The doctor took off his gloves, rubbed his hands together two or three times, then went to the bedside.
Rachel looked at him; but seemed to pay no attention to him or any one else. He felt of her head and pulse, then asked Miss Christine if she had ever seen her in a fever before.
"No," replied Miss Christine; "but she often has severe headaches; she has a sore throat now."
"Bring the light nearer," said the doctor. "Now, my dear young lady, will you please open your mouth?"
But Rachel only moved her head, and showed signs of becoming restless.
The doctor stooped down, opened her mouth himself, and tried to look down her throat; but she resisted him, and commenced sobbing and muttering incoherently. The doctor soothed her as he would a little child, and she became quiet.
"Has she complained of pain in her back and limbs?"
"None at all," replied Miss Christine. "I asked her particularly."
"Give her a teaspoonful of this mixture every half hour until the fever abates," handing a gla.s.s to Miss Christine, "I will come again to-morrow morning."
"O doctor," whispered Marion, who had silently watched every movement, "is it scarlet fever?"
Miss Christine said nothing, but her eyes asked the same question.
"Of course I cannot tell yet," said the doctor, rising and drawing on his gloves, "but I hardly think it is. I noticed her the other day, when I was here, and remember thinking at the time that even a slight illness would seem more severe with her than with most persons. She looks like a person who had suffered and endured without complaint. I don"t like to see that sort of look on a young face. When she is ill this unnatural self-control gives way, and she"s out of her head, when any other person would be all straight. However, I advise you to keep all the scholars away from her for the present. As for this young lady," taking hold of Marion"s hand, "the best place for such adventurous young females, who go about crossing broken bridges at midnight, is bed."
"What do you mean by broken bridges, doctor?" asked Miss Christine.
"Only that the bridge was down, and she crossed on the beams, that"s all. My prescription for her is a gla.s.s of hot lemonade with a drop of something in it to keep it; you understand, Miss Christine;" and the doctor nodded his head significantly as he left the room.
"My dear Marion," whispered Miss Christine, as she threw her arms around her, "you are the bravest girl I ever knew!"
"Nonsense!" replied Marion, "and please don"t say anything about it downstairs in the morning; I won"t be talked about."
"I understand," said Miss Christine; "but now you must go straight to bed. I"ll heat the lemonade over the gas, and bring it in to you."
"Miss Christine, you go and lie down yourself, and I"ll sit up; indeed, I couldn"t sleep if I went to bed."
"Yes, you will, and don"t talk of sitting up, for I won"t allow it; go right away."
Marion obeyed; in a very few moments she was in bed, had drank the lemonade, and, before she knew she was even drowsy, was fast asleep.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE VICTORY.
The next day the scholars were all very much astonished to find Rachel was really ill, so much so that the doctor had been sent for in the night; but none were aware of Marion"s midnight adventure, for Miss Christine had kept her promise to say nothing about it.
Recitations were given up until Miss Stiefbach should return, and the scholars were all requested to keep as quiet as possible. Every one went about with noiseless steps and hushed voices; some learning that Rachel had been delirious, and had a fever, were seriously frightened lest it should prove to be contagious, and it was as much as the older girls could do to keep the little ones in order.
About ten o"clock the doctor came, and the scholars all collected in the school-room and library, waiting to hear his verdict. Marion and Florence went to their own room, leaving the door ajar, that they might hear the doctor when he went down, and learn from his own lips his opinion of the case.
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 shield 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."