But Mrs. Parlin said aunt Madge mustn't be nervous; that children were very apt to be "out of their heads" in the night, and she was pretty sure Prudy would wake up bright in the morning.
Aunt Madge tried to hope so, but she hardly slept a wink, for Prudy tossed and twisted all night. Sometimes she thought she was picking berries on the tufted coverlet. Sometimes she cried out that "the crazy man was coming with a axe."
When grandma saw her purple cheeks by daylight she did not laugh at aunt Madge. She brushed the soft curls away from the little one's hot temples, and said softly,—
"How do you feel, Prudy, darling?"
A wild light burned in the child's eyes. "It isn't Prudy!" screamed she, "I ain't her! Go 'way! You're goin' to snip off my nose! O, go right off!"
You may be sure that Grace and Susy were far from happy that day. When they noticed that their grandmother grew more and more uneasy, and when they saw the doctor's gig at the gate, their hearts were very heavy.
"O Grace," said Susy, sobbing, "Prudy thought we didn't love her! We kept saying she was always round. How much do you suppose she is sick?"
"O dear, I don't know," said Grace, wringing her hands; "but I'll tell you one thing—we ought to have seen to her, Susy!"
"O Grace," said Susy, "you don't begin to feel so bad as I do—you can't, because you haven't got any little sister. Only think of my scolding to such a darling little thing as she is!"
"Come, you go up stairs and see what the doctor says," said Grace; "you steal in easy."