Mostly Mary Part 6

Having finished his own meal, he went around the table and took her hand.

"You have really earned a half holiday. Take a long nap and have a nice quiet time with the babies this afternoon. Quite feverish," he added in an undertone to his sister.

"A half holiday! Why, Uncle, you must be joking! Don't you know that we lose our marks when we stay home from school? Besides, I have been head of the cla.s.s in spelling for a whole week; and if I don't miss this afternoon, I shall get a beautiful holy picture."

"I shall bring you a whole package of beautiful pictures this evening if you do as I say. A little girl who has held first place in spelling for a week deserves more than _one_ picture."

"But--but, Uncle, it wouldn't be quite the same."

"I know exactly how Mary feels about it, Frank. I think you had better let her go to school. The afternoon is short, and she will go to bed early to-night and take a long sleep in the morning. By that time the excitement will have worn off."

"Well, see that she eats something before she goes back, Elizabeth. I must be off."

CHAPTER VI.

A LITTLE CROSS.

At three o'clock, Mary joined Aunt Mandy and her little sisters at the convent gate. The old nurse watched her in surprise as she came down the walk, her feet lagging instead of skipping and dancing in their usual manner. However, Aunt Mandy said nothing until Mary made no offer to push the baby carriage, a thing which she had never failed to do.

Instead, she asked if she might put her little suit-case in the carriage.

"What's de mattah, honey chile? Did de Sistah done gib ma bressed lamb a scoldin' dis aftahnoon?"

"No, Aunt Mandy, she gave me a lovely holy picture of Blessed Mother for staying at the head of the cla.s.s in spelling all week. I am just tired--that's all--my arms and every bit of me. It is so warm that my head aches."

"_Wahm_, honey! Why, dis yeah chile had to go back in de house to git her li'l shawl. It's a right putty day on de sunny side ob de street, but mighty chilly in de shade. Did yo' eat de apple and de li'l sandwiches what yo' ma done gibbed yo' fo' recess? Yo' nebah teched nuffin fo' lunch."

"I couldn't eat them, Aunt Mandy, but I took three drinks of water and three more on my way out just now. I have been so thirsty all day."

"Huh! I done told yo' ma dat all dis book larnin' ud be de def ob yo'

yet. De bery idea ob sendin' a li'l gal lak yo' is to school!"

"Why, Aunt Mandy, there are ever so many little girls younger than I am at the convent. Some of them are only five."

"Laws a ma.s.sy! Why, honey, dey's nuffin but babies! _Babies!_ An' dat's all yo' is yo' own self. Wait twell yo's as ole as I is, honey chile.

Eben yo' ma seems lak a li'l gal to me. 'Tain't no time sence I done toted her round in ma ahms same's I'se doin' now wif dese yeah bressed lambs. I nebah had no book larnin', t'ank de good Lawd! an' I'se libbed longah dan mos' folks what did, an' I 'spects to keep on libbin' fo' a long time yit, I sahtinly does! Ma muddah an' gran'muddah bofe wuz moah dan a hund'ed an' ten when dey ups and died on ma hands. Yo'

great-gran'muddah wah eighty; but sho', dat's nuffin! I'se past sebenty ma own self. Nebah yo' mind, honey, we's gwine to be home soon, an' den yo' kin go to bed an' git a good sleep. Hol' on to ma ahm, honey chile.

Dat'll holp a li'l."

Aunt Mandy made up her mind then and there to give Mrs. Selwyn some advice on the school question. She had been a servant in the family since she was twelve years of age; and while always respectful, she still looked on "Miss Lisbuf" and "Ma.s.sa Frank" as mere children, and did not hesitate to speak her mind freely to them.

That evening, she was at the front door to meet Doctor Carlton, who listened kindly to her account of the homeward walk, and then hastened up to Mary's room. One of his first questions was, "Have any of the children in your cla.s.s been absent?"

"Hazel hasn't been in school all week nor her little brother, either.

Marian has been out a few days, too."

"Hm! You play with those little girls a great deal, do you not?"

"Oh, yes, Uncle, and we sit near one another in the cla.s.sroom, too; and sometimes Sister lets us sit two in a seat to help each other."

"I see. Well, try to sleep a little while, pet," and down to the telephone went the Doctor. He soon returned to Mary's bedside, and in his own jolly way began, "So you are not content to follow the styles in dress, but must take up with everything going, I see."

"_You_ know that I never bother about styles, Uncle. I just wear whatever mother gets for me," said Mary, with a tired little smile.

"Well, you are very much in style just now. I have been talking with Mrs. Burns and Mrs. Lee, and they tell me that Hazel and her brother and Marian have measles."

Mary gave a pitiful cry.

"And I have them, too, Uncle? And will I have to be sent away somewhere?

But I will go--I will do anything to keep the darling babies from catching them, and--and--don't let Mother come _near_ me! I want her--oh, I do want her! but she mustn't come on account of the babies."

"There, there, pet, you haven't the small-pox! Who has said anything about sending you away? Of course, Mother must not be with you, just as you say, nor Aunt Mandy, either; but Father and I shall come in to see you very often----"

"But you might carry the measles to the babies----"

"Oh, we shall go out and run around the block after our visits to you; so don't worry any more about it. I shall get the very best nurse I know. All my little patients who have had her to take care of them, love her very much."

"But can't I be moved to the little back room so as to be as far away from the babies as I can be?"

"An idea popped into my head as I came up from the telephone. I am glad now that Mother insisted on giving the third floor a house-cleaning two weeks ago, though, at the time, I did not enjoy being ordered to clear out my old den up there. That big front room had been my private property since my twelfth birthday, and the treasures which I had h.o.a.rded there would make a junkman happy. Of course, I had not been near the room for years, and it was high time that I should put things in order. So I spent several evenings destroying more than I saved.

"Out of curiosity, I went up there last Sunday, and what do you think?

But I suppose you have seen it for yourself. I thought I was in the wrong house when I saw my old den dressed up in pale blue walls and white woodwork. It seems to me that is the very room in which to get over measles quickly, and you will have no reason to worry about the babies. The third floor is not an attic, you know, though it has always been used for storing away old things. It is what is called a mansard roof."

"I wouldn't mind if it _were_ an attic, Uncle. I should much rather live in an attic all my life than have any harm come to the babies."

"I am sure you would, pet. Now, I shall send Debby to dust and air the room, and you may lie on the couch in my room while Tom and I carry up your bed."

In less than a half hour, the little patient was comfortably settled in the "hospital," as the Doctor playfully called his old den. He had the next room fitted up for the nurse; but as she could not come before morning, he occupied it himself that night.

It was a great surprise to the little girl when, just after breakfast the next day, he ushered the nurse into the room. Mary had expected a white-gowned, white-capped young lady--not a smiling, rosy-cheeked, little Sister, wearing a big white ap.r.o.n over her black habit and a long, pale blue veil.

"You wear our Blessed Mother's colors, too; don't you, Sister?" was Mary's first remark after she and Sister Julia had been introduced.

"Oh, by the way, Sister," the Doctor paused in the doorway, "there is one thing of great importance which I must ask you to remember, please.

Any colors but blue and white have a very bad effect on this patient--yellow in particular. Please see that she closes her eyes while you give her the medicine and, above all, orange-ade. A few drops of wash-bluing in the water might help matters," and he was gone before Mary could say a word.

The little girl soon learned to love her nurse very much; and, though she sorely missed her mother, Sister Julia's beautiful stories kept her from becoming too lonely.

"No wonder your little patients love to have Sister Julia take care of them, Uncle," she said that evening when he came up to sit with her while the nurse went to her dinner. "I could lie here all day and listen to her stories--_true_ stories about our Lord and Blessed Mother and the Saints, and about children she has taken care of--some of them so poor that they didn't have enough to eat or clothes to keep them warm. But Sister knows a good, kind doctor who took care of them while they were sick and gave them medicine and fruit all for nothing; and he told the Saint Vincent de Paul Society about them; so they are getting along better now.

"I am going to ask Mother not to buy that blue velvet coat and hat for me that she was looking at when we were down town last Sat.u.r.day, but to give the money to some poor family instead. The white ones I had last winter are perfectly good, and Mother can have them dyed if she would like me to have blue things this year. They can dye white any color, you know. Hazel has a beautiful red dress trimmed with tiny, black velvet ribbon; and when I told her how pretty it is, she said that it is an old white tennis skirt of her mother's dyed. There is another thing that I would like to do; but I don't know--would you--do you mind what I do with that five dollar gold piece you gave me for my birthday, Uncle?"

"Do I mind, pet? Of course I do not mind! You are to do exactly what you please with that money. I gave it to you just to see what you _would_ do with it. You have never handled any money of your own, except a few pennies."