Then she would be the sick woman herself, and trying on
the broad frilled cap which had been found in the trunk, would slip
under the covering, and laying her head upon the pillow, go through with
all the actions of some one very sick, occasionally hugging to her bosom
and kissing the doll.
Once she enacted the pantomime of dying. Folding her hands together and
closing her eyes, her lips moved as if in prayer, for a moment, then
stretching out her feet she lay perfectly motionless, with a set
expression in the little face which looked so comical under the broad
frilled cap. Then, as if it had occurred to her that action was
necessary from some one, she exchanged places with the lay figure, and
tying the cap upon its head, tucked it carefully in the bed, by which
she knelt, and covering her face with her hands imitated perfectly the
sobs and moans of a middle-aged person, mingled occasionally with the
clearer, softer notes of a child's crying.
The first time Frank witnessed this piece of acting was on a Saturday
afternoon, when he had come to the cottage as usual to pay his weekly
due. Both Mrs. Crawford and Harold were gone, but knowing they would
soon return, as it was not their habit to leave Jerry long alone he sat
down to wait, while she went back to the corner in the kitchen, which
she used as her play-house.
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