The Old Castle and Other Stories | Page 6

taking up a small stone
from the old wall against which he leaned, he threw it at George,
hitting him pretty smartly upon the arm. George took no further notice
than merely to turn round and walk backward, so as to be able to watch

for and avoid future compliments of the same kind. Many such were
sent after him without effect. But just as he was getting beyond reach,
Alick, in a last violent effort to throw far enough, overbalanced himself,
one crutch slipped from under him, and he fell forward on his face in
the mud!
In an instant George was by his side, helping him to rise, and asking
tenderly if he were hurt. He was covered with mud from head to foot,
his face was sorely cut and bruised by some sharp stones lying under
the mud, and his teeth had cut through his upper lip. Georgie raised him
into a sitting posture, and did all he could for him. A little burn ran by
the way-side. Georgie dipped his handkerchief in it, and kneeling
beside him, tried to wash away the mud and blood from his face with
the utmost tenderness and gentleness, saying all the time words of
kindness and concern, and giving him those looks of deep, wistful pity.
At first Alick submitted to his kind offices without speaking; but after a
few minutes he turned his head from him with a fretful, impatient,
"There, that'll do," and stretched out his hand for his crutches. Georgie
brought them to him, and helped him to get upon them. But poor Alick
had severely sprained his shoulder in trying to save himself as he fell,
and the attempt to use his crutches gave him the most violent pain.
Selfish boys are never manly. They always think too much of their own
troubles. This new pain, and the fear that he should not be able to get
home, were too much for Alick. He gave way to a most unrestrained fit
of crying. At another time George would have been either provoked or
amused at the big boy crying thus like a baby. But now the pity God
had planted in his heart swallowed up every other feeling. He thought
only of comforting and helping him.
"Oh, don't cry," he said encouragingly; "I'll get you home, never fear.
See, sit here a minute, and I'll run for Annie's garden-chair, and wheel
you home in it." And having seated him comfortably leaning against
the wall, he ran off, and was back with the chair before even the
impatient Alick could have expected him.
It was not easy to drive the chair through the soft mud, where hidden
stones, were constantly turning aside the wheels, jarring George's arms,

and calling forth bitter complaints from the fretful Alick. But Georgie
bore complaints and jarrings with equal patience and kindly good
humour, and as the homes of the two boys were not far apart, he got
Alick safe to his own door in no very long time.
The next afternoon when Georgie came home from school, he heard
from his mother that the doctor had been there to see Annie, and had
told them that Alick was very ill. He had sprained his back as well as
his shoulder, and was suffering great pain, and must, the doctor said, be
confined to bed for many weeks. Georgie felt very sorry for him.
"Sickness and pain are bad enough," he thought, "even when one can
feel that it is our good and loving Father who has sent them; but what
must they be to him?" And he asked his mother's leave to go to see if
he could be of any use to Alick. His mother consented, and resolutely
turning his mind from the cricket-match just beginning in the
school-yard, George went.
He found the poor boy in a pitiable state. His face was swelled from the
effect of the cuts and bruises; one eye was quite closed up, and the
other he could only open a little way, for a minute at a time. He could
not turn himself in bed,--the sprained arm was bound to his side; he
could do nothing to amuse himself; and in that motherless, sisterless
home, there was no one to devise amusement for him. His father was
kind and anxious about him; but it never occurred to him to sit by his
bedside, and try to make the time pass pleasantly; and even if it had
occurred to him, he would not have known how to do it. All that money
could buy Alick had in abundance; but tenderness and kind
companionship were what he most wanted, and these could not be
bought.
He seemed pleased to see Georgie, and gladly accepted his offer to sit