The doctor knew Maddy did not require his presence after the first
half hour, but he insisted upon her being sent to bed, and then went
frequently to her door until assured by Mrs. Noah that she was
sleeping soundly, and would, if let alone, be well as ever on the
morrow, a prediction which proved true, for when at a late hour next
morning the family met at the breakfast table, Maddy's was the
brightest, freshest face of the whole, not even excepting Jessie's.
Maddy, too, was delighted with the party, declaring that nothing but
pleasurable excitement and heat had made her faint, and then with all
the interest which young girls usually attach to fainting fits, she
asked how she looked, how she acted, if she didn't appear very
ridiculous, and how she got out of the room, saying the only thing she
remembered after falling was a sensation as if she were being torn in
two.
"That's it," cried Jessie, who readily volunteered the desired
information, "Brother Guy was 'way off with Maria Cutler, and doctor
was with mamma, but both ran, oh, so fast, and both tried to take you
up. I think Miss Cutler real hateful, for she said, so meanlike, 'Do
you see them pull her, as if 'twas of the slightest consequence which
carried her out?'"
"Jessie," Guy interposed sternly, while the doctor looked
disapprovingly at the little girl, who subsided into silence after
saying, in an undertone, "I do think she's hateful, and that isn't all
she said either about Maddy."
It was rather uncomfortable at the table after that, and rather quiet,
too, as Maddy did not care to ask anything more concerning her faint,
while the others were not disposed to talk.
Breakfast over, the two young men repaired to the library, where Guy
indulged in his cigar, while the doctor fidgeted for a time, and then
broke out abruptly: "I say, Guy, have you said anything to her about--well, about me, you
know?"
"Why, no, I've hardly had a chance; and then, again, I concluded it
better for each one to speak for himself;" and carelessly knocking the
ashes from his half-smoked cigar, Guy leaned back in his chair, with
his eyes, and, to all appearance, thoughts, wholly intent upon the
curls of smoke rising above his head.
"Guy, if you were not engaged, I should be tempted to think you wanted
Maddy Clyde yourself," the doctor suddenly exclaimed, confronting Guy,
who, still watching the rings of smoke, answered with the most
provoking coolness, "You should?"