“I’ve seen women like this in boarding houses,” he observed, reassuringly, to Titus. Then he said, “Some cold water, Jennie, to sprinkle on her face.”
The water was dashed on her, her hands were rubbed, and presently the exhausted girl sat up and shut her mouth.
“Will you be kind enough to have some hot soup, or something of the sort, prepared for her,” said Dallas to Mrs. Blodgett, “and make the maids go away. There are too many people in the room.”
Mrs. Blodgett drove everybody out except Titus. However, he soon slipped away, and she and Dallas were alone with the little girl.
They said nothing to her, and Airy, curled up on a sofa, panted and sobbed in a suppressed way, until Jennie appeared with the soup.
Then she protested. “Take it away. I aint got no feelin’ for it.”
“Drink it,” said Dallas, quietly, and he held the bowl to her lips.
She had to take it, though in the effort a violent perspiration broke out all over her weak little body.
Dallas made her drink every drop of it, then he sat quietly staring at her. Mrs. Blodgett took the bowl and waddled away, promising to return in a short time.
Airy nervously plucked at the sofa cushions, until Dallas asked her a question.