"The lame horse."
"Then I'll be the lame horse."
"Is that the doctor?"
I listened. "Wait a moment, I'll see," I replied, and went to the day-nursery.
Yes, it was the doctor. I could hear him and Granny talking as they walked along the passage; Granny on her favourite topic—the virtues of her darling.
"Yes," she was saying, in answer to some observation of her companion's, "he really shows a great deal of character for one so young. But he has done that from the earliest, from the very earliest age. When he was a baby of but a few weeks old, he would clutch hold of his bottle with such resolution, such tenacity, that it was, I assure you, a difficult matter to take it from him."
"Quite so, quite so," the doctor answered blandly as they entered; "as you say, great tenacity of purpose.
"Well," I heard him continue, after having passed through the day-nursery to the one beyond; "well, and how are we to-day?"
"Quite well," answered the little beggar's voice cheerfully.
"Quite well? We couldn't be better, could we?" he said jocularly. "Yes, I think we are looking so much better we may get up to-day, and go for a walk in the sun to-morrow. What do you say, Master Chris?"