Gloria and Treeless Street | Page 9

think I look just like a nurse now. Did you suppose I could be one with my hair the old way? Dear me! I must dress the part, auntie. The play begins as soon as I've eaten an egg and two rolls--now why do you suppose nurses always eat an egg and two rolls for breakfast? But I'm sure they do."
Gloria was in fine spirits. The "play" on the eve of beginning was sure to be an entertaining one, and for novelty could anything be better? She meant to go all the rounds with brisk little Miss Winship. She was prepared to sweep floors and wash faces if it should prove to be in her part of the play. "I may have to be prompted," she thought, "but you won't catch me having stage-fright!"
She had sent a note across the street by a maid to prepare the District Nurse, and that cheerful little person was waiting for her as she tripped down the McAndrews' doorsteps after her hurried meal.
"Am I late? Did I keep you waiting?" she cried.
"Not more than a piece of a minute. I've been trying to scrape acquaintance with your beautiful cat, but he is above District Nurses."
"If I had time I'd give him a good scolding. He's got to get used to nurses if I'm one! Do you hear that, you Old Handsome? Good-by, and be a good boy while I'm gone!" And Gloria waved her hand affectionately to the big silver fellow on his silken cushion. She and the District Nurse walked away together.
"I feel as if I were setting sail for a foreign land," laughed the girl, daintily tripping along.
"My dear, you are." The voice of Gloria's companion was suddenly grave. "I don't know as I'm doing right to let you embark--I ought to send you back to your beautiful home."
"Send me back! No, I'm set on 'sailing.'" In sheer exuberance of spirits Gloria's laugh bubbled out again, then as quickly stopped. "Oh, you will think me such a silly! I ought not to laugh, ought I?"
"Yes, keep on all the way, dear; you won't feel like it, I'm afraid, coming back. The first time I 'came back' do you want to know what I did?"
_"Cried,"_ Gloria said softly. A new mood was upon her now, and a gentle solemnity gave her piquant face a new attraction. Gloria's moods were wont to follow each other with surprising swiftness.
"Yes, I did. I saw so much that I could not help, that it made my heart ache. Children that needed attention and love and care, and mothers with tired hands, and wives whose faces wore a hopeless look. Yes, I cried."
After this the two walked on in silence. But Gloria's eyes were bright and her breath was coming in quick, strong waves through her red lips. The picture her companion had given set her tingling, and then came the thought she had up in the mountains--Couldn't she help?
Seeming to think she had said too much, the District Nurse began chatting in a cheery way, as though to turn her companion's thoughts into a different channel. In this mood, the one chatting lightly, the other listening, they drew near to "Dinney's House." But no sooner had they entered the neighborhood than they noticed that something exciting was going on, and shrill voices came to them.
"Something has happened!" cried Miss Winship, hurrying her footsteps. "I'm afraid someone is hurt."
But then, the District Nurse was "always afraid" in that locality. There were so many pitfalls where accidents could happen. As they drew near a boy ran from the crowd toward them. It was Dinney.
"What is it, Dinney? Quick!" asked the nurse.
"Sal went over the stairs--the railing broke. She hain't got up either!" the boy answered, breathlessly.
As the two drew nearer the crowd a chorus of voices greeted them.
"Miss District! Here's Miss District!"
The throng made way for the nurse. Down in the heap of fallen stair railing lay poor Sal. Immediately Miss Winship was beside her.
Gloria never quite knew what happened the next half hour. It was mercifully always a bad dream to her. At its end something like order and quiet reigned in the old house, thanks to the quiet self-command of the District Nurse. Sal had been removed in the ambulance to the hospital, the little crowd of women sent back to their work, and the curious children scattered to their homes. Not until then did the District Nurse have time to look at Gloria.
"Why, you poor dear! You're white as a sheet! I ought to have thought how it would make you feel! Come with me up to Rose's room. That's the quietest place around here. It's a little haven to us all. She's got Dinney's baby with her now. Since the mother died she's about adopted