Page:Cornelia Meigs--The Pool of Stars.djvu/210

 gleam of lanterns through the rifts in the broken walls and knew that help had come. Later, however, there was a very hard hour at the old man's tiny cottage when the doctor attended to his broken leg and the gash in his head.

"He will get through all right," was the cheerful assurance given when the affair was over. "I have attended Michael before, he gets himself into many scrapes but he always comes out of them."

The nurse had come down to give assistance, but she and the doctor were both needed at Mr. Reynolds' bedside. When questioned about Miss Miranda's father, the doctor merely shook his head.

They went away, leaving Betsey to watch Michael alone, since David also had betaken himself to the cottage. She sat for hour after long hour until it was beginning to be morning, as she could see from her place by the bed near the tiny window. The birds were singing; perhaps it was that same thrush that had greeted her before, that was swinging from the drooping elm tree and calling its welcome to the dawn. Michael was sleeping peacefully, she felt very weary herself as she sat there watching the gray light turn slowly to bright day. A step fell on the threshold, a heavy step that could be none other than Mrs. Bassett's.

"These are the strangest doings that ever I heard of," she exclaimed as she came in, taking off her