Minnie May , aged three , was really very sick . She lay on the kitchen sofa feverish and restless , while her hoarse breathing could be heard all over the house . Young Mary Joe , a buxom , broad-faced French girl from the creek , whom Mrs. Barry had engaged to stay with the children during her absence , was helpless and bewildered , quite incapable of thinking what to do , or doing it if she thought of it . Anne went to work with skill and promptness . `` Minnie May has croup all right ; she 's pretty bad , but I 've seen them worse . First we must have lots of hot water . I declare , Diana , there is n't more than a cupful in the kettle ! There , I 've filled it up , and , Mary Joe , you may put some wood in the stove . I do n't want to hurt your feelings but it seems to me you might have thought of this before if you 'd any imagination . Now , I 'll undress Minnie May and put her to bed and you try to find some soft flannel cloths , Diana . I 'm going to give her a dose of ipecac first of all . '' Minnie May did not take kindly to the ipecac but Anne had not brought up three pairs of twins for nothing . Down that ipecac went , not only once , but many times during the long , anxious night when the two little girls worked patiently over the suffering Minnie May , and Young Mary Joe , honestly anxious to do all she could , kept up a roaring fire and heated more water than would have been needed for a hospital of croupy babies . It was three o'clock when Matthew came with a doctor , for he had been obliged to go all the way to Spencervale for one . But the pressing need for assistance was past . Minnie May was much better and was sleeping soundly . `` I was awfully near giving up in despair , '' explained Anne . `` She got worse and worse until she was sicker than ever the Hammond twins were , even the last pair . I actually thought she was going to choke to death . I gave her every drop of ipecac in that bottle and when the last dose went down I said to myself -- not to Diana or Young Mary Joe , because I did n't want to worry them any more than they were worried , but I had to say it to myself just to relieve my feelings -- ` This is the last lingering hope and I fear , tis a vain one . '
But XXXXX about three minutes she coughed up the phlegm and began to get better right away .
Down during for in of on than to until while