Oh! how the faces of Ellen and her mother brightened at those words.
"Indeed, sir, I should be glad to do so, if you think the journey would not harm him," replied Mrs. Mansfield.
"Well, from what you tell me, I should think he might without risk, attempt the journey," said Dr. Graham. "But I would not urge you to take the step without due consideration. I need hardly tell you that if, by God's blessing, he recovers, his cure will, in all probability, be slow. You must be prepared to part with him for some time if you bring him to this hospital."
Mrs. Mansfield's countenance fell. The thought of a long separation from Jerry gave her heart a pang. But the hope held out, the possibility of her boy's restoration to health, was worth any amount of personal sorrow and anxiety.
"If my husband were willing, sir, I would let the lad come, for the sake of the good he might get," she said, after a minute's silence.
"Well, when you go home, you must talk it over with your husband, and hear what he has to say on the matter," replied Dr. Graham. "And if you think you'd like the little fellow to come here, just let me know, and I'll secure his admission, and look after him. There, there, you need not thank me till we see the result. I think we might perhaps do something for him, but I cannot speak with certainty."
He then began to explain to Mrs. Mansfield, what precautions to observe in order to shield Jerry as much as possible from fatigue, in case the journey were undertaken. Ellen listened eagerly to his words, and so sanguine were her expectations that Jerry's oft-repeated prayer seemed to her to be already answered.
For three days, Mrs. Mansfield stayed at her sister-in-law's house, spending as much of each day as possible at her daughter's bedside. Then, as Ellen seemed getting better, and was evidently comfortable and well cared for at the hospital, the claims of the other children pressed upon her mother's heart, and she felt obliged to return home. Ellen bade her good-bye with less regret than she would otherwise have felt, because she looked forward to Jerry's coming, which Mrs. Mansfield hoped to bring about.
Great was the surprise of the little sufferer when the proposed journey was named to him. They had feared that in his weakness, he would shrink from the fatigue involved in such an undertaking. But, on the contrary, he was delighted with the plan, and believed that it was designed by the Lord in answer to his prayer, and would issue in his recovery.
"God grant you may be right, my boy," his mother would say, as she listened to his hopeful words.