Part 25 (2/2)

”Yes, it will do him good to read that letter. He has no one else to boss now but Sarah, but she doesn't resist, and ready acquiescence takes away the pleasure of domineering. The boss wishes to break stout twigs, not simply press down pliant willows.” There came a sharp rap upon the door--it was thrown open, and Alice entered.

”Oh, Aunt Ella, Quincy is very sick. He is choked up so he can hardly breathe. I'm afraid it is the croup.”

”We must send for Dr. Parshefield at once. But who can go? Henry injured his foot to-day and cannot walk. Lennon, the butler, cannot ride a horse, and Simon, the stable boy, would be frightened to death so late at night.”

”Oh, what shall we do?” cried Alice.

”Do?” exclaimed Aunt Ella. ”I'll go myself. It's only two miles to Ketchley and I can ride back with the Doctor. I'll get Harry to help me harness the horse. Open the windows to give your boy plenty of air, and fan him.”

She took up the oil lamp that stood upon her writing table. ”This is whale oil--a nauseous smelling compound. Rub his neck and chest well with it.”

Alice sought the nursery and followed Aunt Ella's directions. She was sitting by the crib watching her child's laboured breathing when her aunt returned.

”Harry is going on horseback. He knows the road to Ketchley and where the Doctor lives. Give him some more of the oil.”

It was administered and the child began to choke--he seemed to be strangling--then the phlegm that had impeded his breathing was thrown off, and his face resumed its natural colour. When the Doctor arrived an hour later, he was sleeping quietly. Aunt Ella told what they had done by way of emergency treatment.

”Evidently a very effective treatment,” said Dr. Parshefield. ”I could not have done better myself.”

”It was so good of you, Harry,” said Alice. ”I shall never forget your kindness.”

Then she threw her arms about Aunt Ella's neck.

”Oh, Auntie, if he had been taken from me, I could not have borne it.”

CHAPTER XVI

YOUNG QUINCY

It had been arranged while Aunt Ella and Maude were at Ellersleigh that Florence and her husband should come to Fernborough Hall and make a visit before their departure for the United States. Owing to Harry's presence at the Hall it became necessary, when they arrived, to divulge the well-kept secret of Maude's unconventional marriage.

Aunt Ella managed the introduction with her usual straightforwardness, treating it as a matter of course. Florence and her husband were naturally surprised, but both of them liked Harry Merry. Had Florence been married at home, with the usual family friends and accessories, she would have looked with less tolerance on Maude's elopement. To be sure she had not eloped, but when she looked into her own heart she had to confess to herself that she would have married Reginald even if her parents had refused their consent. So, as the intent makes the offence, she forgave Maude for her escapade, and during their stay at the Hall they manifested more sisterly regard for each other than they had ever before shown.

Reginald and Harry ”hitched horses” at once. Men who marry sisters are united by a stronger tie than the usual brother-in-law bond, and the Englishman and the American felicitated themselves upon their capture of the Sawyer sisters. They played billiards on a table where the b.a.l.l.s had not clicked for a generation. They smoked in a room which had been free from the odour of tobacco for a score of years. They rode horseback upon steeds whose princ.i.p.al duty, as Harry expressed it, had been to ”heat their 'eads horff.” They even fished in the miniature lake and gave their catch to dogs who knew so little about real sport that they thought the fish were game. They took long walks together and knew by name every man, woman, and child on the estate. The conservative Englishman, if alone, would not have gone so far, but the democratic American took the lead, and politeness, if not inclination, forced his companion to follow.

They often pa.s.sed an evening with Sir Stuart in his library. The Captain related incidents in his military life, while Harry, who had been a great reader, drew on both memory and imagination for tales of the Great West, with an occasional ghost story, supported by irrefutable witnesses. The day before their departure, Aunt Ella took Florence to her boudoir and told her what she had written to _her_ sister, Nathaniel's wife, about her children's marriages.

”I hope Sarah will let your father read my letter. I said just what I thought, and I shall stand by Maude and her husband come what may.”

”And so will I,” cried Florence. ”You helped Reginald by solving the mystery of that check, and I will do all I can to help Maude and Harry.

I think he is a fine fellow, and Reggie says they have become like two brothers.”

”I am glad to hear,” said Aunt Ella, ”that they are bound by love as well as by law.”

In about a month there came a long letter from Maude.

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