“I don’t think the account of your being scared sounds very fascinating, Nancy,” said Augusta. “It is not like my scare.”
“But are you scared about something?”
“Yes; I have had a great and terrible scare.”
“Won’t you tell me?”
“Not yet; I will some time, but not yet. I think I’ll get up now; I am much better. Come, help me into my dress. We will both be downstairs when they come back from the woods.”
Nancy helped Augusta to dress, and the two girls went downstairs.
The party from the woods returned about eight o’clock. They were all excited, and brimful of news. Miss Roy was the first to speak of it.
“How lucky,” she said—“how very, very lucky it is that Mrs. Richmond has forbidden you girls to have anything to do with the Asprays!”
“Why?” asked Nancy.
“My dear, a terrible—most terrible—thing has happened. That poor, pretty girl Constance is down with malignant smallpox. She is terribly ill, and the doctors say not likely to recover. The doctors are terribly anxious, and they have sent for a specialist from town.”