ease her suffering. It was nearly midnight when all was finished and
the doctor was ready to start back to the village.

"Take good care of your mother," he said to the boy, "and do n't worry
about her, for it is not a bad break and the leg will mend nicely in
time; but she will be in bed many days, and you must nurse her as well
as you are able."

All through the night the boy sat by the bedside, bathing his mother's
fevered brow and ministering to her wants. And when the day broke she
was resting easily and the pain had left her, and she told Little Boy
Blue he must go to his work.

"For," said she, "more than ever now we need the money you earn from
the Squire, as my misfortune will add to the expenses of living, and
we have the doctor to pay. Do not fear to leave me, for I shall rest
quietly and sleep most of the time while you are away."

Little Boy Blue did not like to leave his mother all alone, but he
knew of no one he could ask to stay with her; so he placed food and
water by her bedside, and ate a little breakfast himself, and started
off to tend his sheep.

The sun was shining brightly, and the birds sang sweetly in the trees,
and the crickets chirped just as merrily as if this great trouble had
not come to Little Boy Blue to make him sad.

But he went bravely to his work, and for several hours he watched
carefully; and the men at work in the fields, and the Squire's
daughter, who sat embroidering upon the porch of the great house,