"Who are you calling 'Kitty'?" asked the girl indignantly, as they
motioned her back from the bedside. "There's too many people here," she
added abruptly to her mother. "We can take care of him"--she nodded
towards the bed. "We don't want any help except--except from John
Sibley, if he will stay, and you too," she added to the banker.
She had not yet looked at the figure on the bed. She felt she could not
do so while all these people were in the room. She needed time to adjust
herself to the situation. It was as though she was the authority in the
household and took control even of her mother. Mrs. Tynan understood.
She had a great belief in her daughter and admired her cleverness, and
she was always ready to be ruled by her; it was like being "bossed" by
the man she had lost.
"Yes, you'd all better go," Mrs. Tynan said. "He wants all the air
he can get, and I can't make things ready with all of you in the room.
Go outdoors for a while, anyway. It's summer and you'll not take cold!
The Young Doctor has work to do, and my girl and I and these two will
help him plenty." She motioned towards the banker and the gambling
farmer.
In a moment the room was cleared of all save the four and Crozier, who
knew that upon the coming operation depended his life. He had been
conscious when the Young Doctor said this was so, and he was thinking, as
he lay there watching these two women out of his nearly closed eyes, that
he would like to be back in Ireland at Castlegarry with the girl he had
married and had left without a good-bye near five years gone.
Pages:
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69