"I stay in bed?" said Maureen, with one of her radiant smiles. "But I'm perfectly well, and I've got to attend to Henrietta now."
"Oh, my child, that poor, poor girl. Do you know, Maureen, that we have not dared to tell her."
"I am glad," said Maureen, after a pause. "I will tell her myself in my own way. Will you, dear Mrs. Faithful, ask Dom to collect heaps and heaps of white flowers--all the daisies and white wild flowers he can find and have them ready for me in a basket?"
"I want to make her look beautiful before Henrietta sees her," continued Maureen. "Have you locked the door of that room?"
"Yes, dear; girls are not accustomed to the sight of death."
Mrs. Faithful found herself obeying this extraordinary child without a word. She not only gave her the key, but took Maureen's message to Dominic.
When Maureen had finished her breakfast, she washed in the delicious hot bath which adjoined her bedroom and dressed herself in the purest white Indian muslin. It clung in soft folds to her slim young figure. Then, as she left the room, she encountered Dominic, who was waiting for her in the corridor outside. He had a basket under his arm filled with all sorts of white flowers.
Maureen hastily produced wire and a thimble, needle, scissors and thread, then she and Dominic went in the direction of the Infirmary.
"I've never seen anyone dead, you know," said Dominic, pausing for an instant before that shut door.
"You never loved her in life, Dom, but you will love her now," said Maureen. "She is far, far above us _all_ now. In the moment of death that evil spirit which so tormented her passed away forever, and the Spirit of Love came instead, and God sent one of his most beautiful Angels and took her home, poor little Daisy!"
"Come and see for yourself," said Maureen. "The last thing she said before she left us was, '_I love you, Maureen, better than anyone else in the whole world_.'"
She unlocked the door, and the boy and girl entered the Infirmary. All the windows were wide open. There was a sweet gentle air blowing through the long room. A white sheet covered the head and slight figure of the girl.
Maureen gently removed the white sheet, and they both saw a tiny face, a face which had never once been beautiful in life, but now looked lovely. There was a faint smile on the lips. Daisy looked something like a lily flower, broken at the stem.