Breaking Out in a New Place

Dal dropped the hammer immediately, and Lollie Mercer sat petrified,
with a bonbon halfway to her mouth. For, of course, it was unexpected,
finding sentiment of any kind in Bella, and none of them knew about the
scene in the den in the small hours of the morning.

"Sick!" Aunt Selina said, from a hall chair. "Sick! Where?"

"All over," Bella quavered. "His poor head is hot, and he's thirsty, but
he doesn't want anything but water."

"Great Scott!" Dal said suddenly. "Suppose he should--Bella, are you
telling us ALL his symptoms?"

Bella put down her handkerchief and got up. From her position on the
stairs she looked down on us with something of her old haughty manner.

"If he is ill, you may blame yourselves, all of you," she said cruelly.
"You taunted him with being--fat, and laughed at him, until he stopped
eating the things he should eat. And he has been exercising--on the
roof, until he has worn himself out. And now--he is ill. He--he has a
rash."

Everybody jumped at that, and we instinctively moved away from Bella.
She was quite cold and scornful by that time.

"A rash!" Max exclaimed. "What sort of rash?"

"I did not see it," Bella said with dignity, and turning, she went up
the stairs.

There was a great deal of excitement, and nobody except Mr. Harbison was
willing to go near Jim. He went up at once with Bella, while Max and Dal
sat cravenly downstairs and wondered if we would all take it, and Anne
told about a man she knew who had it, and was deaf and dumb and blind
when he recovered.