'Then Olive ought to be ashamed of herself, and shall be deposed from her office of nurse, and Polly shall reign in her stead.'
But Mildred was too much depressed and in earnest to heed his banter.
'There is poor Rachel Sowerby up at Stenkrith; her mother has been down this morning to say that she cannot last very much longer.'
'I am just going up to see her now. I fear it is only a question of days,' he replied, gravely.
Mildred clasped her hands with an involuntary movement of pain.
'Rachel is very dear to me; she is the model girl and the favourite of the whole school, and her mother says she is pining to see me. Oh, Dr. Heriot—' but here she stopped.
'Well,' he returned, encouragingly; and for the second time he noticed the exceeding beauty of Mildred's eyes, as she fixed them softly and beseechingly on his face.
'Do you think it would hurt me to go that little distance, just to see Rachel?'
'What, in this bitter wind!' he remonstrated. 'Wait until to-morrow, and I will drive you over.'
'There may be no to-morrows for Rachel,' she returned, with gentle persistence. 'I am afraid I shall fret sadly if I do not see her again; she was my best Sunday scholar. The wind will not hurt me; if you knew how I long to be out in it; just before you came in I was wishing I were on the top of one of those fells, feeling it sweep over me.'