The tick-tock——tick-tock——of the big clock at the foot of the stairs was the only sound that broke the stillness of the night. Midnight came and went.——One o'clock——two o'clock——a piercing scream rang through the silent house! The Doctor, whose room was nearest the stairs, was the first to reach the sick room. He found the little girl in the nurse's arms, imploring her to chase away the man with the terrible knife.
"He stuck it——into me——Uncle! 'Way, 'way into—my side! Oo! It's there yet!—Take it out, Uncle! please take it out! Oh! oh! oh!"
"There, there, darling! No, no! there is no knife. It is only a bad dream," soothed the nurse.
"But it hurts, Sister!—--Oo, oo! Ouch!—--every time——I breathe. Take it out! Oh, Uncle——please take it out!"
"There is absolutely nothing there, pet,—nothing! Sister is right. You have been lying in a cramped position which caused a pain in your side and made you dream of the man with a knife. Lie down and let Sister rub the place where you feel the pain."
But though the Doctor made light of the matter to the little girl, his sister and brother-in-law saw the anxiety written in every line of his face. Sister Julia, too, looked worried as she tried to soothe the moaning child.
"M—Mother!"
"Yes, darling, yes!"
"It hurts so, Mother—oo!—oo! It shoots—right through me. I'm wide awake now, Mother, so—why doesn't it go—away? Oh, oh!"
"She has been restless all night, Doctor,"—Sister Julia had left the little girl to her mother's care for a moment—"so restless that I disobeyed your orders about going to bed myself and remained beside her for fear she would throw off the covering and take cold. She has not been quiet long enough for the muscles to cramp——"