CHAPTER XIV

NORA TO THE RESCUE

For five days Nora had been a prisoner in her room--five long, bright, interminable days. Through the open windows she had heard the sounds of voices and laughter; she had even recognized the voices of Reggie and the Campbells, but the only people she had seen were the doctor, Mr. Crawford, Miss Beck, and Sarah. Either Miss Beck or Sarah was always at her bedside, and several times each day Mr. Crawford would come softly into the room, and stand looking down at her, with such sorrow and tenderness in his eyes, that she longed to comfort him. Twice she had tried to explain, but each time Miss Beck had silenced her, with the same assurance that everything was all right, and she would soon be quite well again. And then Kathleen’s father had gone away, looking sadder than ever. One grain of comfort Nora had, and that was in the fact that they were to go back to New York on the next boat. Mr. Crawford was anxious to reach home as soon as possible, in order to procure better medical advice for his little daughter. He was not altogether satisfied with the opinion of the Bermuda doctor. The steamer from New York was due on Monday, and would sail again on Wednesday morning. It was Monday morning now, and in four days more, provided all went well, they would be in New York. What would happen after that Nora hardly dared to think, but at least Mummy would be near, and in those long, solitary days the poor child had longed for her mother with a longing that was almost too great to bear.

But on that glorious Monday morning there came a change, as welcome to Nora as it was unexpected. In the first place, Dr. Walker did not make his usual morning visit. Miss Beck said he had been called away, to see a very sick patient, at the other end of the island. The next thing that happened was that Miss Beck spent an unusual length of time in looking out of the window, and finally left the room, leaving her patient in Sarah’s charge. When she returned, some ten minutes later, she was smiling, and there was a note of triumph in her voice.

“I have had a little talk with Mr. Crawford,” she announced to Sarah, “and he says I may do as I think best. He has great confidence in my judgment.”

“Do you think it’s the right thing to go against the doctor’s orders?” questioned Sarah, doubtfully.

Miss Beck pursed her thin lips, and tossed her head scornfully.

“I flatter myself that I have had sufficient experience to judge for myself sometimes,” she said. “Doctors don’t know everything in this world; you can take it from me they don’t. That child hasn’t eaten enough in the past two days to keep a canary bird alive, and what she needs is a little fresh air and a change of scene, as I’ve just been telling her father. The doctor may say what he chooses when he comes home, but that won’t be before this evening, and in the meantime I’m going to have my own way.”

Sarah was aghast. That any one should dare to disobey a doctor’s orders seemed to her little less than criminal. But Miss Beck was a professional nurse, and she herself was only a servant, so she wisely held her peace. Miss Beck approached Nora’s bedside in her brisk, decided way.

“I am going to let you get up for a while,” she said, stooping to touch the child’s cool forehead. “You haven’t a particle of fever, and I am sure the change will do you good.”

Nora--who had been lying with half-closed eyes, listlessly trying to make up the plot for a new story--started up with a little cry of joy.

“Oh, may I really get up?” There was such untold relief in the child’s voice, and in her brightening face, that Miss Beck felt more convinced than ever that she was right in her opinion. Still, it would not do to raise false hopes, so she answered guardedly:

“You seem better this morning, and if you will promise to be very quiet, and do just as you are told, you may be dressed and go out on the lawn for an hour. But remember, you are not to get excited, or tire yourself in any way.”

“I’ll do anything you want me to if you’ll only let me get up,” said Nora, humbly. “I didn’t know it was possible to get so terribly tired of anything as I am of this bed.”

Miss Beck smiled, and for the first time Nora thought her smile was rather pleasant.

“Well, you have had a good deal of it,” she admitted. “I would have had you up days ago if it had rested with me, but the doctor--well, I suppose he knew what he was talking about. Now I want you to stand up, and tell me if your legs feel very weak.”

“They don’t feel weak at all,” declared Nora, and in proof thereof, she gave herself a little shake, and promptly began skipping about the room. “Oh, but it is good to be out of that horrid bed!” she cried joyfully. “I feel as if I would like to run about ten miles. Please let me dress myself; I just hate having people dress me.”

Miss Beck and Sarah exchanged glances, and Sarah whispered:

“Not right yet, you see. She was always the laziest child about doing things for herself.”

Miss Beck said nothing, but she was looking very much puzzled. Indeed, she was finding her present case about the most puzzling she had ever undertaken. No objection was made, however, to Nora’s performing her own toilet, and the two women watched her in ever-growing astonishment.

“She hasn’t lost flesh at any rate,” remarked Sarah, when Nora, after several futile attempts to button her dress in the back, was forced to appeal to the maid for assistance. “This dress was almost too big for her before we left New York, and now it’s got to be let out.”

“What will she say when Kathleen comes back, and she finds all her clothes too loose again?” thought Nora uneasily. “Oh, what an awful mix-up it all is! But I’m so happy to be up again that I can’t worry much about anything this morning.”

Mr. Crawford was waiting for his little daughter in the corridor, and his greeting was so loving and tender, that Nora was conscious of a sudden pang of shame and remorse at the thought of all the pain and anxiety she was causing Kathleen’s father. These feelings were not diminished when, after she had been comfortably installed in a steamer chair on the lawn, in view of the tennis courts, Mr. Crawford produced from his pocket a small leather case which he told her to open.

Nora complied, and in the next moment she uttered a little cry of admiration, for in the case was a tiny gold watch, and attached to the watch was a beautiful gold chain.

“Oh, how lovely, how very lovely!” she exclaimed. “Did you buy it? Is it a present for somebody?”

“I certainly did buy it for a present,” said Mr. Crawford; smiling. “I hoped you would like it, darling.”

“You mean you bought it for Kath--I mean for me!” gasped Nora. “Oh, but it’s much too beautiful. I’m sure I ought not to take it.”

All the pleasure died suddenly out of Mr. Crawford’s face, and he looked very grave and troubled.

“I want you to have it, dear,” he said in a voice that trembled a little, and Nora, suddenly remembering that this was scarcely the way in which little girls usually accepted presents from their fathers, blushed a vivid crimson, and murmured an embarrassed “Thank you, oh, thank you very much.”

But all her pleasure in the pretty trinket was gone, and she sat gazing at it with dim, unseeing eyes, while Mr. Crawford and Miss Beck moved away, and held a low-toned conversation. Oh, how sorry and ashamed she felt! Of course the watch could be given to its rightful owner as soon as she and Kathleen met, but in the meantime to keep it and even wear it, seemed so--so almost dishonest. A sob rose in Nora’s throat, and she had hard work in keeping back the rising tears. How gladly she would have confessed everything at that moment; taken any punishment they might have thought fit to inflict, but nobody would believe her--they would only look shocked and frightened, and tell her not to talk, and that she would soon be well again. If she spoke of it it might mean an immediate return to that darkened room. Nora shuddered at the horrible possibility. So after a little more reflection, she put the watch and chain back in the case, and resolutely closed the lid.

“If I keep looking at them I may begin to be envious,” she told herself. “I’ve always wanted a gold watch and chain more than anything else in the world.”

It was very pleasant out there in the fresh air and sunshine, and before long Nora found herself beginning to take an interest in watching the tennis players. A tournament was in progress, and among the many spectators she soon discovered the two Campbells and their uncle and aunt. They did not see her, but Mr. and Mrs. Carew--who were also watching the players--came to speak to her, and told her how glad they were to see her out again.

“You don’t look as if you had been ill,” Mr. Carew said, kindly, to which Nora replied that she felt very well indeed.

“Don’t you think I might go for a walk?” she added pleadingly, but Mr. and Mrs. Carew shook their heads, and told her she must be a good girl, and do just as Miss Beck said, and then they went back to their seats, and Nora was left alone with her two guardians, Miss Beck and Sarah, for Mr. Crawford had gone into the hotel after his conversation with the nurse.

By and by Miss Beck rose.

“I am going to leave you for a little while,” she told Nora. “I want to call on a friend at the hotel where I was staying with my last patient. You may stay here with Sarah till I come back.”

It was with a feeling of distinct satisfaction that Nora watched the nurse disappear in the distance. Miss Beck meant to be kind, she was sure, but it was very tiresome to be constantly watched over, and she was not accustomed to nurses. With Miss Beck safely out of the way, perhaps Sarah might be persuaded to take her for just a little walk. But when approached on the subject Sarah proved quite firm.

“You are to be kept perfectly quiet,” she said; “those were the doctor’s orders. I’ll read to you if you like.”

Nora pouted. She was by nature a very amiable child, but five days of enforced quiet in a darkened room had tried her nerves more than a little.

“I don’t want to hear any reading, thank you,” she said, crossly, and then she deliberately turned her back on Sarah, who thereupon opened an old magazine she had found on a bench, and immediately became deeply absorbed in an account of the exciting adventures of a band of Arctic explorers.

For the next fifteen minutes nothing happened. Nora watched the tennis players, and listened to the birds. Then suddenly, she caught sight of a familiar figure approaching in her direction. It was Reggie Starr. At sight of his friend, Reggie’s face brightened perceptibly, and he ran quickly across the lawn to greet her.

“Hello!” he began, in his cheerful, matter-of-fact voice, “are you all right again?”

“I was always all right,” returned Nora, who was still feeling decidedly cross. “There never was anything the matter with me. They only thought I was ill.”

Reggie opened his lips to say something; then evidently changed his mind, and closed them again. There was a moment of rather embarrassed silence, which Reggie broke.

“Why did you let them keep you in bed if there wasn’t anything the matter with you?” he inquired, bluntly. “I bet people would have a pretty hard time keeping me in bed.”

“Did you ever have a trained nurse?” Nora asked.

“Goodness no! I should hope not. Mother has them sometimes, though, and they’re an awful bother.”

“Well, if you’d ever had one you’d understand why I had to stay in bed,” said Nora. “It’s perfectly awful. They take your temperature every two hours, and they won’t let you talk, and make you drink milk, and--oh, don’t let’s talk about it. I’m up this morning, anyhow, and it’s lovely out here. I’m just crazy to go for a walk.”

“Do you think you’d better?” Reggie inquired doubtfully. “Everybody seems to think you’ve been very ill.”

“Well, I haven’t been very ill, even if they do think so, and if I don’t have a good run soon, I shall--I believe I shall scream, or do something awful.”

“The Campbells say----” began Reggie, but Nora cut him short.

“The Campbells don’t know anything about it,” she snapped. “I guess I ought to know whether I’ve been ill or not, better than Marjorie Campbell.”

Reggie looked very much puzzled, and then he suddenly remembered something which during the past few days he had been quite ready to forget. When a girl was so ill that she had to have a trained nurse, and wasn’t allowed to see any of her friends, it didn’t seem quite fair to remember that she hadn’t always told the truth. Besides, Marjorie Campbell had dropped mysterious hints, which he had not altogether understood, but which seemed to convey the impression that poor Kathleen wasn’t to be held responsible for all the things she said. But now, here was Kathleen herself, looking the picture of health, and assuring him that she had never been ill at all.

“I guess I know what the trouble with you is,” he remarked, with a sudden inspiration; “you’ve got such a lot of imagination, you just can’t help making up things.”

Nora blushed.

“I know you think I tell fibs,” she said, sadly, “and I’m afraid I can’t ever make people understand. I’ve tried to explain, but nobody will believe me. It’s dreadful. Sometimes I feel as if I couldn’t bear it.”

There were tears in Nora’s eyes, and her voice trembled. Reggie was touched.

“Well, never mind,” he said, good-naturedly; “don’t let’s bother about it. I say; the steamer’s coming. Wouldn’t you like to come down to the pier, and watch the people get off?”

Nora glanced doubtfully at Sarah, who was by this time absorbed in a detective story, and had not even noticed Reggie’s approach. Then she rose resolutely.

“Come along,” she said, and in another second she was running across the lawn so fast that even fleet-footed Reggie found some difficulty in keeping pace with her.

“Oh, I say, hold on, not quite so fast!” gasped Reggie. “I should say you could run, but what makes you in such a hurry? The steamer won’t be in for ten minutes.”

“I don’t care anything about the steamer,” scoffed Nora. “All I want is to get away quick, before Sarah sees me. Miss Beck has gone to call on somebody at another hotel, but she told Sarah to watch me all the time she was away. Oh, but I do feel better for that run!” And, having reached what she considered a safe distance from the watchful Sarah, Nora paused for breath.

Reggie grinned understandingly.

“I don’t believe she can catch up now,” he said, with a backward glance in the direction from which they had come. “She’s rather fat, isn’t she?”

“Not very, but she doesn’t like walking fast; she says it gives her a pain in her side. I don’t want to worry her, but I just had to get away for a few minutes. Oh, look at all the people on the pier.”

“There are the Campbells,” announced Reggie. “They’ve got the Allen baby with them, too. Let’s go and speak to them.”

Nora hesitated, but at that very moment the small Percy Allen caught sight of his beloved “Tathleen,” and, with a cry of joy, had dropped his cousin Marjorie’s hand, and started on a run in her direction.

“Come back, baby,” shrieked Marjorie, starting in hot pursuit. “Oh, he’ll be run over; I know he will!”

But baby had already dashed across the road to the imminent risk of life and limb, and was clinging rapturously to Nora’s skirts.

“Percy wants to stay wis Tathleen,” he shouted. “Tathleen tell Percy ’tories.”

Nora laughed, and caught the little fellow up in her arms.

“Of course I’ll tell you stories, darling,” she said, kissing the chubby little face. “Have you missed Tathleen all these long days?”

“Percy wely glad Tathleen tome back,” said the child, and he put up a tiny hand and patted Nora’s cheek. But by this time Marjorie, pale and breathless, had crossed the road, and borne down upon her naughty little cousin.

“Naughty, naughty baby,” she scolded. “Suppose you had been run over; what would Mamma have said to poor Cousin Marjorie? You promised to be a good boy when Mamma let Cousin Marjorie take you to see the big boat come in.”

“Percy not naughty boy,” objected that small person, whom Nora had now set down on his feet. “Percy tame to see Tathleen.”

Then Marjorie, her anxiety about the baby being relieved, turned her attention to Nora.

“I didn’t know you were well enough to be out, Kathleen,” she said, doubtfully. “Is Sarah with you?”

“She came with me,” laughed Reggie. “She gave Sarah the slip. You ought to have seen her run.”

Marjorie grew suddenly very grave.

“Here, Bobby,” she called to her brother, “you take charge of baby. I’ve got to talk to Kathleen. Go with Cousin Bobby, Percy, there’s a good boy.”

But Percy had no intention of being a good boy. On the contrary, he promptly began to cry, declaring his firm intention of staying with Tathleen, and no one else. Marjorie, however, was a stern disciplinarian, and she was really a good deal frightened. So the weeping Percy was led off by his tall cousin, who, in order to assuage his grief, produced from his pocket a large and sticky lemon-drop, which he promptly deposited in the baby’s open mouth.

“Now, Kathleen,” said Marjorie, slipping an arm round Nora’s waist, “you and I are going back to the hotel together. You ought not to have run away from Sarah. She’s probably very much frightened.”

“Of course she isn’t frightened,” protested Nora; “there isn’t anything to be frightened about. Oh, if you only knew how glorious it is to be out again! Why won’t you let Percy stay with me? I’d love to tell him a story.”

“Because you’ve got to go right back to Sarah,” said Marjorie, authoritatively. “Your father told Auntie Ruth that you were to be kept perfectly quiet.”

Nora’s eyes flashed; her Irish blood was up. It was one thing to be forced to obey Miss Beck, or even Sarah, but quite another to be ordered about by a girl of her own age.

“I will not go back to Sarah until I am ready,” she announced defiantly. “I would just like to see any one make me. I don’t believe you know what it is to be shut up in a dark room, and have to stay in bed for five whole days. Oh, here comes the steamer. Isn’t it crowded?”

Marjorie turned appealingly to the boys.

“Do help me,” she pleaded. “We’ve got to get her back to the hotel, you know.”

“Oh, shucks!” exclaimed Reggie. “Do leave her alone. I don’t believe there’s a single thing the matter with her. You wouldn’t either if you had seen her run.”

“You don’t know anything about it,” protested Marjorie. “There is something dreadful the matter with her. Mr. Crawford and Mrs. Carew are terribly worried. Oh, Kathleen dear, please do come. I----”

A yell from Bobby brought his sister’s appeal to an abrupt end, and caused her to turn her attention to something quite different.

“Look at the baby, oh, look quick! He’s choking or something.”

“Of course he’s choking,” cried the horrified Marjorie. “Did you let him put anything in his mouth?”

“I gave him a lemon-drop to stop his crying,” Bobby admitted. “It must have slipped down his throat. Oh, I say! what shall we do? He’s getting purple in the face.”

“I don’t know, oh, I don’t know what to do!” wailed Marjorie, wringing her hands. “Run and call somebody quick. Good gracious, Kathleen! what in the world are you doing? She’s killing the baby. Oh, oh, oh!” And Marjorie’s voice rose to an agonized shriek.

But Nora was not killing the small Percy; she was only shaking him--shaking him with all her might--and even before Marjorie’s cry of alarm had attracted the attention of the crowd on the pier, a small object was seen to fly out of the baby’s mouth, and the choking and strangling instantly ceased.

“He is all right now,” said a reassuring voice, and a kind-faced lady bent tenderly over the still sobbing Percy. “There, there, little man, there isn’t anything more to cry about. It isn’t pleasant to be shaken, I know, but it’s much better than choking to death.”

“The little girl showed great presence of mind,” remarked another bystander. “Does anybody know who she is?”

“I think she is that Crawford child,” replied the lady who had first spoken. “And here comes Mr. Crawford himself,” she added, glancing at two approaching figures, who, with pale, anxious faces, were rapidly making their way towards the scene of action.

“Oh, Mr. Crawford,” cried Marjorie, running to meet Kathleen’s father, “Kathleen’s all right. She’s just saved our baby. Bobby gave him a lemon-drop, and it choked him, and I’m sure he would have died if it hadn’t been for Kathleen. She just shook him and shook him till the lemon-drop flew out of his mouth. Oh, Kathleen dear, I’m so grateful!” And impulsive Marjorie threw her arms round her friend’s neck and hugged her.

Mr. Crawford looked very much relieved.

“I didn’t know what had happened,” he said. “Kathleen, my darling, you must come back to the hotel. It was wrong to run away by yourself; you have frightened Sarah and me very much.”

Nora clasped her hands, and cast an imploring glance at Kathleen’s father.

“Please, please don’t make me go back to that awful room,” she implored. “I’m so tired of being ill; I really can’t stand it any longer.”

Mr. Crawford looked very much troubled.

“The doctor----” he began, but Reggie interrupted.

“Excuse me, sir,” he said, “but I don’t think Kathleen is really ill. She says she’s all right, and if you could have seen her run! I say, Kathleen, how did you know what to do to stop that kid from choking? Did you ever see any one choke before?”

“Yes, once,” said Nora, who, in the excitement of the moment, had quite forgotten that she was still “playing a part.” “Jimmy Judson got a cherry pit stuck in his throat, and Mrs. Judson shook him till it came out.”

“Jimmy? Mrs. Judson?” repeated Mr. Crawford in amazement. “Kathleen, what in the world are you talking about? I never heard of any such people.”

Then Nora remembered, and all the color died suddenly out of her face.

“I--I forgot,” she stammered; “I oughtn’t to have talked about the Judsons. They’re just some people I know, but---- Oh, look, look! that lady and the little girl coming up the pier! It is, it really is! Oh, Mummy, Mummy!” And to the utter amazement of her companions, Nora dashed away down the road, and in another moment had flung herself into the arms of a little lady in black, who, having dropped a suit case, an umbrella and several other belongings, was holding her as if she never meant to let her go again.

But that was not the only extraordinary thing that had happened, for as Nora dashed towards her mother, another little figure was dashing in the opposite direction, and at the very same moment that Nora flung herself upon the little lady in black, two other small arms were clinging round Mr. Crawford’s neck, and an eager, excited voice was crying:

“Oh, Daddy, Daddy darling, I’m so glad to get here! Just think of Nora’s getting carried off to Bermuda instead of me! Mother said we should come on the next steamer, but we had a whole week to wait, and it was awful. Oh, Daddy, what makes you look so queer? Aren’t you glad to see your own little Kathleen?”

[Illustration: AT THE VERY SAME MOMENT THAT NORA HAD FLUNG HERSELF UPON THE LITTLE LADY IN BLACK, TWO OTHER SMALL ARMS WERE CLINGING ROUND MR. CRAWFORD’S NECK.--_Page 220._]