Mrs. Fabian was trying to make her companion speak and tell them where she was injured, but she shook her head as if unable to speak. Dodo and her father addressed her by every affectionate name they could think of, and begged her to say what hurt. Her face was slightly cut but the blood made it seem appalling to others.
“If you’ll only get over this, Maggie, I’ll never put another straw in your way of hooking a title,” begged Mr. Alexander, his expression a mixture of renunciation and misery.
After many minutes filled with suspense for the motorists, and the same time filled by Mrs. Alexander’s groans and helpless rolling of her eyes from one to another of the distracted motorists, she gradually recovered enough to whisper: “The wheel must have fractured my ribs. I can feel the sharp ends of the splintered bones cut me everytime I breathe, or move a muscle.”
Mrs. Fabian then ordered the men to retire back of the big car, while she helped the girls in gently lifting the injured lady and placing her out flat on the comfortable seat of the roadster. With many a cry and catching of breath, the patient was finally stretched out.
“Now I shall have to cut your gown open in front to get at your stays,” said Mrs. Fabian, using the small scissors she kept in her large handbag.
Mrs. Alexander tried to object at having her expensive suit ruined, but Dodo held her hands while the scissors cut their way up and down. Once the outer clothing was opened the cause of the sharp point of the “fracture” was revealed.
“Thank goodness, Mrs. Alexander, that it is no worse!” exclaimed Mrs. Fabian, and the girls seconded that exclamation as they found the front steels of the stays had broken and were digging into the flesh under them.
The silken corsets were soon slashed through and the broken fronts removed, then Dodo said to her mother: “Take a deep breath, now.”
“O—oh—I’m afraid to, Dodo. It will hurt!” whimpered Mrs. Alexander.
“No it won’t! Mrs. Fabian managed to pull the steels out and she doesn’t believe any of your ribs are broken.”