Partners Read Online Free Page B

followed the woman.
    "I'll be right back for you, kid," said Reuben and stepped outside.
    The woman had already gone to the door at the back of the ambulance and demanded entrance, and the intern, seeing how things were, flung the door open for an instant. The matron assumed an attitude of investigation, with three neighbors nearby getting a front seat at the show.
    "Yes, that's her all righty!" she said, nodding back at Reuben. "I'd know her anywhere, even without her hat. Aw, ain't it awful! How white she looks! What's the matter of her? Ya think she's goin' ta die, do ya?" She cast an eye at the glaring doctor. "Now, ain't that a pity!"
    "That'll be all!" said the doctor, getting out of the ambulance and taking the woman with a firm grip by the arm. "You get in your house there and send that child out at once, or we'll have a policeman here in short order."
    "Oh, ya don't say so!" said the woman. "Who crowned you, I'd like to know? Quit shovin' me! I gotta find out what she wants I should do with the kid. She made me promus I wouldn't give him ta nobody. Say, Miss Gutry, don'tcha want I should keep Nollie till ya git well an' cum back? I won't charge ya but fifty cents extra fer day an' night, an' then ya ken hev yer mind at rest. The gentlmon give me the quarter, so it'll be siventy-five per day from now on."
    "No!" she said excitedly. "Bring my brother here right away! I want to see him at once!" And then she dropped back on the pillow and her breath was almost gone.
    "Here he is!" said Reuben quietly. "Say hello to your sister, Noel!" For Reuben had gone back with three strides to the house, had gathered the boy up in his arms, and now brought him out and held him up for the sister to see.
    "I'm here, Gillian!" called Noel. "Hello, Gillian. I'm all right! Don't be sick, Gillian! I'm here, and I'll take care of you! Gillian----!"
    But everything had faded out and turned black for Gillian, and she didn't answer.
    "Let's go!" said the doctor. He shoved the big woman aside, slid into his place, and closed the door. Reuben, with the boy still in his arms, swung up into the front seat. The bell clanged; the children and neighborhood people scattered hastily while the great white wagon rolled down the street around the corner and out of sight.
    But inside the doctor and nurse were working hard.
    "I guess we shouldn't have risked that," said the doctor under his breath.
    Reuben on the front seat with the small, frightened boy in his lap held him close because he was trembling like a leaf. Presently he lifted a scared little face and asked in a shaky voice, "Is--my--sister--going--ta die, man?"
    "Oh, no," said Reuben with a confidence he was far from feeling. "She's going to the hospital to get well."
    "But they do die when these white wagons with bells come to the houses. There was one came last week for a little baby at the nursery where I stayed."
    "Well, your sister isn't going to die now. Not now. She's going to get well and take care of you."
    "But what will I do? Will I have to go back and stay--with--that--awful----woman? I don't like her! She'll smack me, I know! She said she would! And it--hurts----something--awful!"
    "No, you don't have to go back to her, not ever again!" said Reuben. "You're done with her!" And he hugged the child closer.
    The boy was still for a moment, and then he asked with anxious eyes: "Then, do I go to the hospital, too?"
    "No," said Reuben, "you're not sick, so you couldn't go to the hospital. We're just going in a minute to see that your sister gets a nice room and is all right, you know, and then you're coming to visit me till your sister gets well and can come home."
    The child looked up anxiously and studied his face, and Reuben turned on his pleasant grin for the little fellow.
    "We're going to have a grand time together, fella," he said reassuringly.
    "I don't-- know you--very well--yet," said the boy hesitantly, "but--I think----I like you--pretty well!"
    "Fine!" said Reuben heartily.