He sat up in bed without further demur, and commenced on the broth, taking it with slow reluctance as if he had no appetite. Then his eyes suddenly brightened, and he exclaimed—
“I know who you are; you are Mrs. Munson’s fairy that Dr. Shaw talked about, and he said he was going to borrow you to come and help us until we all get better.”
Nell coloured high with pleasure, because of the good reputation which had preceded her; then she said laughingly—
“Well, if I’m a fairy, you will have to make haste and get better before I have to go. There are not many flowers left, you know, and the leaves are falling fast, so when they are all gone the fairies have to go too.”
“Where do they go?” demanded Patsey, wrinkling his freckled face into a grin of amusement.
“I don’t know; that is one of the things I shall have to find out. Lie down now, laddie, and I will come back presently to make your bed, only first of all I want to see what I can do for your sister.”
Carrying the empty basin back to the other room, Nell found the girl who had been lying down was sitting up, and holding by one hand to the table.
“Don’t you think that you would feel better if you were in bed?” she asked, in a pitiful tone.
“I dare say I should, but I daren’t give up, because there’s no one else to do anything, except poor little Flossie, and she is lame,” the girl said, lifting her pale face and heavy eyes to look at Nell with wistful entreaty.
“I can do the work now I’ve come. Flossie will show me where to find things, or I can ask Patsey to tell me. He is getting better, by the look of him, and he took all his broth,” Nell said, as she untied and laid aside her bonnet. Then she pulled an apron from her bundle of clothes, and, having tied it on, proceeded to roll up her sleeves in readiness for work.