"I must write a note to papa and ask him to send a telegraphic dispatch to auntie," said Mrs. Winter; "and you, Louisa, must carry it, for Anna is not well enough to go out. Now, can I depend upon you to go straight to papa's office?"
"Yes, mamma, of course I will!"
Louisa meant what she said, and for once she was ready for the car when it came along. But, unluckily, to reach her father's office, she had to pass a toy shop, the window of which almost always presented some new attraction, and had many a time delayed Louisa. She did not mean to stop this time, but only to look at the window in passing. But behold, there was a grand new baby-house with the most wonderful rosewood furniture, and such a kitchen as was never seen in a dolls' house before; and there was her school-mate Jennie Atridge, looking through the glass.
"Oh, Louisa, just look here!" she exclaimed, as she saw Louisa. "Just see what a splendid doll's house! Mamma has promised me one for my birthday. I wonder if she will buy this?"
"I have got a doll's house, but it is not furnished," said Louisa, stopping "just a minute," to look in at the window. "We are going to buy the furniture next week, if Anna gets well enough to come into town. She has been sick two days with a bad cold. I wonder if we could get such a stove as that?"
"I would rather have a range," said Jennie. "See, there is a nice one over in that corner."
The "just a minute" lengthened out into ten, while the girls discussed the furniture, and when Louisa reached the office she found her father had gone out.
"He has gone over to the South End," said the office-boy, "and will not be back till noon. It is a pity you did not come before, for he has not been gone more than five minutes."
When Mr. Winter came back, he found his wife's note and sent a message directly. But it was too late. Aunt Maria had started, and arrived next day to find Anna broken out with the measles, and another of the children coming down with the same disease. The baby took it, of course, and was so ill that its life was despaired of for many days.
Louisa was very sorry, and would gladly have done anything for her aunt or for baby, but she could not undo the mischief she had done by "just one minute's" delay.