“No, it is not. I am full of vulnerable spots! Oh, Dr. Wright, I am not nearly so mean as I seem. I am so sorry I was so rude to you—I—I am going to be better. I am sorry I did not wear the leggins and I am sorry I did not look where I was stepping—I am sorry I jumped over the gorge when I saw you coming. I just did it to irritate you. I am sorry to have caused you all this trouble and I am so grateful to you that I can hardly——” but here Helen actually blubbered, something that she never did.
“Why, you poor little girl! I haven’t a doubt that I have been as horrid as you have thought I was and dictatorial and interfering and mean—and everything. Please forgive me and suppose we just be the good friends that somehow I believe we were cut out to be, you and Bobby and I;” and he took the girl’s hand in his and patted it gently while she wept on.
“Can’t you stop crying, honey?”
“I be—be—believe I could if I had a handkerchief, but I’ve lost mine.”
“And mine is made into a ligature. Would a few yards of gauze help any?” And then they both laughed while he unwound the gauze.
All of this had taken but a few minutes and Lewis and the scientific devotees had no idea that anything so terrifying as a snake bite was going on. They came in view just as Helen dried her eyes on the few yards of gauze.
“Hello! What’s up?”
“Oh, Lewis, a snake bit me!”
“Gee! A rattler?”
Dr. Wright held up a warning finger behind Helen’s back.