10 What Katy Did Next - Bedtime Tales Stephanie Poppins

Hello.

Welcome to Sleep Stories with Steph.

A romantic bedtime podcast guaranteed to help you drift off into a calm relaxing sleep.

Come with me as we go back in time to visit Katie Carr.

She is all grown up now but she still has the same trials and tribulations she had as a child.

But before we begin let's take the time to focus on where we are now.

Take a deep breath in through your nose.

Take a deep breath in through your nose.

That's it.

Then let it out on a long sigh.

It is time to relax and really let go.

Feel yourself sink into the support beneath you.

And let the pressures of the day seep away.

Happy listening.

What Katie Did Next by Susan Coolidge Read and abridged by Stephanie Poppins Chapter 10 When the first shock is over and the inevitable realized and accepted,

Those who tend a long illness are apt to fall into a routine of life which helps to make the day seem short.

The apparatus of nursing is got together.

Every day the same things need to be done at the same time and in the same way.

Each little appliance is kept at hand and sad and tired as the watchers may be,

The very monotony and regularity of their proceedings give a certain stay for their thoughts to rest upon.

But there was little of this monotony to help Mrs.

Ash and Katie with Amy's illness.

Small chance was there for regularity or exact system for something unexpected was always turning up and needful things were often lacking.

Most ordinary comforts of the sick room,

Or what are considered so in America,

Were hard to come by and much of Katie's time was spent in devising substitutes to take their places.

Was ice needed?

Pail full of dirty snow would be brought in,

Full of straws,

Sticks and other refuse,

Which had been scraped from the surface of the street after a frosty night.

Not a particle of it could be put into milk or water.

All that could be done was to make the pail serve the purpose of a refrigerator and set bowls and tumblers into it to chill.

Was a feeding cup wanted?

It came of an antiquated pattern which the infant Hercules might have enjoyed,

But the modern-day Amy abominated and rejected.

Such a thing as a glass tube could not be found in all Rome.

Bedrests were unknown and Katie searched in vain for an India rubber hot water bag.

But the greatest trial of all was the beef tea.

It was Amy's sole food and almost her only medicine,

For Dr.

Hillary believed in leaving nature pretty much to herself in cases of fever.

The kitchen of the hotel sent up a mixture of grease and hot water which could not be given to Amy at all.

In vain,

Katie resorted to the use of a glass tube.

In vain,

Katie remonstrated and explained the process of making beef tea.

She went to the kitchen herself to translate a carefully written recipe.

It was hoped it would quicken the energy and soften the chef's heart.

But in vain did she order private supplies of the best of beef from a separate market,

For the cook stole the beef and ignored the recipe and day after day the same bottle full of greasy liquid came upstairs.

At last,

Driven to desperation,

Katie procured a couple of stout bottles and every morning she slowly and carefully cut up two pounds of meat into small pieces,

Sealed the bottle with her own seal ring and sent it down to be boiled for a specified time.

This answered better,

For the thieving cook dared not tamper with her seal.

But it was a long and toilsome process and consumed more time than Katie well knew how to spare,

For there were continual errands to be done which no one could attend to but herself.

Life seemed to grow longer and harder every day.

At last,

A good Samaritan turned up in the shape of an American lady with a house of her own,

Who,

Hearing their plight from Mrs Sands,

Undertook to send each day a supply of strong,

Perfectly made beef tea from her own kitchen.

This was an inexpressible relief and the lightning of this new life and the lightning of this one particular care made all the rest seem easier to endure.

Polly bears the whole thing wonderfully,

Katie wrote about Mrs Ash to her father.

She was all broken down for the first day or two but now her courage and patience are surprising.

When I think how precious Amy is to her and how lonely her life would be if she were to die,

I can hardly keep the tears out of my eyes.

But Polly doesn't cry,

She's quiet and brave and almost cheerful all the time.

All this time,

No word had come from Lieutenant Worthington.

His sister had written him as soon as Amy was taken ill.

He had twice telegraphed but no answer had been received.

This strange silence added to the sense of lonely isolation and distance from home and help which those who encounter illness in a foreign land have to bear.

So first one week and then another wore themselves away.

The fever did not break,

Not even on the 14th day.

It must run for another period,

The doctor said,

But its force was lessened and he considered that a favourable sign.

Amy was quieter now and did not rave so constantly but she was still very weak.

All her pretty hair had been shorn away which made her little face look tiny and sharp.

Her doll Mabel's golden wig was sacrificed at the same time.

Amy insisted upon it and they dared not cross her.

She's got a fever too and it's a great deal badder than mine is,

She protested.

Her cheeks are as hot as fire,

She ought to have ice on her head and how can she when her hair is so thick?

Cut it all off every bit and I'll let you cut mine.

You'd better give the child her way,

Said Dr.

Hillary.

She's in no state to be fretted with trifles.

Cut the doll's hair off.

She isn't a doll,

Cried Amy overhearing him.

She's my child,

We shan't call her names.

Then she hugged Mabel tight in her arms and glared at Dr.

Hillary defiantly.

So quickly,

She was in a state of shock.

So Katie with pitiful fingers slashed away at Mabel's blonde wig till her head was as bare as a billiard ball and Amy,

Quite content,

Patted her child while her own locks were being cut.

It was the day after this that Katie,

Coming in from a round of errands,

Found Mrs.

Ash standing erect and pale with a frightened look in her eyes.

Confronting her was Madame Frulini,

The owner of the hotel.

Madame's cheeks were red and her eyes bright and fierce.

She was evidently in a rage about something and was pouring out a torrent of excited Italian with every now and then a French or English word slipped in by way of punctuation and all so rapidly that only a trained ear could have followed or grasped her meaning.

What is the matter?

Asked Katie in amusement.

Oh,

Katie,

I'm so glad you've come,

Cried poor Mrs.

Ash.

I can hardly understand a word this horrible woman says but I think she wants to turn us all out.

We'll have to take Amy to some other place but it would be the death of her,

I know it would.

I can never,

Never go unless the doctor says it's safe.

She can't make me,

Can she,

Katie?

Madame,

Said Katie,

And there was a flash in her eyes which before the landlady shrank back.

Why do you come to trouble,

Madame,

When her child is so ill?

Then came another torrent of explanation which didn't explain anything but Katie gathered enough of the meaning to make out that Mrs.

Ash was quite correct in her guess and Madame Frulini was requesting,

Nay insisting,

They should remove Amy from the hotel at once.

There were plenty of apartments to be had now the carnival was over,

She said.

You are a cruel woman,

Said Katie indignantly when she grasped the meaning of the outburst.

It's wicked and cowardly to come thus and attack a poor lady under your roof who has already so much to bear.

It is her only child lying in there,

Her only one,

Do you understand?

And she is a widow.

What you might ask could kill the child.

I shall not permit you or any of your people to enter that door till the doctor comes.

Mademoiselle,

Stormed the landlady,

I give you my word four people have left this house already because of the noises made by Little Miss.

More will go.

I shall lose my winter's profit,

All of it.

Be silent,

Said Katie sternly.

You'll frighten the child.

I'm sorry you should lose any customers,

Madame,

But the fever is here and we are here too and that is where we must stay until it's safe to go.

Where Katie found French for all those long speeches she could never afterward imagine.

She tried to explain it by saying the excitement inspired her for the moment but that as soon as the moment was over,

The inspiration died away and left her as speechless and confused as ever.

Then at last the doctor came.

He had in fact been standing in the doorway for several moments before they noticed him.

Miserable hotel,

He thundered.

Where will that be when I go and tell the English and Americans oh you have served a country woman of theirs in this house.

Oh doctor,

Pardon me,

I regret what I said.

I'm afflicted,

To Madame Frulini.

I will post all this information in the railway station,

Continued the doctor.

I will bid my patients to write letters to all their friends warning them against the flea-ridden Del Mondo.

I will apprise the steamboat companies at Genoa and Naples.

Thou shalt see what comes of it.

You will see.

Having thus reduced Madame Frulini to powder,

The doctor now condescended to take a breath and listen to her protestations and apologies.

And there was Ned Worthington.

But where have you been all this time?

Said Katie.

We've been so wondered not hearing from you.

I've been off on a 10 days leave to Corsica replied Mr Worthington.

I only got Polly's telegrams and letters the day before yesterday.

I came away as soon as I could to get my leave extended.

It was a most unlucky absence.

I shall always regret it.

Oh it's all right now that you've come said Mrs Ash,

His sister.

She lent her head on his arm with a look of relief.

Everything will go better now Ned,

I'm sure.

Katie Carr has behaved like a perfect angel,

She told her brother when they were alone.

She's a trump of a girl,

Replied Ned.

I came in time for part of that scene with the landlady and upon my word she was glorious.

I didn't suppose she could look so handsome.

Have the Pages left Nice yet?

Asked Mrs Ash rather irreverently.

No,

At least they were there on Thursday but I didn't think they were to start today.

Mr Worthington answered carelessly but his face darkened as he spoke.

There had been a little scene in Nice which he could not forget.

He'd been sitting in the English garden with Lily and her mother when his sister's telegrams were brought to him and he'd read them aloud.

Neither Mrs Page nor her daughter cared personally for little Amy,

He transpired.

And it was strange that the disappointment of the interruption of their pleasure should have been the first impulse with them.

Ned Worthington could not forget this jarring impression.

It completed a process of disenchantment which had long been going on and as hearts are sometimes caught at the rebound Mrs Ash was not so far astray when she built certain little dim sisterly hopes on his evident admiration for Katie's courage and this sudden awakening to a sense of her good looks.

But no space could be left for sentiment or matchmaking while Amy's fate hung in the balance.

And all three of them found plenty to do during the next few days.

And found plenty to do during the next fortnight.

The fever did not turn on the 21st day.

Another week of suspense set in.

Now and then Lieutenant Worthington would persuade Mrs Ash to go with him for a few minutes drive or walk from which he had so long been debarred.

Once or twice he prevailed on Katie to do the same neither of them could bear to be away from Amy for long.

Katie,

Absorbed in the needs of the moment gave little heed to how she looked or what anyone was thinking about her.

Her habit of neatness made her take time for the one thorough daily dressing the brushing of her hair and freshening of clothes but this tax paid to personal comfort she gave little further heed to appearances.

She wore an old grey gown day in and day out which Lily would not have put on for half an hour without a large bribe.

So unbecoming was it.

But somehow Lieutenant Worthington grew to like the grey gown as part of Katie herself.

And if by chance he brought in a rose to dull the stillness of the sick room she would tuck it into her buttonhole immediately as though she were decked for conquest.

Pretty dresses are very pretty on pretty people they certainly do play an important part in this queer little world of ours.

But depend upon it dear girls no woman ever has established her distinct and clear acclaim on the regard of her lover as when he has ceased to notice or analyse what she wears and accepts it unquestioningly.

They watched and waited and waited and watched.

Now and then Ned Worthington or Katie would rise softly steal on tiptoe to Amy's bedside and come back to whisper to Mrs Ash that she had stirred or she seemed to be asleep.

Nights came and nights went and then there is one of those nights which do not come around often in a lifetime and which people never forget.

A faint stir of wind and a little broadening of the light roused Katie from a trance of half understood thoughts.

Great Hotel was fast asleep and not a sound stirred and longing for fresh air led Katie out onto the roof and there was the dawn just tinging the east.

She drew her shawl about her faint rumblings of wheels here and there and a curl of smoke showed that Rome was waking up.

Then a footstep startled her.

Ned Worthington was coming over the roof on tiptoe as if fearful of disturbing somebody.

His face looked resolute and excited.

I wanted to tell you he said in a hushed voice.

The doctor's here and he says Amy has no fever anymore and with care she may be considered out of danger.

Katie burst into tears.

The long fatigue the fears kept in check so resolutely the sleepless night just passed.

They all had their revenge now and she cried and cried as if she could never stop.

She was conscious Ned had his arm around her and was holding her hands tight but she was so in the emotion of the moment that it did not seem strange.

How sweet the sun looks Katie said presently releasing herself with a happy smile.

It hasn't seemed really bright for ever so long.

How silly was I to cry.

Now where is dear Polly?

I must go down to her at once and find out what she has to say.