Senda went to see into the matter for us, and the old woman
took her place in the little parlor. Mrs. Smith was with Mrs. Fontenette.
Fontenette slept. Loath to see him open his eyes, I kept very still, while
nearly another hour dragged by, listening hard for Senda's return, but
hearing only, once or twice, through the narrow stairway and closets
between the two bedrooms, a faint stir that showed Mrs. Fontenette was
awake and being waited on.
I was grateful for the rarity of outdoor sounds; a few tree-frogs piped,
two or three solitary wayfarers passed in the street; twice or more the
sergeant of the night-watch trilled his whistle in a street or two behind
us, and twice or more in front; and once, and once again, came the distant
bellow of steamboats passing each other--not the famous boats whose
whistle you would know one from another, for they were laid up. I doubt if
I have forgotten any sound that I noticed that night. I remember the
drowsy rumble of the midnight horse-car and tinkle of its mule's bell,
first in Prytania street and then in Magazine. It was just after these
that at last a black hand beckoned me to the door, and under her breath
the old nurse told me she was just back from our house, where her mistress
had sent her, and that--"De-eh--de-eh"--
"The Baroness?"
"Yass, sih, de--de outlayndish la-ady--"
Senda had sent word that the child had only an indigestion--a thing
serious enough in such a case--and though still slightly feverish was now
asleep, but restless.
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