The lad went home in a very subdued frame of mind, willing to do anything that would help his mother that she might devote all her time and care to nursing his father.
He said something of this when his mother came down for the medicine, and to ask whether the doctor had sent any further message.
"Only this, that you must look after him well and keep him quiet," said Jack; and then he added, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
His mother looked at him for a minute, and then said—
"I had hardly began my marketing when this happened, and I want two lots of meat to-night, for I promised I would bring Jessie's from the market."
Now, if there was anything Jack disliked it was being sent on what he called "tame cat business" in other words, the Saturday marketing for the home. But one look at his mother's anxious face decided him, and he said quickly—
"All right, I'll go. Tell me what to get and where to go, and I'll be back in a jiffy."
The marketing question thus being settled, Mrs. Brown could devote all her thought and attention to her husband, and was careful to follow the doctor's direction to the very letter, and kept his head constantly bathed as he lay in bed.
Jack was as good as his word, and brought back the various articles he was sent for with an account of the money he had spent, and delivered all to his sister Minnie as if she had been his mother. Then when his mother came downstairs to have her supper, he took the meat he had bought for Jessie, with a message that his mother would not be able to go there again that night.
This message, however, was not delivered, for just as Jack reached the door it was flung open, and Collins staggered out, and the next minute Jessie appeared at the other end of the passage.