The Kelpie's Treasure

Chapter 4 (1st Draft) 2719

I burst through the mudroom door of our house and began shouting for father and mother. Mother came from somewhere else in the house and met me in the hallway between the kitchen and the sitting room. She looked very distraught and it was no wonder with the way I was carrying on.

"Mother! Mother!" I threw my tired limbs around her and hugged her. "The aunts found a man washed up on the rocks. He is alive. I've come to ask if I might stay with them and watch him through the night?" I blurted out on a terrible rush, such was my excitement.

I looked behind her at Father who had come from his study. His paper was still in hand and his reading glasses still perched on the end of his nose. He took in the sight of me and frowned. Even I knew I was behaving in an unladylike fashion.

"Come sit down child and tell us plainly what has happened," my father said gravely.

I took his outstretched hand and walked soberly into the sitting room with him. Mother was trailing right behind us.

"You have not taken off your coat or boots," my Mother said with surprise.

"I, I hope not to stay at home Mother," I explained to her. "I hope you will send me on my way just as soon as I tell you what has happened."

Now Mother frowned and cast Father a look I did not understand. They both sat in the love seat while my father told me to sit in the chair by the fire. I hardly needed to be so close to the fire with my cloak still on. Being near the flames forced me to take it off and drape it across my lap.

When I had done so my Father said, "You may begin."

I nodded and explained how the aunts had found a man on the rocks who was too broken up to get off them on his own, which is why Emmi came for me about mid-afternoon. Then I laid out for them his condition, how I helped him to the aunts' cottage, the aunts' plan to keep him that night, and his state when I left. It was so hard to be calm and to speak slowly when all I wanted to do was throw a few things together and run back down to their house. I would be very disappointed if I missed the doctor.

"Has the doctor been sent for?" Father asked at the end of my tale.

"Yes. The moment I saw the stranger I sent Emmi back to fetch the doctor. He could not come straight away she said. He still was not there when I left to come home. But I am sure he will be along."

I watched Father's pensive face. He gave a nod. He was satisfied.

"May I return and stay with the aunts?" I asked quietly, trying not to give away my eagerness to rush right back out the door.

I watched him look at me and then down at Mother. He was thinking, mulling things over, trying to make the best decision for everyone involved. He was not a rash man or an indecisive one. He was a methodical, rational thinker. Luckily this was not a situation that required lengthy deliberation. I saw it in his face the moment he'd made up his mind what to do and held my breath.