United States or Namibia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
If she had told this to the children, all would have been right; but Aunt Izzie's theory was, that young people must obey their elders without explanation. John, and Elsie, and Dorry, all pouted when they heard this order. Elsie recovered her good-humor first. "I don't care," she said, "'cause I'm going to be very busy; I've got to write a letter to Cousin Helen about somefing."
"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.
I can't begin to tell you how many different friends she had set up since then. There was an ash-man, and a steam-boat captain. There was Mrs. Sawyer's cook, a nice old woman, who gave Katy lessons in cooking, and taught her to make soft custard and sponge-cake. There was a bonnet-maker, pretty and dressy, whom, to Aunt Izzie's great indignation, Katy persisted in calling "Cousin Estelle!"
Katy was an experienced housekeeper now, and did not worry over coming guests as once she did. The house was always in pleasant, home-like order; and though Debby and Alexander had fulfilled Aunt Izzie's prediction by marrying one another, both stayed on at Dr. Carr's and were as good and faithful as ever, so Katy had no anxieties as to the dinners and breakfasts.
Now, as she told the others, Pikery was very sick indeed. He must have some medicine, just like Philly. "Give him some water," suggested Dorry. "No," said John, decidedly, "it must be black and out of a bottle, or it won't do any good." After thinking a moment, she trotted quietly across the passage into Aunt Izzie's room.
It was bad for their shoes and trousers, of course, but what of that? Shoes and trousers, and clothes generally, were Aunt Izzie's affair; theirs was to slide and enjoy themselves. Clover, next in age to Katy, sat in the middle.
Then stooping down, she gave a vigorous pull. The trundle-bed came into view, and sure enough, there was Elsie, in full dress, shoes and all, but so fast asleep that not all Aunt Izzie's shakes, and pinches, and calls, were able to rouse her.
Clover was kneeling beside her with a pale, scared face, and Aunt Izzie was dropping something cold and wet on her forehead. "What's the matter?" said Katy, faintly. "Oh, she's alive she's alive!" and Clover put her arms round Katy's neck and sobbed. "Hush, dear!" Aunt Izzie's voice sounded unusually gentle. "You've had a bad tumble, Katy. Don't you recollect?" "A tumble?
"And if I were well, Papa, I should be going to school, you know, and then of course I couldn't. No, I'll tell you my plan. I've been thinking about it all day. Debby and Bridget have been with us so long, that they know all Aunt Izzie's ways, and they're such good women, that all they want is just to be told a little now and then.
Aunt Izzie's hair was half pulled down, and Philly was rolling over and over in convulsions of laughter. But Cousin Helen said she hadn't done anything, and pretty soon Papa was on the floor too, playing away as fast as the rest. "I must put a stop to this," he cried, when everybody was tired of laughing, and everybody's head was stuck as full of paper quills as a porcupine's back.
Word Of The Day