"Is Grandy asleep?"
Simone said hastily, "Oh yes, she's taking a nap. She is old, you know, and likes to take naps."
"That's not a nap," Nina said, leaning over and patting the old woman's cheek, "I think she's having a bad dream."
Simone carried her grandmother into the house. If that old, tired heart had jumped and floundered like her own, there must be some damage done to it. If anything happened to her grandmother, the world would end, Simone thought, and was furious with Nina, and at the same time, full of joy for her.
Cecily Putnam opened her eyes widely, and Simone said, "It does change, you see. But it's in the family, after all."
The old woman sat upright quickly. "That wicked child!" she exclaimed. "To come and frighten us like that. She ought to be spanked." She got up with great strength and rushed out to the garden.
"Nina!" she called imperiously. The child picked up one of the small stones from the pie plate now full of spring water, and came to her great-grandmother.
"I'll make something for you, Grandy," she said seriously. She put the stone in the palm of her hand, and breathed on it, and then held out her hand and offered the diamond.
"It's lovely. Thank you," the old woman said with dignity, and put her hand on the child's head. "Let's go for a walk and I'll show you how to grow rose-apples. That's more becoming to a young lady."
"You slept on the step."