In spite of her own depression and deep anxiety, Madame saw how keenly
the tragedy had affected the twins. "Why, my dears!" she cried. "Do you
think for a minute that anybody in the world blames you?"

"We ought to be blamed," Romeo returned, "because we did it."

"But not on purpose--you couldn't help it."

"We could have helped it," said Juliet, "by not celebrating. We had no
business to buy an automobile, or, even if we had, we shouldn't have
gone out in it until we learned to run it."

"That's like staying away from the water until you have learned to
swim," answered Madame, comfortingly, "and Allison isn't going to die."

"Really? Do you mean it? Are you sure? How do you know?" The words came
all at once, in a jumble of eager questions.

"Because he isn't. The worst that could possibly happen to him would be
the loss of his left hand, and his father is looking all over the
country for some surgeon who can save it."

"I'd rather die than to have my hand cut off," said Juliet, in a small,
thin voice.

"So would I," added Romeo.

"We're all hoping for the best," Madame went on, "and you must hope,
too. Nobody has thought of blaming you, so you mustn't feel so badly
about it. Even Allison himself wouldn't want you to feel badly."