Natalie placed a hand on Susy’s forehead to see if it was hot and feverish, and Belle remarked laughingly: “Feel her pulse.”
“How cruel of you, Belle!” exclaimed Janet, half-crying.
“Well, is there any other way you can tell if Susy is ill or merely pretending,” retorted Belle.
“She can’t pretend like a ’possum would,” said Norma, defensively.
“And to think she may die and I haven’t even paid for her yet. I owe all that money to Jimmy!” wailed Janet.
“Should the worst come to the worst, Janet, you’re better off than if you paid for her with your own money,” Belle said, teasingly.
“What do you mean?” demanded Janet.
“Jimmy could not collect because you could tell her to confiscate the chattel on which the mortgage was made,” laughed Belle. But her joking in face of such a calamity as a sick Susy, was her undoing. The girls unceremoniously told her to get out!
While they tried to push Belle out of the shed, Susy lifted her woolly head and gazed after them, then she flopped back again upon the straw. Mrs. James called to Janet to hurry back.
“Susy just tried to lift her head. I believe we can get her out in the air if we can carry her, or help her stand.”