Esther | Page 8

cheery invalid, for he was a
bright, patient little fellow. He had a beautiful little face, too, though
perhaps the eyes were a trifle too large for the thin features; but Dot
was my pet, and I could see no fault in him; nothing angered me more
than when people pitied him or lamented over his infirmity. When I
first came home the sound of his crutch on the floor was the sweetest
music in my ear. But I had no eyes even for Dot after my first look at
father. Oh, how changed, how terribly changed he was! The great wave
of brown hair over his forehead was gray, his features were pinched
and haggard, and when he spoke to me his voice was different, and he
seemed hardly able to articulate.
"Poor children--poor children!" he groaned; and as I kissed his cheek
he said, "Be a good girl, Esther, and try to be a comfort to your
mother."
"When I am a man I shall try and be a comfort too," cried Dot, in his
sharp chirpy voice; it quite startled father.
"That's my brave boy," said father, faintly, and I think there were tears
in his eyes. "Dora"--my mother's name was Dora--"I am too tired to
talk; let the children go now, and come and sit by me while I go to
sleep;" and mother gently dismissed us.
I had rather a difficulty with Dot when I got outside, for he suddenly
lowered his crutch and sat down on the floor.
"I don't want to go to bed," he announced, decidedly. "I shall sit here all
night, in case mother wants me; when it gets dark she may feel lonely."
"But, Dot, mother will be grieved if she comes out and finds you here;

she has anxiety enough as it is; and if you make yourself ill, too, you
will only add to her trouble. Come, be a good boy, and let me help you
to undress." But I might as well have talked to Smudge. Dot had these
obstinate fits at times; he was tired, and his nerves were shaken by
being so many hours in the sick room, and nothing would have induced
him to move. I was so tired at last that I sat down on the floor, too, and
rested my head against the door, and Dot sat bolt upright like a
watchful little dog, and in this ridiculous position we were discovered
by Allan. I had not heard of his arrival; and when he came toward us,
springing lightly up two stairs at a time, I could not help uttering a
suppressed exclamation of delight.
He stopped at once and looked at us in astonishment. "Dot and Esther!
in the name of all that is mysterious; huddled up like two Chinese gods
on the matting. Why, I took Esther for a heap of clothes in the
twilight." Of course I told him how it happened. Dot was naughty and
would not move, and I was keeping him company. Allan hardly heard
me out before he had shouldered Dot, crutch and all, and was walking
off with him down the passage. "Wait for me a few minutes, Esther,"
he whispered; and I betook myself to the window-seat and looked over
the dusky garden, where the tall white lilies looked like ghostly flowers
in the gloom.
It was a long time before Allan rejoined me. "That is a curious little
body," he said, half laughing, as he sat down beside me. "I had quite a
piece of work with him for carrying him off in that fashion; he said 'I
was a savage, a great uncivilized man, to take such a mean advantage
of him; If I were big I would fight you,' he said, doubling his fists; he
looked such a miserable little atom of a chap as he said it."
"Was he really angry?" I asked, for Dot was so seldom out of temper.
"Angry, I believe you. He was in a towering rage; but he is all right
now, so you need not go to him. I stroked him down, and praised him
for his good intentions, and then I told him I was a doctor now, and no
one contradicted my orders, and that he must be a good boy and let me
help him to bed. Poor little fellow; he sobbed all the time he was
undressing, he is so fond of father. I am afraid it will go badly with him

if things turn out as I fear they will," and Allan's voice was very grave.
We had a long talk after that, until Uncle Geoffrey came upstairs and
dislodged us, by carrying Allan off. It was such a comfort to have him
all to myself; we had been so