The Whitby Witches 3: The Whitby Child Read Online Free PDF Page B

the other positively squeezing the life from a bunch of tissues which she dabbed to her nose, she let out a squeak and ushered the children inside.
    "Oh, where have the pair of you been?" she twittered in distraction. "What a day to go roaming off. Look at the state of your clothes, Ben—oh dear!"
    The boy dragged his sopping coat off and sniffed expectantly. "What's for tea?" he asked, unable to detect any of the usual smells.
    "Oh dear!" Miss Wethers exclaimed again. "Your teas, I clean forgot!" And she threw an agitated glance at the door of the sickroom.
    Jennet was watching her closely. Dithery Edith seemed more preoccupied than normal and she sensed that something was wrong.
    "What's the matter?" she asked. "Aunt Alice! Has something happened to her?"
    Miss Wethers flapped her hands as the girl made for the sickroom and only just managed to pull her back in time.
    "You can't go in there yet," she told her, "not until the doctor's finished."
    "The doctor?" Jennet cried. "Is she all right?"
    Desperately, Ben stared at the closed door and his empty stomach turned over. What if the old lady had died?
    "Alice is fine," Edith hastily explained as she saw the colour rising in the children's faces. "She got a little agitated this afternoon, that's all—over-excited herself for some reason."
    Before she continued, the tissue flew about her nose like a fat butterfly. "I had only popped upstairs for a little lie down," she trilled, "when suddenly the storm awoke me and I heard a crash from downstairs."
    Here she paused to catch her breath as if reliving the moment when she tore down the stairs. "When I entered the sickroom I found Alice sprawled on the floor. The silly old thing had tried to stand, can you imagine? Lord alone knows what got into her! Oh it was awful, and do you know what else? Sand! Everywhere there was sand. It dripped from the chimney and made a fine mess all over the place. How do you account for that? I'm sure I don't know! And covering the windows was a heap of seaweed. It was like one of those uncanny events you read about—when it rains frogs or sardines. Took a long time to be rid of it too. Anyway, there Alice was—sprawled."
    Her report complete, Edith gulped the air exhaustedly then added in a respectful whisper, "Of course I ran to telephone Doctor Adams immediately. He's just finishing his examination; shouldn't be too much longer."
    The children looked at one another nervously, and wished they had both been here sooner.
    Within the sickroom, Doctor Adams closed his medical bag and shook his head at the patient.
    "You are nothing but a stubborn old nuisance," he told her in his most professional voice. "Getting up from your chair indeed! You should have a little more consideration for the people who care for you than to persist in these foolhardy ventures. You're not a young woman; people of your age should do as their physicians tell them."
    Doctor Adams had practised in Whitby for nearly twenty years and was nearing the age when his thoughts turned towards taking an early retirement. He was a tall, pink man with rather too much flesh on him than was healthy. His thinning hair was swept over his domed head and slicked down by generous applications of pomade so that no sudden gust of wind could send the long wisps flying.
    Miss Boston stared at him, and if looks could maim then he would have been the one in need of medical attention.
    She was now lying in bed with the pillows properly fluffed up by Edith and her coverlet neatly tucked in all around.
    "You should be thankful there's no damage done," the doctor concluded. "Old bones are very fragile, you know. One of my patients in Bagdale had a hip replacement last week and he's thirty years younger than you. Just don't think you can gad around any more."
    Giving Miss Boston a final, disapproving look, he went to the door and told Edith that he had finished.
    At once, Jennet and Ben pushed past him and put their arms about Aunt Alice's