"Oh, horrors!" cried Mary Wilson, a room fellow of Kate's. "Are you certain—positively certain, Molly Lavender?
"Yes," answered Molly, who felt important in spite of all her misery, while she was imparting these ghastly details to her hearers. "Sir John Williamson will be here to-night, and if he agrees with Dr. Groves, they will perform the operation."
"To-night!" cried Hester.
"Yes," said Molly, nodding. "Miss Leicester says it will be all over in the morning, and we shall know—we shall know whether——" Her lips quivered, her eyes sought the ground; she found that she could not proceed with her speech.
"Think of it, girls!" said Hester "Think of its happening while we're all asleep!"
"No, I shan't sleep," said Molly.
"Nor I," echoed Amy.
"I am sure, if I do sleep, I shall have the most terrific nightmares," cried another girl. "Oh, dear Kate, what fun she was! Do you remember the name she gave us all in the dormitory—the Dwellers in Cubicles? Why, she made quite a storm in the house with her proposal that selfishness should be evicted. Oh, dear; oh, dear! but, somehow or other, I don't feel that she is going to die."
"Nor I," said Hester, trying to speak cheerfully. "Dr. Groves can't have at all given up the case, or he wouldn't propose an operation. You may be quite certain the London doctor will soon set her right; let us try and be cheerful, let us hope for the best."
"We might all of us remember Kate to-night when we are praying," said Amy, turning scarlet as she spoke.