Lavender Lady by Carola Dunn Page B

happened to Nan Becket when old John died? She was quite young, and she died too, after just a few weeks in that place. It is our Christian duty to take her in. You know Hester would.”
    “But I cannot . . .”
    “And the little baby, Allie! You could not be so cruel!”
    Alice made up her mind. Gathering courage she did not know she possessed, she marched toward the lych-gate, followed by a protesting Mr. Pettigrew and an encouraging Susan.
    The crowd parted before her. The Godrics were generally looked up to in the town, though there were those who thought they held themselves too high, “considering.” They hushed each other to hear what Miss Alice would say.
    The girl had sunk to a crouch, her head resting against the railing. She looked to be no older than Alice herself, terribly thin with huge eyes in a white, pinched face where traces of prettiness lingered like the last light in the evening sky.
    “She’s coming home with us,” announced Alice in a voice that startled her with its loudness and firmness. She bent over the mother and child and asked anxiously, “Can you walk? It is not far. I shall carry the baby, and Susan will go ahead to tell the others. What is your name?”
    “Grace,” murmured the young woman.
    “Come, Grace, let me help you rise.”
    A dozen willing hands reached out to assist, now that the problem was no longer theirs. Alice thanked them all and asked Mr. Pettigrew to give his arm to her protégée. which he did with a bad grace. He continued to mutter remonstrances as they walked past the White Hart and the Catherine Wheel and turned into Bell Street. Alice was happy to see James and Geoffrey running in their direction before they had gone far. Mr. Pettigrew gave up his post with pleasure and hurried away.
    “What is going on, Allie?” demanded Jamie as he and his brother lent their support to the stranger’s wavering steps. “Susan was practically unintelligible, but we gathered we were needed in a hurry.”
    “She said Pettigrew was an odious beast. We thought we’d have to rescue you from him,” added Geoff disappointedly.
    Her need for resolution past, Alice wanted to sit down and burst into tears. With the baby in her arms, she could not do so, so she pulled herself together again and gave her brothers a fairly coherent account of what had happened. They were full of admiration.
    In a very few minutes, Hester found herself with another invalid on her hands. With a whispered word of gratitude, the unknown girl collapsed into restless slumber. Geoff was sent for Dr. Price.
    The old Welshman was gloomy.
    “She’ll not live long, look you. Starvation, exhaustion, exposure, and she not much past her confinement and feeding a babby to boot. Indeed to goodness, it’s amazed I am the wee one is so healthy. This poor soul will take all the care you can give, Miss Hester, and then some. I fear ‘twill be in vain.”
    While Hester and Dr. Price discussed how best to help the sick girl, Alice and Susan were clucking and cooing over the baby, and the boys had gone to tell Mr. Fairfax about it.
    “Does your sister never turn anyone away?” he enquired.
    “Oh no, sir,” answered Jamie. “Hester has the greatest horror of people who weep and pray over the evils of the world but will do nothing to remedy them. I suppose she has influenced us all, for Alice is generally very timid, and I am surprised she dared to face the crowd.”
    “Alice did not help when I brought home the bird with the broken wing,” pointed out Robbie. “She screamed and ran away. Hester put a splint on it and helped feed it till it was better. She didn’t help catch insects for it,” he added in a reflective tone.
    His elders laughed.
    “That would be too much to expect,” declared Mr. Fairfax. “Well, I hope this Grace is not too ill to care for her baby. It seems to me that Miss Godric has more than enough to do already.”
    “I think she is very sick,” said Geoffrey dubiously. “She could