“Mattie! How sweet of you to stay by my child!”
Mattie said deferentially:
“Miss Kerr, anything ... anything that I could do!”
Miss Kerr knew Mattie was playing policeman on orders from the Superintendent of Nurses, but she also knew that Mattie was accustomed to taking her own orders. Her lips drew to a beautiful firming and she said huskily:
“Having you in training and upon my staff, Mattie, has been one of the really great joys of a very trying life!”
Mattie began disintegrating, and Miss Kerr put her hand upon the knob of her niece’s door and was inside before the supervisor could moisten her lips.
The room was inky, the dark blue window shade was pulled even with the sill. Miss Kerr whispered, involuntary, “Evelina!”
Two sobs inverted their explosion. The girl sat up beating the air. Miss Kerr ignored her agony and began relentlessly:
“This is no time for hysterics. Come on and tell me! What did you tell them...?”
“Who, Auntie?”