"Why, Bessie Bell!"
Bessie Bell said, "Sister Helen Vincula," and she knew she had done something wrong, but she could only wonder what.
But the lady said very quickly,—and she held Bessie Bell's hand even harder than before,—she said:
"Sister Helen Vincula, I must ask you something—"
Sister Helen Vincula and the lady talked a long time.
Bessie Bell did not listen very much to what they said.
She did not lean up against the lady now, but she sat close. Sister Helen Vincula did not seem to mind that.
She did not swing her foot to and fro now, but she still felt very contented and happy to have met the very Wisest Woman.
When she did listen a little she heard the lady say:
"There came news that my husband was ill in Mobile, and I feared that it was of the Dreadful Fever, and I hurried there so that I could get to him before the Dreadful Quarantines were put on. I felt all safe about the baby, for I left her with my mother and the faithful nurse who had been my nurse, too. But when the worst had come and was over,—and it was the Dreadful Fever,—then I tried to get back to my home; but I could not for many, many days, because the Dreadful Quarantines were on. Then at last I did get there—I slipped up secretly by water. All were gone. I could find no one who could tell me anything. I could find no one who knew anything. The house was wide open. There was no sign of life, but that the cat came and rubbed up against me, and walked round and round me. The Dreadful Fever was everywhere, and nobody could tell me anything; and I searched everywhere, always and always alone—there was no one to help me: everyone was trying to save from the Dreadful Fever—"