Though the lane to the Reynolds' colony was not full in her way, she
was glad to sit down in the shade to speak to old Betty, who did not
comport herself according to either extreme common to parents in
literature.
"So Fanny, she be in the 'firmary, be her? I'm sure as 'twas very
good of the young Squire and you, my lady; and I'm sorry her's bin
and give you so much trouble."
Everybody was harvesting but the old woman, who had the inevitable
bad leg. All men and beasts were either in the fields or at the
races, and Rosamond, uncertain whether her patient was not in a
dying state, rejoiced in her recent acquisition of a pony carriage,
and speeding home with renewed energy, roused her 'parson's man'
from tea in his cottage, and ordered him off to take Betty Reynolds
to see her daughter without loss of time.
Then at length she opened her own gate and walked in at the drawing-
room window. Terry started up from the sofa, and Anne from a chair
by his side, exclaiming at her appearance, and asking if there had
been any accident.
"Not to any of us, but to a poor woman whom I have been taking to
the Infirmary," she said, sinking into a low chair.
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