Although Nelson Haley was at the dance he had not come near her and Janice was disappointed. She was always hoping that at some informal party like this one, she would find an opportunity to speak confidentially to the school teacher. But that occasion never seemed to present itself.
Now that snow covered the ground she could use her car no more, and she was away from home from Monday morning until Friday evening. She boarded with a widowed lady near the seminary.
Janice missed her rides in the automobile, for jogging along behind Walky Dexter’s old horses was not much fun. There was a week’s vacation at Thanksgiving, and at the very beginning of that recess the weather unaccountably changed. The thermometer rose with a bound, rain fell in torrents, and all the snow was washed off the hillsides. It cleared off warm, too—an unseasonable change that did nobody any good. Colds and other physical troubles were immediately prevalent and the local physicians had their hands full.
The roads were so well drained about Polktown that they dried immediately. Janice got out the car and ran up into the woods to see how the Trimmins family were getting on. Dr. Poole was still in attendance on little Buddy and he saw to it that the other children were prevented from getting any childish ills at this time. She met the good doctor at the squatters’ cabin.
“Put out your tongue and let’s feel your pulse, Janice,” he said, gruffly. “I don’t want you getting sick. I’ve got some serious cases of grippe in town and one I’m afraid will result in pneumonia. I warned that stubborn fellow; but he thought he knew more than I did. Ought to have gone to bed two days before school closed; but he said he’d wait and be sick during this vacation—and he is.”
“Whom do you mean, Doctor?” asked Janice, with sudden apprehension.
“That Nelse Haley—reckless fellow! His temperature this morning was a hundred and three, and still going up.”
“The school teacher!” cried Janice, in sudden alarm.
“Yes. Mrs. Beasely has got her hands full with him. He’s not an easy patient to nurse. Won’t obey orders,” said the doctor, as he climbed into his gig.
This worried Janice a good deal. She stopped at the Scattergoods on her way home and asked about Nelson.