"No', miss, I hope not. She's took a bit bad. We can't always avoid it in our profession, miss."
"I don't understand you," she answered, feeling a little uneasy.—Were there horrors to be revealed of which she had surmised nothing?
"If you will do us the honor to take a seat, miss, we shall be only too happy to show you as much as you may please to look upon with favor."
Hester shuddered involuntarily, but mastered herself. The man saw her hesitate, and resumed.
"You see, miss, this is how it was. Dr. Christopher—that's the gentleman there, a lookin' after mother—he's been that kind to her an' me an' all on us in our trouble, an' never a crown-piece to offer him—which I'm sure no lady in the land could ha' been better attended to than she've been—twixt him an' you, miss—so we thought as how we'd do our best for him, an' try an' see whether amongst us we couldn't give him a pleasant evenin' as it were, just to show as we was grateful. So we axed him to tea, an' he come, like the gen'leman he be, an' so we shoved the bed aside an' was showin' him a bit on our craft, just a trick or two, miss—me an' the boys here—stan' forward, Robert an' the rest of you an' make your bows to the distinguished company as honors you with their presence to cast an eye on you an' see what you can show yourselves capable of."
Here Mr. Christopher—Hester had not now heard his name for the first time, though she had never seen him before—turned, and approached them.
"She'll be all right in a minute or two, Franks," he said.
"You told her, doctor, the boy ain't got the smallest hurt? It 'ud break my heart nigh as soon as hers to see the Sarpint come to grief."
"She knows that well enough; only, you see, we can't always help letting the looks of things get a hold of us in spite of the facts. That's how so many people come to go out of their wits. But I think for the present it will be better to drop it."
Franks turned to Hester to explain.