It was when he had just begun to
walk about a little, and he was wild to go right down and take Nannie's
place in the sick-room. But he couldn't, you know; why, 'twas as much as
he could do to barely stand on his feet and get round holding on to the
furniture. Then, when he realised that, he got disheartened, and called
himself a "useless hulk," and all sorts of horrid names, and was just as
cranky as he could be; but I felt so sorry for him that I didn't mind.
Poor old Fee!
Well, from day to day papa got more and more ill; the fever kept right
on and he was awfully weak, and at last he fell into a stupor. That day
Dr. Archard hardly left our house for even an hour, and the other
physicians just went in and out all the time. Max was there, too,--he
almost lived at our house those weeks, taking all the night watching
they'd let him, and doing all he could for papa and us,--and about seven
o'clock that evening he came up to the schoolroom, where we older ones
were. Dr. Archard had told Phil, and he had told us, that a change would
come very soon,--papa would either pass from that stupor into a sleep
which might save his life, or he would go away from us, as our dear
mother had gone.
Pages:
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199