DR. FISHER'S VISIT
Ben picked him up, as Mother Pepper and the others hurried out, on hearing David scream. Joel lay so still and white in Ben's arms that Polly turned quite faint. But when she saw Mamsie's face, she bent over to Phronsie. "Come here, Pet," she tried to say, as she drew her off that she might not see.
"What is it, Polly?" asked Phronsie, wonderingly. "What is Ben carrying Joey for?"
"Now I must wash off the cake-crumbs, they're all over your face, Phronsie," said Polly, desperately.
"Carry him into the bedroom," Mother Pepper was saying.
"Come, child," Polly pulled Phronsie hastily toward the woodshed, "you must really let me wash your face."
"Why do you want to wash it in the woodshed, Polly?" asked Phronsie, obstinately, holding back. "I want to wash it in Mamsie's nice bowl."
"Oh, Phronsie, please come," begged Polly, still holding her arm. "See, if you don't, I shall cry." Which was the truth as the tears were beginning to come in Polly's brown eyes. Seeing this, Phronsie yielded, and pattered along by Polly's side obediently, and allowed her little face to be scrubbed and wiped quite dry, Polly's heart all the while going like a triphammer, and her ears pricked up for any word that might tell her of Joel. At last she could bear it no longer.
"Phronsie," she said, when the round cheeks and hands were as clean as clean could be, "now look at me, dear."
Phronsie lifted her blue eyes and fixed them in wide-eyed astonishment on Polly's face.