A Girl in Ten Thousand | Page 9

to go into the nursery to help the little nursemaid with her
various duties.
The children always hailed Effie with a scream of delight; they were
not a bit afraid of her, for she was the most indulgent elder sister in the
world, but all the same she managed to make them obey her.
Susan was sent downstairs to get her breakfast, while Effie saw the
elder ones safely through the process of dressing. She took the baby on
her knee, and, removing his night-clothes, put him into his bath, and
dressed him herself quickly and expeditiously. She then carried him
into her mother's room.
Mrs. Staunton had spent a troubled night.
"Is that you, Effie?" she exclaimed, looking at her daughter; "and oh,
there is baby--how sweet he looks! What a splendid nurse you are, my
darling, and what a wonderful comfort to me! Give me my dear little
man. I will take care of him while you see about breakfast."
"How are you this morning, mother?" asked Effie. "Have you had a
good night?"
"Yes, pretty well. I had one or two bad dreams. I could not help
thinking of poor Mrs. Watson and that heart-trouble your father spoke
about. I wonder how she is this morning."
"Now, mother dear," said Effie, "you know father said you were not to
dwell upon that--you must turn your thoughts away from illness of

every sort. I thought we might go for a little drive in the gig this
morning."
"But your father will want the gig."
"No, that's just it, he won't."
"What do you mean? Surely he will go out as early as he can to see Mrs.
Watson?"
"No, mother," said Effie, "he won't--not to-day. I have something to tell
you. Now, please don't be frightened; there is nothing to be frightened
about."
Mrs. Staunton was half sitting up in bed; she had thrown a little pale
blue shawl round her shoulders, and held the pretty baby in her arms.
She was a remarkably good-looking woman, a really young-looking
woman for her age, but weakness was written all over her--the
weakness of a frail although loving spirit, and the weakness of extreme
bodily illness, for she was ill, far more ill than her children knew. The
greatest anxiety of the honest doctor's life was connected with his
wife's physical condition. Effie looked at her mother now, and
something of the fear which dwelt in her father's heart seemed to visit
her.
"I have something to tell you," she said, "but it is nothing that need
make you the least bit afraid. Father has left you in my charge. He says
I am to look after you, and to do all in my power to help you."
"But what can you mean, Effie? Has your father gone away?"
"Not really away," replied Effie, "for he is close to us, and can come
back if necessary at any moment; but the fact is this: If all is well,
father is not coming home for two or three days. In one way you will be
pleased to hear this, mother. You know how you have wished him to be
called in at The Grange."
"At The Grange!" exclaimed Mrs. Staunton, starting up. "You don't

mean to tell me that the Harveys have sent for your father?"
"Yes, mother, I do; and is not that good news? The little girl is very ill,
and Squire Harvey came over to fetch father last night--that time when
the bell rang so suddenly."
"I remember," said Mrs. Staunton. "I made sure that someone came
from the Watsons'."
"No; it was the Squire who called--Squire Harvey. Father went there
and found the little girl very ill. He came back again this morning, and
took Dorothy Fraser out with him as nurse, and he saw me, and he
asked me to tell you that he would stay at The Grange for a couple of
days until he could pull the child through, and you are on no account to
expect him home, but you are to keep as well and cheerful as possible
for his sake; and Dr. Edwards from Boltonville is to take father's work
for the time. So you see," continued Effie in conclusion, "that the horse
and gig will be at liberty, and we can go for a drive. I thought we might
go to Boltonville, and take baby, and buy some fruit for preserving.
There are sure to be heaps of strawberries at the Bolton Farm if we
drive over early."
All the time Effie was speaking, Mrs. Staunton kept gazing at her. As
the eager words flowed from the young girl's lips, the heart of the
mother seemed to faint within her.
"You," she said, after a pause; her voice trembled, no words could