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Passing through a low, dark porch, I opened the heavy door studded with iron nails, and entered the church, and at once experienced a feeling of relaxation, of comfort and repose. How touching the little sanctuary of Pévy seemed to me in its humble simplicity! Imagine a kind of hall with bare walls, the vault supported by two rows of thick pillars.
You will be thrown or something." "No I shan't, Mrs. Candace. I can ride. And Hunchie says the mare is sharpened." "So she is. I had forgotten," the woman admitted thoughtfully. "And the poor fellow suffers so. Some lasting harm may be done if we don't get a surgeon quickly. Where does Dr. Pevy live?" demanded Betty urgently.
Arriving at Pévy the evening before, just before midnight, we had found refuge in a house belonging to a peasant. The hostess, a good old soul of eighty, had placed at our disposal a small bare room paved with tiles, in which our orderlies had prepared a sumptuous bed of trusses of straw.
Pevy was needed right away at Candace Farm. A picture of poor Hunchie lying white and moaning in the bed rose in Betty's memory. She could not return and report that it was impossible for her to reach the doctor's office. Afraid as she was of the crossed wires, she was more afraid of showing the white feather. If Bob Henderson were here in her situation Betty was sure he would not back down.
"That peril will be averted immediately," he said coming back with his overalls removed, a coat over his arm and carrying his case in his other hand. "That's it, my dear. Walk her up and down. Such a beauty!" He got out his light sleigh and then led Standby, a big, red-roan horse, out on the floor to harness him. "These automobiles are all right when the snow doesn't fly," Dr. Pevy remarked.
I was sorry to leave the little church of Pévy; I should so much have liked to wait until those two priests came out, to speak to them, and talk about other things than war, massacres and pillage. But duty called me to my men, my horses, and to battle.
But that little hat would never be the same again after being used as a goad for Ida Bellethorne. Betty sighed, and gave up her attempt. When they came to the place in the ravine where the wires were down Dr. Pevy drew up Standby. The mare snorted, recognizing the spot. But the electrical display was over, for the power had been turned off.
"This air," commented Dr. Pevy, "smells just now of a storm. And I think it may drizzle again. Now, if you are ready, my dear." He unbuckled Ida Bellethorne's bridle rein and made it a leading rein. He helped Betty into the sleigh and gave her the rein to hold. The mare led easily, and merely snorted when Standby leaned into the collar and started the sleigh.
But can you go back with me, Doctor?" "To the Candace Farm?" "Yes, sir. A man has been seriously hurt and there was nobody else to come." "Wonder you got here without having a fall," said Dr. Pevy. "She is sharpened. And she is a dear!" gasped Betty. "But I hope you can start right away. Hunchie is suffering so." "Can't use the road-bug, that's sure," said Dr. Pevy, glancing again at the car.
Bill and the rest may be gone for hours, and there's bones broke here, that's sure." "Where's a doctor?" asked Bobby eagerly. "Eleven miles away, my dear, if he's an inch. Dr. Pevy is the only man for a broken bone in these woods. Poor Hunchie!" "Can't we get him into his bed?" asked Betty. "He'll freeze here." "You're right," replied the woman, who afterward told them she was Mrs. Candace.
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