She found travelling even easier than any one had told her. Each
station was announced. When she alighted, there were conveyances
to take her and her luggage to a hotel, patronized almost
exclusively by teachers, near the schools and lecture halls.
Large front suites and rooms were out of the question for Kate,
but luckily a tiny corner room at the back of the building was
empty and when Kate specified how long she would remain, she
secured it at a less figure than she had expected to pay. She
began by almost starving herself at supper in order to save enough
money to replace her hat with whatever she could find that would
serve passably, and be cheap enough. That far she proceeded
stoically; but when night settled and she stood in her dressing
jacket brushing her hair, something gave way. Kate dropped on her
bed and cried into her pillow, as she never had cried before about
anything. It was not ALL about the hat. While she was at it, she
shed a few tears about every cruel thing that had happened to her
since she could remember that she had borne tearlessly at the
time. It was a deluge that left her breathless and exhausted.
When she finally sat up, she found the room so close, she gently
opened her door and peeped into the hall. There was a door
opening on an outside veranda, running across the end of the
building and the length of the front.
As she looked from her door and listened intently, she heard the
sound of a woman's voice in choking, stifled sobs, in the room
having a door directly across the narrow hall from hers.
"My Lord! THERE'S TWO OF US!" said Kate.
She leaned closer, listening again, but when she heard a short
groan mingled with the sobs, she immediately tapped on the door.
Instantly the sobs ceased and the room became still. Kate put her
lips to the crack and said in her off-hand way: "It's only a
school-marm, rooming next you. If you're ill, could I get
anything for you?"
"Will you please come in?" asked a muffled voice.
Kate turned the knob, and stepping inside, closed the door after
her. She could dimly see her way to the dresser, where she found
matches and lighted the gas. On the bed lay in a tumbled heap a
tiny, elderly, Dresden-china doll-woman. She was fully dressed,
even to her wrap, bonnet, and gloves; one hand clutched her side,
the other held a handkerchief to her lips. Kate stood an instant
under the light, studying the situation. The dark eyes in the
narrow face looked appealingly at her. The woman tried to speak,
but gasped for breath. Kate saw that she had heart trouble.
"The remedy! Where is it?" she cried.