Dr. Grant stared at me, shaking his head, but I suppose I looked at him defiantly, for I was really angry with him.

“This is all wrong, Miss Jelliffe,” he said.  “You should not expose yourself to this infection.”

He spoke so quietly that I became rather sorry I had been provoked at him, but he paid no more heed to me.  Once he placed a hand on one of mine, to show me exactly how to hold the head, and then he took a long handle to which something was fastened at right angles.  The child’s mouth was widely opened by the gag he had inserted, and his left finger went swiftly down into the child’s throat and the instrument, pushed by his right hand, followed, incredibly quick.  There was just a rapid motion, I heard the release of a catch, and then, suddenly, there was a terrifying attack of violent coughing.  But in a moment this ceased, the child lay back quietly in her mother’s arms, the color began to return to her lips, and she was breathing quietly.  Then we watched, in silence, and finally the little head turned to one side and the baby closed her eyes, while the poor woman’s tears streamed down and even fell on the tiny face.

“She is all right for the time being,” said Dr. Grant, in that quiet voice of his, which I have heard change so quickly.  “If she can only resist until the antitoxine acts upon her we may pull her through.  I am greatly obliged to you, Miss Jelliffe.  I am afraid your father will scold us both for taking such chances with your health.”

But by this time my eyes were full of tears also, I don’t know why.  I was unsteady on my feet and held on to the back of a chair.

“I never saw anything like this before,” I said.  “I didn’t quite realize that it ever happened.  The poor little thing was dying, and you did it all so quickly!  That thing went in like a flash, and then she coughed so and I thought she was lost.  And now she sleeps, and I am sure you have saved her, and she must get well.  How dreadful it was, at first, and how wonderfully beautiful it is to be able to do such things!  I am so glad!”

Wasn’t it silly of me to get so excited, Aunt Jennie.  But I suppose one can’t understand such happenings until one has witnessed them.  I know that I had taken the doctor’s arm, without realizing what I was doing, and found myself patting it, stupidly, like a silly, hysterical thing.

His face was very serious, just then, and he looked at me as if he had been studying another patient.  Then came that little smile of his, very kindly, which made me feel better.

“I think you had better go now, Miss Jelliffe,” he advised.  “I beg you not to expose yourself further.  It is a duty you owe your good old father and any one who cares for you.”

Then I was myself again.  The excitement of those tense moments had passed away and I knew I had been a little foolish and that he spoke ever so gently.

“I will go since you wish me to,” I answered.  “But I am ever so glad that I was able to help you.  You will come to supper, won’t you?”