Martha averted her face, as she bent over the helpless form, to escape the furiously battling eyes. She felt as mean as if she had been taking base advantage of a defenseless creature to do it harm, instead of good; but, in spite of this, and in spite of the inarticulate sounds that came from between the twisted lips at the touch of her hands, she gently lifted the old woman in her strong arms, stripped her, as she would a baby, and put her in the tub.
Tears of helpless rage oozed from between the closed lids, but Mrs. Slawson pretended not to see. She kept up a cheerful babble, what time her poor little antagonist simmered, and again during all the time her firm, strong fingers were plying away at the nerveless flesh.
"Don't you try to lug that heavy tub, Miss Crewe, dear. Wait till I can lay hand to it. If you must be doin' somethin', s'pose you smooth down the sheets, an' see there's no crumbs in the bed. There's nothin' like crumbs in the bed for keepin' you from feelin' lonesome, but I guess your gran'ma willa had enough comp'ny, by the time she gets rid o' me. Poor ol' lady! I been like a grain o' sand in her eye, which it don't help her none, to say I'm sorry.
"'Little drops o' water, little grains o' sand.'
"Guess she'll think she's had her dose o' both, to-night, all right. Say! Hark! Is that a auta-horn? Sounds like Sammy's."
"Then he's brought Dr. Driggs!" Kate Crewe cried joyously.
"Well, you can take it from me he's brought Dr. _Somethin'_. It mayn't be Dr. Driggs, but Sammy wouldn't have the face to come to me, 'less he'd got somethin', that'd, at least, pass for what I sent'm out for," observed Mrs. Slawson suavely.
As it happened, it was not Dr. Driggs whom Sam had brought. Kate Crewe, going to the door to admit them, saw, even in the dark, that neither of the men before her was of the familiar build of the old physician she knew so well. But there was no time for regret, and, after a few brief words of self-introduction, she led the way upstairs.
Meanwhile, Martha had made what she called "a fist" at clearing away all traces of her recent ministrations, so, when the doctor appeared, he found an orderly room, from which she quietly slipped as he entered.