When Rich went to the academy in the afternoon, he returned Frank to his bed; and the next morning he was taken up again, and, as the cure progressed, sat up more and more. He could now read, play checkers with Dan and Horace, and the time passed less tediously. He now importuned his physician to take his leg out of the box; but Rich peremptorily refused, though he allowed him a more generous diet.
When a full month had elapsed, Rich took the box apart, sawed through the coating of clay the whole length, and peeled it off, removed the bandage, washed the leg, gave it a smart rubbing, and compared it with the other. After examining the limb a long time very carefully, he said,—
"If those two legs are not as well matched as they were before, I am very much mistaken."
"Shall I be lame any, Mr. Richardson?" said Frank.
"If you are, it will be your own fault. If you are careless now, you will rue it as long as you live, for the parts are not consolidated yet, and the oblique fracture in the large bone requires a longer time to heal than the square break in the other."
Rich put on the clay again, but without the box, and in less quantity, confining it by a bandage, slung the patient's leg to his neck, and permitted him to take exercise by walking about the house on crutches, some one accompanying him; and when he permitted him to put his injured leg to the floor, it was found to be of the same length as the other.
Mr. Merrill rewarded Rich most liberally, being abundantly able, and with expressions of grateful feeling that were more gratifying to the recipient than even the money. It was a proud and glad morning to him when Frank Merrill came to school with his books under his arm, escorted by Dan and Horace Williams, and with as firm a tread as his companions.
Scarcely had Frank's case been disposed of, when a younger sister of Mrs. Merrill, a member of the choir, and a most lovely girl as far as personal attractions, correct principles, and amiability of disposition went, was taken down with a lung fever; and the patient, with her parents and Mrs. Merrill, insisted that Rich should manage the case. This was more practice than Rich either desired or felt himself qualified to assume, and he told them so, and that he should pursue quite a different method from the ordinary practice, which was, in that disease, to bleed patients till they fainted, give them antimony to reduce the action of the heart, till, in reducing the inflammation, they often made an end of the patient. The young lady's relatives informed him they were not at all concerned about that, and to adopt the course his judgment dictated. In so doing, Rich drew no blood, and pursued a course calculated to support the strength of the patient as much as possible, and was successful in this case also.
At the conclusion of the summer term Rich resolved to make another visit to his parents, but felt that in his present circumstances he could afford to ride; and, what was very singular, he spent a night at farmer Conant's, taking the stage from his door the next afternoon. It certainly could not have been from fatigue, as on the former occasion. It was probably to thank the hospitable farmer for his kindness then, and it was a noble thing in Rich not to forget, in the moment of success, those who had been his friends in adversity.