'I know what you are afraid of,' said Sister Constance, remembering her horror of the Bexley medical attendant, 'but is it right to conceal this, my dear child?'
'I don't think I do,' said Cherry pitifully. 'You know Sibby _does_ it every night, and it only aches a little more now. And if they did find it out, then they would have _him_, and there would be a doctor's bill, and, oh! that would be dreadful!'
Sister Constance saw that the question of right or wrong would be infinitely too much for Geraldine, and drew off her mind from it to tell of the good accounts of Robina from Catsacre, and Clement from Whittingtonia; but when presently Wilmet was so far free as to come in with _only_ the boy-baby in her arms, and take the guest up to take off her bonnet, it was the time for entering on the subject.
'Cherry? do you think her looking ill? She always is poorly in the spring, you know.'
'I do not like what I hear of her appetite, or her sleep, or her spirits.'
'Oh! but Cherry is always fanciful, you know. Please, please don't put things in her head.'
'Fancying herself worse, I mean, or wanting things. You know we must be so careful, and Mamma and the babies--'
'My dear, I know you have many to care for, and it is hard to strike the balance; but somehow your voice sounds to me as if Geraldine were the one you most willingly set aside.'
Wilmet did not like this, and said, a little bit hastily, 'I am sure Geraldine has everything we can give her. If she complains, it is very wrong of her.'
'She has not said one word of complaint. Her grief and fear is only of being a burden on you. What brought me here was, that Mr. Audley was anxious about her.'
'Did you know that her ankle is painful again?'
'Sister Constance,' said Wilmet, 'I don't think you or Mr. Audley know how soon Cherry fancies all sorts of things. She does get into whiny states, and is regularly tiresome; and the more you notice her, the worse she is. I know Mamma thought so.'
'My dear, a mother can venture on wholesome neglect when a sister's neglect is not wholesome. I am not accusing you of neglect, mind; only you want experience and sympathy to judge of a thing with a frame like Cherry's. Now, I will tell you what I want to do. I am come to take her back with me, and get her treated by our kind doctor for a month or so, and the sea air and rest will send her back, most likely, in a much more cheery state.'