desire for the coarse food that was offered her but drank frequently of the milk that accompanied it; and as for the matter of fresh air, although Glory had to keep the windows closed, there was plenty of ventilation from the wide apertures under the eaves of the shed.
At the end of the week, the devoted young nurse had the delight of hearing her “Angel” laugh outright, for the first time in so many days, and to feel her darling’s arms about her own neck while the pale little lips cried out once more the familiar, “Bonny come! Bonny come!”
To catch her tiny “Guardian” up and run with her to the cottage-door took but a minute, but there Glory’s enthusiasm was promptly dashed by Mary’s appearance. Shaking her arms vigorously, she “shooed” the pair away, as she “shooed” everything objectionable out of her path.
“Stand back! Stand back, the two of ye! Don’t dast to come anigh, sence the time of gettin’ over things is the very worst time to give ’em. Hurry back to the wagon-house, quick, quick! And once you’re safe inside, I’ll fetch you some other clothes that you must both put on. Every stitch you’ve wore, ary one, and the bedclothes, has got to be burnt. Tim’s to burn ’em this noonin’. I’ve got no girl your size, but that don’t matter. I’ve cut off an old skirt o’ my own, for your outside, an’ little Joe’s your very pattern for shape, so his shirt an’ blouse ’ll do amazin’ well. As for the baby, she can put on a suit of the twinses’ till so be we can do better. Now hurry up!”
Glory could not help lingering for a moment to ask, “Must it be burned? Do you really, truly, mean to burn Bonny Angel’s lovely white silk coat, an’ her pretty dress all lace an’ trimmin’? An’ my blue frock–why, I haven’t wore it but two years, that an’ the other one to home. It’s as good as good, only lettin’ out tucks now and then an’—”