"I had no wish to be uncivil," said Jane. "I am so accustomed to hearing Mrs. Reece call you Dobbs, that——"
"My missis is one case, and other folks is another," burst forth Dobbs, by way of interruption. "I have a handle to my name, I hope, which is Mrs. Dobbs, and I'd be obleeged to you not to forget it again. What's the reason that Janey's always tired now, I ask—don't want to stir—gets a bright pink in the cheeks and inside the hands?"
"It is only the effect of the hot weather."
The opinion did not please Dobbs. "There's not a earthly thing happens but it's laid to the weather," she angrily cried. "The weather, indeed! If Janey is not going off after her pa, it's an odd thing to me."
Jane's heart-pulse stood still.
"Does she have night-perspirations, or does she not?" demanded Dobbs. "She tells me she's hot and damp; so I conclude it is so."
"Only from the heat—only from the heat," panted Jane eagerly. She dared not admit the fear.
"Well, the first time I go down to the town, I shall take her to Parry. It won't be at your cost," she hastened to add in ungracious tones, for Jane was about to interrupt. "If she wants to know what she is took to the doctor for, I shall tell her it is to have her teeth looked at. She has a nasty cough upon her: perhaps you haven't noticed that! Some can't see a child decaying under their very nose, while strangers can see it palpable."
"She has coughed since last week, the day of the rain, when she went with Anna Lynn into the field at the back, and they got their feet wet. Oh, I am sure there is nothing seriously the matter with her," added Jane, resolutely endeavouring to put the suggested fear from her. "I want her in: she must help me with my sewing."
"Then she's not a-going to help," resolutely returned Dobbs. "She has had a good dinner of roast lamb, sparrow-grass and kidney potatoes, and she's sitting back in my easy chair, opposite to my missis in hers. Her wanting always to rest might have told some folks that she was ailing. When children are in health, their legs and wings and tongue are on the go from morning till night. You never need pervide 'em with a seat but for their meals; and, give 'em their way, they'd eat them standing. Jane's always wanting to rest now, and she shall rest."