Part 27 (2/2)
He came at last, and Florence beckoned him into the room; she tried to ask the question uppermost in her mind, but could not. The doctor knew what she wanted, and said:--
”She is not so bad as I feared; the fever is not so high, and she is not at all delirious.”
”Then you don't think it's scarlet fever?” anxiously asked Marion.
”No, nor typhoid; I feared one or the other, but now I am confident it is nothing contagious. She is pretty sick, but not dangerously so; but how are you, Miss Marion? Walking over broken bridges at twelve o'clock at night isn't a very good thing for red cheeks, is it?”
”What did he mean?” asked Florence, as he left the room.
”Some of his nonsense,” replied Marion, from whose heart a great weight had been lifted.
”Marion, you don't put me off in that way,” said Florence, laying her hands on Marion's shoulders, and looking straight into her eyes.
Suddenly an idea seemed to flash into her head: ”Did you go for the doctor?”
Marion nodded a.s.sent.
”Tell me about it.”
”There is nothing to tell. I woke up in the night, and saw Miss Christine, with a light in her hand, going downstairs. She told me Rachel seemed very ill, and I went in and stayed with her while Miss Christine was gone. Then she wanted to go for the doctor, for she would not call Biddy; but I preferred going to being left with Rachel; so I went; that's all.”
”But what about the broken bridge?” asked Florence.
”The bridge was half down, and I crossed on the beams.”
”Marion, how could you? How did you dare?” said Florence, throwing her arms round Marion, as if to s.h.i.+eld her from present danger; ”if your feet had slipped you would certainly have fallen in, and there would not have been a soul there to save you.”
”But my feet did not slip,” said Marion. ”I was frightened; I don't pretend to say I wasn't; and once when I got to the middle of the bridge I came near falling; but I shut my eyes, and the thought of Rachel gave me strength and courage. O Florence! if you had heard her raving, and talking about her father as I did, you would not wonder I went;” and Marion bowed her head on her friend's shoulder, and gave vent to the tears which she had been struggling to keep back.
Florence held her close in her arms, saying nothing, but bending her own head until it rested against Marion's cheek, and lightly pa.s.sing her hand over her hair until the violence of her emotion had pa.s.sed away, and she looked up, with a faint smile, saying, ”Don't think me a baby, Flo, but I haven't had a good cry with you for ever so long, and I believe I needed it.”
”Think you a baby, darling! Indeed I don't; I think you're the n.o.blest girl I ever knew.”
”Yes, very n.o.ble, I should think!” exclaimed Marion, bitterly; ”the way I have treated Rachel has been n.o.bleness itself!”
”But, my dear Marion, you have been acting against your better nature all the time. I knew you would come out all right.”
For a moment Marion was silent, then looking up suddenly, she said, ”Flo, I've been awfully wicked; I might as well have it all out now, and done with it. When I heard Rachel was coming here I was provoked, because I didn't like the idea of having a new scholar, that was all; but when Miss Christine came in, and told us she was an orphan, it flashed into my head, like a presentiment, that your heart would warm towards her; that you would make her your friend; and from that moment I determined to hate her. Don't look so shocked, dear, or I can't go on, and I want to say it all now. It wasn't a very easy thing, you may be sure, after I saw her; but I would not listen to my conscience, and only steeled myself against her all the more, when I saw she had every quality that would make her lovable, and many that were particularly attractive to me. It was hard, you can't tell how hard, to see her day by day taking the place with you that had always been mine. I knew it was my own fault, because, if I had treated her as I ought, as I really wanted to, we might all three have been warm friends; but I wanted you all to myself. I was jealous, and I might as well say so! However, the night before Thanksgiving I determined to overcome my wicked feelings, and yield to my better nature. You know how I treated her that night, and I should have done the same ever since if I hadn't been a contemptible coward! I heard Georgie Graham tell Mattie Denton that I was _toadying_ Rachel, because she was an heiress; and I was afraid if I began to treat her kindly the whole school would think the same thing.
There! it is all out now; do you think I am a perfect wretch?”
At first Florence made no answer; then she said very gently, ”'He that conquereth himself is greater than he that taketh a city.'”
”I know it, Flo,” answered Marion, with tears in her eyes; ”I've thought of that so many times. But this is such a _little_ victory, and there really ought not to have been anything to conquer.”
”But there was, and you conquered it; if it were possible I should say I love you more than ever.”
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