Just take care of your mother,
Miss Allis. I'll have your father about in a jiffy."
"He's jest stunned; that's all!" added Mike, with his kindly, parrotlike
repetition.
It seemed a million years to the wife that she waited for the doctor's
outcoming. Twice she cried in anguish to Allis that she must go in;
must see her husband.
"He may die," she pleaded, "and I may never see his eyes again. Oh, let
me go, Allis, I'll come back, I will."
"Wait here, mother," commanded the girl. "Doctor Rathbone will tell us
if--if--" she could not finish the sentence--could not utter the dread
words, but clasping her mother's hands firmly in her own, kept her in
the chair. Once Mike came out and said, "He's jest stunned, Ma'am. The
docthor says he'll be all roight by an' by."
"He won't die--"
"He's worth a dozen dead men, Ma'am; he's jest stunned; that's all!"
There was another long wait, then Dr. Rathbone appeared.
"Porter will be all right, Madame; it'll take time; it'll take time--and
nursing. But you're getting used to that," he added, with a smile, "but
" and he looked fixedly at Allis, "he must have quiet; excitement will
do more harm than the fall."
"Tell me the truth, doctor," pleaded Mrs.
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