Much concerned, Basil and Patricia had the Squire put to bed and sent for a doctor. Mara, in an indifferent way, expressed her sorrow, although she never offered to nurse her father. Instead of helping, she went up to her cousin's room to tell him of the accident. Not finding him in the sitting-room, she knocked at his bed-room door, and stood amazed to find that he--as she supposed--had gone to rest.
"Are you ill, Theo?" she asked, crossing to the bed.
Theodore groaned. "I had a row with Basil and he threw me out of the window."
Mara clapped her hands and her eyes sparkled. "How strong he is!" she said, which was not the sympathetic speech Theodore desired to hear. "Why did he fight you, Theo?"
"I asked Patricia to marry me and Basil cut up rough."
"No wonder!" said Mara disdainfully. "Why, any fool could have seen that Basil is in love with Patricia. He won't let anyone come near her. Oh!" she clapped her hands again and laughed gaily. "I should have liked to see you flying through the window."
"Little beast, you are," snarled Theodore. "I'm all aches and pains, and my eye is black where he struck me, damn him!"
"Would you like to see the doctor?"
"No. It's not worth sending to Hendle for the doctor. Besides, he'd only chatter. I know these local gossips."
"But the doctor is coming here. You had better let him examine you, Theo."