else. A slatternly woman stared at the intruders; a dirty child crawled
over the hearth. Daisy could not endure to touch anything, except with
the soles of her shoes. So she stood upright in the middle of the floor;
till the doctor turned round.

"Daisy!--are you going to stand there till the shower is over?"

"Yes, sir,"--Daisy answered patiently. A smile curled the doctor's lips.
He opened the door and lifted in the chair with its long poles, which
indeed half filled the little room; but Daisy sat down. The woman looked
on in astonishment.

"Be she weakly, like?" she asked at length of the doctor.

"Has been--" he answered.

"And what be that thing for?"

"It is for going up and down mountains."

"Have you come from the mountings!" she asked in great surprise. The
doctor was in for it. He was obliged to explain. Meanwhile the darkness
continued and the rain did not yet fall. A breath of wind now and then
brushed heavily past the house, and sunk into silence. The minutes
passed.

"It will be a happiness if they get here before it begins," said Dr.
Sandford; "it will come when it comes!"

"Be there _more_ comin'?" said the woman.