Florence stood by him, and tried by gently smoothing his tangled hair to
express the sympathy she could not speak. Suddenly there was the sound of
fast-coming wheels, and Kate, thinking it must be Dr. Gordon, whom they
were each moment expecting, ran out to meet him. Nearer and nearer came
the carriage, and as Kate was peering through the darkness to see if it
were the expected physician, Dr. Lacey sprang quickly to her side.
In Frankfort he had heard that Fanny could not live, and now he eagerly
asked, "Tell me, Mrs. Miller, is she yet alive?"
Kate replied by leading him directly toward the sick chamber. As he
entered the room Uncle Joshua burst into a fresh flood of tears, saying as
he took the doctor's offered hand, "Poor boy! Poor George. You're losing a
great deal, but not as much as I, for you can find another Fanny, but for
me thar's no more Sunshine, when they carry her away."
Dr. Gordon now came and after feeling her pulse and listening to the sound
of her breathing, he said, "When she wakes from this sleep, I think the
matter will be decided. She will be better or worse."
And he was right, although the old clock in the hall told the hour of
midnight ere she roused from the deep slumber which had seemed so much
like the long last sleep of death. Her first words were for "water,
water," and as she put up her hand to take the offered glass, Dr. Gordon
whispered to Dr. Lacey: "She is better, but must not see you tonight."
In a twinkling Mr. Middleton's large hand was laid on Dr. Lacey's
shoulder, and hurrying him into the adjoining room, he said, "Stay here
till mornin', and neither breathe nor stir!"
Dr. Lacey complied with the request as far as it was possible, though
never seemed a night so long, and never dawned a morning so bright as did
the succeeding one, when through the house the joyous tidings ran that the
crisis was past, and Fanny would live.
In the course of the morning, Fanny asked Kate, who alone was attending
her, if Dr. Lacey were not there?
"What makes you think so?" asked Kate.
"Because," answered Fanny, "I either heard him or dreamed that I did."
"And if he is here, could you bear to see him now?"
"Oh, yes, yes," was the eager answer, and the next moment Dr. Lacey was by
her side.