Part 19 (2/2)

”How is Aunt Izzie?” she asked, when Papa came in at noon.

”Well, I don't know. She has some fever and a bad pain in her head. I have told her that she had better lie still, and not try to get up this evening. Old Mary will come in to undress you, Katy. You won't mind, will you, dear?”

”N-o!” said Katy, reluctantly. But she did mind. Aunt Izzie had grown used to her and her ways. n.o.body else suited her so well.

”It seems so strange to have to explain just how every little thing is to be done,” she remarked to Clover, rather petulantly.

It seemed stranger yet, when the next day, and the next, and the next after that pa.s.sed, and still no Aunt Izzie came near her. Blessings brighten as they take their flight. Katy began to appreciate for the first time how much she had learned to rely on her aunt. She missed her dreadfully.

”When _is_ Aunt Izzie going to get well?” she asked her father; ”I want her so much.”

”We all want her,” said Dr. Carr, who looked disturbed and anxious.

”Is she very sick?” asked Katy, struck by the expression of his face.

”Pretty sick, I'm afraid,” he replied. ”I'm going to get a regular nurse to take care of her.”

Aunt Izzie's attack proved to be typhoid fever. The doctors said that the house must be kept quiet, so John, and Dorry, and Phil were sent over to Mrs. Hall's to stay. Elsie and Clover were to have gone too, but they begged so hard, and made so many promises of good behavior, that finally Papa permitted them to remain. The dear little things stole about the house on tiptoe, as quietly as mice, whispering to each other, and waiting on Katy, who would have been lonely enough without them, for everybody else was absorbed in Aunt Izzie.

It was a confused, melancholy time. The three girls didn't know much about sickness, but Papa's grave face, and the hushed house, weighed upon their spirits, and they missed the children very much.

”Oh dear!” sighed Elsie. ”How I wish Aunt Izzie would hurry and get well.”

”We'll be real good to her when she does, won't we?” said Clover. ”I never mean to leave my rubbers in the hat-stand any more, because she don't like to have me. And I shall pick up the croquet-b.a.l.l.s and put them in the box every night.”

”Yes,” added Elsie, ”so will I, when she gets well.”

It never occurred to either of them that perhaps Aunt Izzie might not get well. Little people are apt to feel as if grown folks are so strong and so big, that nothing can possibly happen to them.

Katy was more anxious. Still she did not fairly realize the danger. So it came like a sudden and violent shock to her, when, one morning on waking up, she found old Mary crying quietly beside the bed, with her ap.r.o.n at her eyes. Aunt Izzie had died in the night!

All their kind, penitent thoughts of her; their resolutions to please--their plans for obeying her wishes and saving her trouble, were too late! For the first time, the three girls, sobbing in each other's arms, realized what a good friend Aunt Izzie had been to them. Her worrying ways were all forgotten now. They could only remember the many kind things she had done for them since they were little children. How they wished that they had never teased her, never said sharp words about her to each other! But it was no use to wish.

”What shall we do without Aunt Izzie?” thought Katy, as she cried herself to sleep that night. And the question came into her mind again and again, after the funeral was over and the little ones had come back from Mrs. Hall's, and things began to go on in their usual manner.

For several days she saw almost nothing of her father. Clover reported that he looked very tired and scarcely said a word.

”Did Papa eat any dinner?” asked Katy, one afternoon.

”Not much. He said he wasn't hungry. And Mrs. Jackson's boy came for him before we were through.”

”Oh dear!” sighed Katy, ”I do hope _he_ isn't going to be sick. How it rains! Clovy, I wish you'd run down and get out his slippers and put them by the fire to warm. Oh, and ask Debby to make some cream-toast for tea! Papa likes cream-toast.”

After tea, Dr. Carr came up stairs to sit a while in Katy's room. He often did so, but this was the first time since Aunt Izzie's death.

Katy studied his face anxiously. It seemed to her that it had grown older of late, and there was a sad look upon it, which made her heart ache. She longed to do something for him, but all she could do was to poke the fire bright, and then to possess herself of his hand, and stroke it gently with both hers. It wasn't much, to be sure, but I think Papa liked it.

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