The strange house or, A moment's mistake
"Oh, forgive me!" she said, bending down to her child's face. "And
little Johnnie is dead, and I have you still—"
Mr. and Mrs. Shaddock signed to the rest to follow them from the room,
so that Mrs. Leigh might have time to recover from the shocks of the
last hour. And Gertrude, seeing their kind intention, went with them,
and was soon explaining all the circumstances to a breathless audience
in the drawing-room.
"But the child looks dying," said Mrs. Shaddock at last. "Can nothing
be done for it?"
"I hardly know," said Gertrude. "But, dear Mrs. Shaddock, I feel
ashamed to trouble you—but my sister is not usually distracted like
this—but if you could lend us a warm shawl, we will drive to the
nearest hotel, and put him to bed. Can you tell me which to go to?—And
may one of the maids get a cab?"
"You shall not go out again to-night!" exclaimed Mrs. Shaddock,
appealing to her husband. "We could not allow it, could we?"
"No, indeed," he answered heartily.
"I will go and prepare his bed at once," said Mrs. Shaddock, rising.
"Oh, mother, let me help!" exclaimed Mollie.
"And you, Daisy," said Mrs. Shaddock, turning at the door, "go and ask
cook to make a little bread-and-milk quickly, and carry it to Mrs.
Leigh, for the little boy. Oh, to think we should have the pleasure of
doing anything for such sufferers!"
Her eyes were tearful as she hastened away, and Gertrude thought that
she had not given her credit for so much heart.
Daisy sped on her errand, and waited while the order was carried out.
After two or three minutes she came up again, bearing the cup in her
hand.
And just as she was hesitating at the dining-room door, Conway came
across and opened it for her with an encouraging "Go in, Daisy; she
won't bite your head off," which reassured her very much.
Mrs. Leigh sat in the same position as before, but she had thrown off
her bonnet, and was now chafing her little boy's feet at the fire,
while traces of tears were on her cheeks.
"This is for little Lester," said Daisy, advancing shyly; "perhaps it
will help to make him warm."
"Thank you, dear," said Rose, taking it from her hand.
Daisy did not know whether she ought to withdraw, but Mrs. Leigh's next
words showed that her presence was welcome.
"Hold the cup while I put some in his mouth, dear. He was never like
this in the old days. But they frightened him—my dear little boy. By
and by, when he begins to remember mother, he will not be frightened
any more!"
She addressed the last words to the child, and he opened his quiet eyes
and looked in her face. Then as he perceived the spoon held to him, he
mechanically moved his mouth to receive the food.
"See, he understood me!" exclaimed Mrs. Leigh joyfully.
CHAPTER XXXII.
A VIGIL.
THE little one took but a few mouthfuls, and then seemed to tire of the
food his mother was so eager to give him.
"He has not eaten much, has he?" she said to Daisy, who was looking on
earnestly.
"Not very much," answered Daisy, "but, you see, it is all strange here.
To-morrow, perhaps, he will know us better."
Mrs. Leigh seemed lost in thought. "Where is Gertrude?" she asked at
last.
"She is helping mother and Mollie to get a bed for him. It is nearly
ready now, I should think."
"I am afraid I ought not to let you take all this trouble," said Mrs.
Leigh. "But—how can I bear to take him out in the cold?"
"Of course not," said Daisy simply. "Mother said so, and so did father."
"I am afraid he is very ill, dear?" she asked appealingly. "His feet
are so thin, and his hands—and so he is all over; nothing is the same
but his eyes and his hair, and even his eyes do not look at me as they
used."
Daisy could not answer. She had heard a few words of Gertrude's
description, and she feared, from her mother's looks of dismay, that
the child's condition was far more serious than Mrs. Leigh supposed.
"Shall I fetch Miss Ashlyn?" she asked in reply.
"Ah, do, please, dear!" said Mrs. Leigh.
She busied herself over her child again till Gertrude came in.
"Ought we not to telegraph to Fritz?" she asked at once. "Poor Fritz!
To think he does not know!"
"I have been thinking so," said Gertrude. "What shall we say, Rose?"
"Tell him he is found!" said Rose.
"Shall I say he is ill?" questioned Gertrude, gently.
"It is hardly worth while," answered Rose; "he will come directly, if
he can."
Gertrude was silent. She could not let her brother-in-law have the joy
without suspecting the sorrow. So she went back to Mr. Shaddock.
"My sister does not seem to take it in yet," she said, after she had
told him about the telegram, "but I must tell Mr. Leigh cautiously—he
is not very strong. I fear it will be a dreadful shock."
So together they framed a message which they hoped would convey their
meaning, and then Gertrude went back to her sister to say that the room
which had been prepared for her was ready.
Rose got up at once, and with her precious charge followed her sister
up-stairs.
On the landing stood Mrs. Shaddock and Mollie, who led the way into the
spare room, where a bright fire gleamed.
"We have warmed the bed," said Mrs. Shaddock. "Dear little man, I long
for him to be in it!"
Rose accepted it all in silence, laying her little boy in the soft,
white sheets, and hovering over him in the luxury of having him once
more to tend.
"Lester!" she said, in her soft tone. "Shall I say your little prayer
as I used?"
She knelt down by the bed, and laid her cheek upon his little hand,
whispering the childish requests which for two long years had not been
on her lips, and then, kissing him tenderly, she covered him up and
moved towards the fire.
Mrs. Shaddock and Gertrude were standing there waiting; Mollie had gone
behind the curtain, and was crying quietly, as if her heart would break.
"I think I will go to bed," said Mrs. Leigh, dreamily. "I feel tired,
somehow. Will you think me very ungrateful if I retire now?"
"Not at all," said Mrs. Shaddock; "your sister will help you, and will
bring you some tea if you will allow her."
"Will you kiss me?" asked Rose. "I do not know how to thank you.
To-morrow I hope I may be able."
Mrs. Shaddock bent over her and gave her the desired kiss, and then
quickly left the room, signing to Mollie to come too.
And thus the eventful day closed for the poor young mother.
She laid her head on the soft pillow, put her hand out to her child's,
and fell at once into a profound and dreamless slumber.
It was midnight when the striking of the clock on the staircase roused
her with its unaccustomed sound.
She sat up in bed, and saw Gertrude reading by the light of a shaded
lamp beside the fire.
"Dear Gertrude!" she said, in a wondering tone. "Is it not very late?"
"Yes, dearest, but I am not tired. Do you want anything? See! Here is
your supper all waiting for you. May I bring it to you?"
Rose took the plate in her hand. But after a moment or two she said, in
her usual natural tone, "Gertrude, I seem as if I had been dreaming,
but it is not a dream that I have my little Lester. And yet, Gertrude,
I wish it could be a dream, that—that—all that has happened!"
She hid her face in her hands.
"Dearest Rose, He who has found our darling will help us to bear all
His will. He will make some way of escape for us!"
"Ah, yes!" she said. "I know that. But oh, what will Fritz say when
the little one does not know him? For me it does not so much matter,
because I have him again. But poor Fritz—poor Fritz! Besides, I can
trust my Lord even in this, but Fritz, he does not know what that
means."
"Good will come out of it," said Gertrude; "this has been so wonderful
that I am sure of that."
She went round the bed, and bent over the sleeping child.
"I think we ought to give him some more food, Rose. Mrs. Shaddock says
he should be fed every two hours. It was for that I stayed up."
CHAPTER XXXIII.
"FRITZ IS COMING."
ROSE sprang out of bed at once. She had quite come back to her old self.
She threw her cloak round her, and went to her child's side.
She raised his head and again tenderly fed him. But though he opened
his mouth obediently, he did not respond to her love and attentions in
any other way.
Gertrude saw that now her sister was beginning to realize what in her
joy at having her child again she had not noticed. But except for a
little firm-set look about her sweet lips, she made no sign that as the
shock passed away, so the certainty of continued sorrow grew upon her.
When the little one turned away his head from the food, his mother
covered him up again and went back to the fire, Gertrude following in
silence.
"Go to bed, darling!" said Rose, stroking her pale cheek tenderly. "I
will sit up now."
"Not all the time? You will need your strength so much to-morrow."
"Yes," said Rose quietly, "I shall. But I must watch by him, Gertrude.
Besides, I have to think what we must do."
"We need do nothing till we hear from Fritz."
"No—at least if you think these kind people will allow us to stay here
till then."
"I am sure they will. Nothing could be more hearty than they have been."
"I shall rest here, dear Gertrude, till the morning; I shall have time
to think. Go to bed now."
Early the next morning there was a knock at Gertrude's door, and she
started up with a strange impression of not knowing where she was, or
what had happened.
But in a moment it all came back to her. Lester was found! But—but—
"Miss Ashlyn," said Daisy's quiet little voice, "mother has sent me
to call you; she thought perhaps you might not wake, as you sat up so
late."
"Oh, thank you, dear!"
"Here is a telegram come—" said Daisy.
Just as she spoke, Mrs. Leigh came up from her room and entered behind
her.
As Gertrude glanced at her, she saw that she was her quiet self.
She took the telegram in her hand, and stooping to kiss Daisy's
upturned face, she said—
"Would you like to stay with Lester while I read this, dear?"
The child ran off joyfully, and Rose tore open the envelope. The words
ran—
"'Shall be with you by six o'clock this evening.'"
"Fritz is coming! Oh, Gertrude!"
She stood silently holding the pink paper in her hand, as if in deep
thought.
"He will come here then?" questioned Gertrude.
"Yes—I suppose you gave no other address. He will have started from
Carlisle ere this, so it is of no use to telegraph back. Besides, I
have no other address to give him."
"We will consult Mrs. Shaddock after breakfast," said Gertrude.
But no consultation was necessary. When Mrs. Leigh appeared in the
dining-room, leaving Gertrude in charge of her little nephew, Mr.
Shaddock came forward to meet her, and taking both her hands welcomed
her heartily, telling her at once that they should not hear of her
leaving the house for two or three days, in fact till her plans were
quite formed, and that he should feel positively hurt if she and Mr.
Leigh did not feel quite free to come and go as if the house were their
own.
Rose turned white with emotion and tried to answer, but her quivering
lips would not get out more than a very broken "thank you." And she sat
down where they placed her, trying to recover herself, but feeling as
if to have a good cry was the only thing she could do.
Mr. Shaddock seemed, however, quite to understand, and supplied her
with an egg, while Mollie poured out some coffee, and the rest watched
for opportunities of being of use.
"Where is Miss Ashlyn?" asked Hugh.
"She is sitting with Lester," said Mrs. Shaddock, "and Daisy shall take
her some breakfast."
"Shall we have school to-day?" asked Randall. "I'm sure I hope not."