“I—­I can’t,” answered Buster in a weak voice.

“Buthter ith too nervouth.  I’ll get them,” offered Tommy.  She did, too.  Now that she had something to do, she went about it as calmly as though she had had no previous fear.  “Are thethe what you want, Mith Elting?” she asked.

“Yes; bring them here.  She is breathing.  Faster, Jane, faster!”

“Don’t pull her armth out by the roootth,” warned Tommy.  The guardian made no reply.  It was a critical moment and Harriet Burrell’s life hung on a very slender thread.  Return to consciousness was so slow as to seem like no recovery at all.  The spot of red that had appeared in either cheek faded and disappeared.  Miss Elting’s heart sank when she noted the change in the face of the unconscious girl.  Jane saw it, too, but made no comment.

Tommy, having taken the clothes from the trunk, now very methodically piled them up near at hand, so that the guardian might reach them without shifting her position materially.  Then the little girl stood with hands clasped before her, her eyes squinting, her face twisted into what Jane afterward said was a really hard knot.

Two tiny spots of red once more appeared in each cheek of Harriet’s white face.

“Shall I move her arms faster?” asked Jane.

Miss Elting shook her head.  “Keep on as you are.  I don’t quite understand, but she is alive.  Of that I am positive.”

For fully fifteen minutes after that the two young women worked in silence.  They noted joyfully that the tiny spots of color in Harriet’s cheeks were growing.  The spots were now as large as a twenty-five-cent piece.  Miss Elting motioned for Jane to cease the arm movements, then she laid an ear over Harriet’s heart.

“Keep it up,” she cried, straightening suddenly.  “We are going to save her.”  Margery, who had drawn slowly near, turned abruptly, walked away and sat down heavily.  Jane’s under lip trembled ever so little, but she showed no other sign of emotion, and methodically continued at her work.

“Now, as soon as we can get the breath of life into her body, we must strip off those wet clothes and bundle her into something dry.  We shall be taking a great chance in undressing her in the open air, but the fact that Harriet is in such splendid condition should go a long way toward pulling her through.  I wish we had a blanket to wrap her in.  However, we shall have to do with what we have.”

Jane kept steadily at her work, her eyes fixed on the face of the patient.  She made no reply to Miss Elting’s words.  Tommy, however, tilted her head to one side reflectively.  Then she turned it ever so little, regarding the broken trunk as if trying to make up her mind whether or not she should hold it responsible for the disaster.  After a few moments of staring at the trunk she sidled over to it, and, stooping down, began rummaging through its contents.  From the trunk she finally drew forth a long flannel nightgown.  This she carried over and gravely spread out on the pile of clothing that she had previously placed near Miss Elting.  The guardian’s eyes lighted appreciatively.