"You've been far too long with him already, to my mind," she said; "if
Miss Bertram wasn't beside herself she would never have given you
permission at all; he ought to have been kept extra quiet, and he's
worked himself all in a fever again." She put Roy gently back on his
pillows, and did not notice in her short-sightedness the roll of paper
being stuffed under his pillow. Dudley's spirits sank to zero, now he
was about to be dismissed.

"Good-bye, Roy, ask to see me again, won't you?"

Roy held out his hand.

"I'll talk about it to-morrow," he said, faintly.

And Dudley crept out of the room feeling more forlorn and wretched than
ever.




X


A CRIPPLE

It was all over; two doctors had been closetted in the bedroom for a
very long time, and then Dudley and Rob, sitting on the garden steps,
were told that everything had been successfully carried out, and Roy was
as well and better than had been expected.