Wear the scarlet waist, will you? I want things particularly
bright and cheery to-night, for I know Lanse will come home fagged with
the new work. Mrs. Laurier sent over some red carnations. I've put them
in the middle of the table; they look ever so pretty. I'm going to----"
What she intended to do Celia never told, if she ever afterward
remembered. What she did do was to slip upon the third step of the steep
stairway, and, with no outcry whatever, go plunging heavily to the
bottom.
* * * * *
CHAPTER III
"Celia--Celia--are you hurt?" cried Charlotte, and dashed down the
stairs.
There was no answer. With trembling hands she felt for her sister's
head. It lay close against the cellar wall, and she instantly understood
that Celia must be unconscious. But whether there might be more to be
feared than unconsciousness she could not tell in the dark. Her first
thought was to get a light, the next that she must have help at once.
She rushed up the stairs, calling Jeff and Justin, but neither boy was
to be found. Then she ran to the telephone, with the idea of summoning
one of the suburban physicians, but turned aside from this purpose with
the further realisation that first of all Celia must be brought up from
the cold, dark place in which she lay, and restored to consciousness.
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