ief, so that
she looked like any other than the winsome child who had flashed upon
Miss Bonnicastle's vision at that memorable visit of hers to that
crooked little alley where they had met.

And Timothy Dowd, the only one of the big household near, whom Mary
Fogarty permitted to enter the wagon-house-hospital, sighed as he
answered with an affected cheerfulness: "Sure, it's nobody dies around
these parts; not a body since I was put to work on this section the
road. So, why more her nor another an' she the youngest o' the lot?
Younger, betoken, nor the twinses theirselves.

"An' it's naught but that crotchetty woman, yon," continued Tim, "that's
cousin to me own sister's husband, 'd have took such fool notions into
her head. Forbiddin' me, even me, her own relation by marriage, to set
foot inside her door till she says the word, an' somebody tellin' her we
should be smoked out with sulphur an' brimstone, like rats in a hole,
ere ever we can mix with decent folks again. An' some of the boys, even,
takin' that nonsense from herself, an' not likin' to dig in the same
ditch along with the contagious Tim. Sure, it's contagious an'
cantankerous and all them other big things we'll be, when we get out o'
this an' find the old captain, your grandpa, an' the biggest kind of a
celebration 'twill be, or never saw I the blue skies of old Ireland!
Bless the sod!"

But in his heart, faithful Timothy did not look for Bonny Angel's
recovery. Nobody knew what ailed her, since physician had not been
called. Against such professional advice, Mary Fogarty had set her big
foot with an unmovable firmness. Doctors had never interfered in her
household save once, when Dennis, misguided man, had consulted one. And
witness, everybody, hadn't he been sick and useless ever since?

So, from a safe distance, she assumed charge of the case; sending Glory
a pair of shears with which to shave Bonny's sunny head, directing that
all windows should be closed, lest the little patient "take cold," and
preparing food suitable for the hardest working "boarder," rather than
the delicate stomach of a sick child.

However, had they known it, there was nothing whatever infectious about
little Bonny's illness, which was simply the result of unaccustomed
exposure and unwholesome food; nor did good Mary's unwise directions
cause any great harm, because, though a delicate child, the baby was a
healthy one. She had no desire for the coarse food that was offered her