Instead of her having to take care of herself, kind hands ministered to her, making her comfortable and sweet and clean, soothing her aching head, and giving her cooling drink when she was thirsty;and kind eyes, the stars of the kingdom of heaven, had shone upon her;so that, what with the fire of the fever and the dew of tenderness, that which was coarse in her had melted away, and her whole face had grown so refined and sweet that Diamond did not know her. But as he gazed, the best of the old face, all the true and good part of it, that which was Nanny herself, dawned upon him, like the moon coming out of a cloud, until at length, instead of only believing Mr. Raymond that this was she, he saw for himself that it was Nanny indeed--very worn but grown beautiful.
He went up to her. She smiled. He had heard her laugh, but had never seen her smile before.
"Nanny, do you know me?" said Diamond.
She only smiled again, as if the question was amusing.
She was not likely to forget him; for although she did not yet know it was he who had got her there, she had dreamed of him often, and had talked much about him when delirious. Nor was it much wonder, for he was the only boy except Joe who had ever shown her kindness.
Meantime Mr. Raymond was going from bed to bed, talking to the little people. Every one knew him, and every one was eager to have a look, and a smile, and a kind word from him.
Diamond sat down on a stool at the head of Nanny's bed. She laid her hand in his. No one else of her old acquaintance had been near her.
Suddenly a little voice called aloud--
"Won't Mr. Raymond tell us a story?"
"Oh, yes, please do! please do!" cried several little voices which also were stronger than the rest. For Mr. Raymond was in the habit of telling them a story when he went to see them, and they enjoyed it far more than the other nice things which the doctor permitted him to give them.
"Very well," said Mr. Raymond, "I will. What sort of a story shall it be?""A true story," said one little girl.
"A fairy tale," said a little boy.
"Well," said Mr. Raymond, "I suppose, as there is a difference, I may choose. I can't think of any true story just at this moment, so I will tell you a sort of a fairy one.""Oh, jolly!" exclaimed the little boy who had called out for a fairy tale.
"It came into my head this morning as I got out of bed,"continued Mr. Raymond; "and if it turns out pretty well, I will write it down, and get somebody to print it for me, and then you shall read it when you like.""Then nobody ever heard it before?" asked one older child.
"No, nobody."
"Oh!" exclaimed several, thinking it very grand to have the first telling;and I daresay there might be a peculiar freshness about it, because everything would be nearly as new to the story-teller himself as to the listeners.
Some were only sitting up and some were lying down, so there could not be the same busy gathering, bustling, and shifting to and fro with which children generally prepare themselves to hear a story;but their faces, and the turning of their heads, and many feeble exclamations of expected pleasure, showed that all such preparations were making within them.
Mr. Raymond stood in the middle of the room, that he might turn from side to side, and give each a share of seeing him. Diamond kept his place by Nanny's side, with her hand in his. I do not know how much of Mr. Raymond's story the smaller children understood;indeed, I don't quite know how much there was in it to be understood, for in such a story every one has just to take what he can get.
But they all listened with apparent satisfaction, and certainly with great attention. Mr. Raymond wrote it down afterwards, and here it is--somewhat altered no doubt, for a good story-teller tries to make his stories better every time he tells them.
I cannot myself help thinking that he was somewhat indebted for this one to the old story of The Sleeping Beauty.
