“Yes, where you put it this morning, on the back of the wash-stand; sha'n't I light the lamp and help you?”
“No, no, hush!” said Lilia. “I can put my hand on it in the dark. Here it is! I'll bathe my face a few minutes, and then try to go to sleep.”
So, she anointed herself freely, put the bottle and sponge under the head of the bed lest she should need them again, and, finally, the pain growing less, fell asleep.
In the morning, Bell, who wakened first, rubbed her eyes drowsily, glanced at Lilia, who was breathing quietly, and uttered a piercing shriek. This in turn aroused the other girls, who joined in the shriek on general principles, and then, blinking in the half-light, looked where Bell pointed. One side of Lilia's face was swollen, and of a dark, purple color, presenting a truly frightful appearance. At length, hearing the confusion, Lilia awoke with a start, and her eyes being open, and rolling about in surprise, she looked still more alarming.
“What on earth is the matter, girls?” she asked, sitting up in bed, smoothing back her hair and rubbing her heavy lids.
Thereupon Edith and Alice began to tremble and nobody answered her.
“K-k-keep c-c-calm,” said Bell. “Lilia, dear, your face is badly swollen and inflamed, and we're afraid you are going to be ill, but we'll send for the doctor straight away. Does it pain you very much?”
Lilia jumped up hastily, and, looking in the mirror, uttered a cry of terror, and sank back into the rocking-chair.
“Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What can it be! Oh, take me home to my father! It must be a malignant pustule—or spotted fever—or something dreadful! What shall I do? Bell, you are a doctor's daughter; do find out what's the matter with me! I am disfigured for life, and I wasn't very good-looking before.”
“Girls,” said Bell, “let us dress this very instant, for we can't be too quick about a thing of this kind. You, Jo, build the kitchen fire, and, Alice, make a blaze on the hearth in here; then, after we've made her comfortable, Edith can run and tell Uncle Harry to come.”