eric was up betimes the morning following the carriage accident; and seven o'clock found him at the vicarage hearing the latest news of the invalid, which was anything but reassuring, for joy was no better, and had shown no signs of returning consciousness.
the boy saw his mother for a few minutes, and her self-control gave way as she flung her arms around his neck, and wept scalding tears of weariness and grief.
"oh, eric," she cried, "i fear i am adding to your distress, but she is very, very ill, and we can do nothing for her!"
"but god can, mother," he reminded her tenderly, his voice almost choked with emotion.
"ah, yes!" she replied. "he is mindful of his own, and our joy belongs to him, we know. we can only pray for her, eric, and leave her in god's hands."
eric returned dejectedly to the moat house; and informed the anxious household there that joy was no better. celia received the news in silence; but her pale, troubled face, with its dark-rimmed blue eyes, appealed to her brother's sympathy far more than had her noisy weeping of the night before. indeed, the little girl looked heart-broken, but her tears had apparently all been shed.
much to the young people's surprise, sir jasper sent them a message to join him at breakfast in the dining-room. they found him seated at the table when they entered the room, waiting for them. he looked very grave and anxious, but unusually alert.
"good morning!" he said, nodding to them in turn. "celia, my dear, be good enough to pour out the coffee—no sugar for me, thank you. i'm sorry you have not brought home better news of joy, eric. i could not sleep for thinking of the child, so i thought i might as well get up to breakfast."
"i don't suppose anyone slept much last night," celia replied, sighing. "i know i did not."
"ah!" the old man exclaimed, glancing sympathetically at the little girl's wan countenance. "i am going to the vicarage after breakfast," he announced, presently. "i have ordered gay to bring around the pony carriage and drive me. i shall not be satisfied until i have seen margaret, for if joy is no better she must have further advice, and no time must be wasted. meanwhile, you two had better keep each other company at home."
as soon as breakfast was over, gay brought round the pony carriage to the front door, and sir jasper took his departure.
"well, i am surprised!" eric cried, as he watched the conveyance disappear from sight. "i thought he never went outside the grounds."
"he never has since his son died, until now," celia replied, and mrs. mallock, who was standing by, bore evidence to the truth of this statement by exclaiming: "no, indeed! well, i never! wonders will never cease!" celia and eric spent the first part of the morning together; they talked only of joy, and longed for sir jasper's return. at length eric fetched wag for a run in the rock garden, and celia went up to her own room. the idea had crossed her mind that now, if possible, was the time for putting back the butterfly brooch in its rightful place.
the girl quickly possessed herself of the jewel, and stole downstairs to the library, closing the door carefully behind her. she knew it was very unlikely she would be disturbed there, for sir jasper never allowed servants to interfere with anything in the room, and consequently mrs. mallock herself did the necessary cleaning. celia glanced quickly around, and noticed everything was in apple-pie order; she then crossed to the safe and tried to open it, but found it locked. she had expected that, so she was not daunted, but turned her attention to the writing-table to see if sir jasper had left his bunch of keys there. swiftly and cautiously she opened drawer after drawer, and turned over the contents of each; for some time she could not find the keys, and a feeling of keen disappointment mingled with despair was creeping into her heart, when in moving some loose papers she heard something jingle beneath. the next minute the keys were in her hand, and she was standing in front of the safe once more, trying to find the key which fitted the lock. her fingers trembled and made her clumsy, so that it was a long time before she met with success; but after she had discovered the right key, it was but the work of a very few minutes to unlock the safe, replace the butterfly brooch in the jewel case, and re-lock the safe again.
celia's heart throbbed exultingly as she put the bunch of keys back under the papers where she had found it. immediately afterwards she hurried from the room, crossed the hall, and went out into the garden, where she joined her brother.
it was nearly dinner time when sir jasper returned. he brought no fresh news; but he had seen dr. forbes, and a physician from plymouth had been sent for. all that could be done for the patient was being done.
the old man was evidently terribly upset about joy's illness. he ate very little dinner, and afterwards retired to the library, where he spent the afternoon alone, thinking of the little girl who lay at the vicarage, sick unto death. in imagination he could see her seated at the old piano, and could hear the strains of "the last rose of summer "; then pictured her earnest face, full of tender sympathy, as it had been when she had talked to him of his gamekeeper's invalid wife, and asked himself if it was possible she could be a hypocrite and a thief, as he had thought her last night.
"no, no!" he exclaimed. "and yet i must believe the evidence of my own senses," he reflected; "i heard her at the safe, though pretended she had only been shutting window. yes, my first impression must have been correct."
he rose, took the keys from under the papers in the drawer of his writing-table, where he remembered having left them, locked the safe, and lifted the lid of the jewel case. the next moment he uttered a cry of intense surprise, scarcely believing he saw aright, for the first ornament his eyes rested upon was the butterfly brooch.
"am i out of my mind?" he thought. "i am sure it was not there last night. yet it must have been. but how could i possibly have overlooked it? oh, to think that i should have accused that poor child wrongly! oh, joy, poor little joy!"
his distress of mind was very great, for he always tried to act justly. whilst he was still gazing at the jewel, there was a knock at the door, and eric's voice informed him that miss pring was in the drawing-room with celia. hastily locking the safe, he put the bunch of keys in his pocket, and opened the door to find eric waiting for him outside.
the boy's face was flushed with excitement, for miss pring had come from the vicarage, and had brought slightly better news. the plymouth physician had seen joy, and though he pronounced her seriously ill, and admitted there was great cause for anxiety, he did not consider the case a hopeless one.
"thank god he does not," said sir jasper, fervently, when eric had given him this intelligence. "oh, my dear lad, if god spares joy's precious life my gratitude to him will know no bounds!"
eric was so touched at the sight of the old man's emotion that he could hardly answer him. he had not thought his uncle loved joy so well.
miss pring was prevailed upon to remain to tea, and her cheerful society did her companions a world of good. during the evening there were several callers to inquire for joy, the result of the carriage accident having by this time become widely known, and amongst others were mr. tillotson and his daughter.
lulu, looking immeasurably shocked and grieved, was very gentle and sympathetic in her manner to celia; she had never appeared to better advantage, being perfectly natural, and utterly unconcerned as to the impression she was making upon the others present.
"lulu, i've put back the brooch all right," celia found an opportunity of whispering to her friend by-and-bye.
"oh, have you?" lulu returned, with relief in her tones, "i'm so glad to hear that. oh, celia, how little everything seems to matter when anyone is so dangerously ill as joy is!"
"i don't think i understand you," celia replied, looking puzzled.
"oh, don't you? i mean money, and enjoyment, and fine clothes, and all those sort of things don't count for anything when one comes to die. it's goodness that tells then. oh, i don't mean to say that i think joy is going to die—i hope and believe she will recover!—but it's certain she is dreadfully, dreadfully ill, and if god should take her we know she loves him! there's comfort in knowing that."
"oh, don't talk like that," implored celia. "i can't bear it! oh, i wish i could see joy only for a few minutes, but uncle jasper won't let me go to the vicarage, and eric says if i went they would not allow me inside her room. oh, lulu, i've not always been as kind to her as i ought to have been, and it half kills me to remember that now!"
lulu soothed her friend as best she could, though she failed to understand the cause of her remorse, and she succeeded in making her more cheerful.
"lulu tillotson is improving," miss pring observed, when the lawyer and his daughter had gone.
"all, no doubt celia's society has benefited her," sir jasper rejoined; and celia, overhearing this remark, hung her head, and blushed with shame, for she was beginning to understand that in many ways lulu was her superior.
weary, anxious days followed, during which joy hovered on the borderland between life and death; but there came a morning when eric hurried back to the moat house from the vicarage with the bright light of hope in his eyes, and the news that the invalid had regained consciousness, and had recognised her mother; and though she had not spoken, there could be no doubt but that she was better.
dr. forbes corroborated this opinion; but insisted that no one should see his patient except her mother and miss mary pring, who had helped in the nursing all along, until he gave permission. the internal injuries had not proved as serious as had at first been feared, but the girl's right hip bone had been hurt, and gave the doctor much anxiety still.
great was the delight at the moat house when it was known for certain that joy had taken a good turn. eric went off for a ramble in the woods with lawrence puttenham and wag with an easier mind than he had possessed for many a day; and celia threw aside her depression, and allowed herself to smile once more. sir jasper took the news more quietly than anyone, though he was none the less rejoiced; but mingled with the sense of relief he experienced was the feeling of remorse that weighed down his spirits on account of his having accused joy wrongfully.
he was still extremely puzzled concerning the butterfly brooch, for he could hardly bring himself to believe that he had overlooked it on the occasion when he had failed to find it. why, he had searched for it again and again in vain; and yet he had finally found it lying directly inside the jewel case! the more he thought of the matter the more bewildered he became; but one thing was certain, he had brought a cruel charge against joy, and he could not forgive himself for having done so, or for the harsh words which he had uttered in his anger.
every day, much to the astonishment of his household, sir jasper was driven by gay to the vicarage to inquire for the invalid; and, on one occasion, cheered by a good report of the progress joy was making, he stopped at home vale on his return journey and made a call on miss pring.
the members of the crumleigh cricket club, unable to play in the field near the vicarage, for fear of disturbing the sick child, now met in a field nearer the moat house, and great was their astonishment when sir jasper one evening hobbled through the gateway leaning on his stick, accompanied by celia. certainly he did not stay very long; but the news that he had been there was spread through the village of crumleigh that night, and discussed with much wonderment.
it was the second week in september now, and celia and eric were looking forward eagerly to their first interview with joy; and at last a day came when she was well enough to see them for a few minutes.
"only for a few minutes, mind," mrs. wallis told them, before admitting them into the sick room; "you must say or do nothing to excite her, remember."
they promised; but it needed all the self-control they could summon to their aid to enable them to keep their word, as their eyes fell upon their sister. she looked still terribly ill, "all eyes, like a young bird," as eric said afterwards; but when she smiled she appeared more like her old self, for it was joy's own happy smile that lit up the wan face. eric kissed her in silence, his heart full to overflowing; then celia's turn came, and as she bent over her sister, joy whispered:
"we'll be better friends than ever, won't we?"
and celia answered: "oh, yes, yes!"
"i think i am going to get well," said joy, bluntly. "dr. forbes thinks so too. i've been great trouble to everyone, but i'm so glad it as i who was hurt, and not mother or you."
"oh, joy, uncle jasper told me to give you his love."
"his love! to me?"
"yes; and he's coming to see you soon."
"oh, no, no! i don't want to see him! i'd rather not!"
there was a flush of excitement rising to the invalid's face, noting which mrs. wallis promptly hurried celia and eric from the room.
"i wonder why she doesn't want to see uncle jasper," remarked eric, thoughtfully, as walked home by celia's side; "you know they had become friends again, and he's been cut up about her. how distressed she looked when you spoke of him!"
"sick people get queer fancies, i've heard," said celia; "oh, how glad i am we have seen her! she is really better, though she does look so ill. oh, how thankful i am to god for sparing her life! what should we have done without joy?"
"don't think of it, celia. i shall not mind going back to school now when the time comes, for mother says joy will soon be well enough to be moved to the moat house. then you'll be able to help in the nursing. by the way, we won't tell uncle jasper that joy doesn't want to see him."
"of course not. he would be dreadfully hurt."
"you are his favourite, celia," eric said, candidly, "but i think he's fond of joy, too, though he doesn't understand her; and yet she always seems to me so much easier to understand than you."
"joy's better than i am," celia admitted, with a new humility in her tone which struck her brother with surprise; "she never pretends to be what she is not."
"and do you?" he inquired, curiously.
but celia declined to answer, and he did not ask her again. they finished their walk in silence after that.
