"Certainly," replied the doctor laughing; "we won't make any difficulty about that."
I gave an involuntary sigh of relief at hearing so harmless a question, whilst Briggs looked less anxious, and Granny smiled.
"Shall I be well enough to run my hoop to-morrow?" he went on, loudly and slowly, pretending to read from the sheet of foolscap he held. "I have a new one, and I'm tired of not running it," he added.
"Very well, we'll see," the doctor answered. "If the sun is out I daresay we shall be able to run our hoop a little bit to-morrow. But we must be careful not to over-tire ourselves. Anything more, my little man?"
"Yes. Why did you forget to leave the 'scription for my tonic yesterday?" continued Chris. "And will you remember it to-day?"
The doctor laughed, but with some constraint. Briggs looked up anxiously, and the smile vanished from Granny's face.
"What! Are we so fond of medicine?" the doctor asked, trying to speak as before, but unable to prevent a touch of annoyance being heard in his voice. "Little boys don't generally care for it so much. Yes, I will leave the prescription to-day."
"There, there, that will do," interposed Granny nervously, moving towards the door.
"But there is one other question I want to ask very much," Chris said, again feigning to refer to his paper.
"Yes?" said the doctor inquiringly, pausing in his progress towards the door.