It was three o'clock then. I must have passed often, wi'in a
few yards of him."
"Where was he?" asked Katy.
"Behind the straw-stack," replied Dannie.
"Do you think he will die?"
"Dee!" cried Dannie. "Jimmy dee! Oh, my God! We mauna let him!"
Mrs. Dolan took a furtive peep at Mary, who, dry-eyed and white,
was staring straight ahead. She was trembling and very pale, but
if Katy Dolan knew anything she knew that her sister's face was
unforgiving and she did not in the least blame her.
Dannie reached home as soon as the horse could take them, and
under the doctor's directions all of them began work. Mary did
what she was told, but she did it deliberately, and if Dannie had
taken time to notice her he would have seen anything but his idea
of a woman facing death for any one she ever had loved. Mary's
hurt went so deep, Mrs. Dolan had trouble to keep it covered.
Some of the neighbors said Mary was cold-hearted, and some of
them that she was stupefied with grief.
Without stopping for food or sleep, Dannie nursed Jimmy. He
rubbed, he bathed, he poulticed, he badgered the doctor and
cursed his inability to do some good. To every one except Dannie,
Jimmy's case was hopeless from the first. He developed double
pneumonia in its worst form and he was in no condition to endure
it in the lightest.
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