"That's just what I have told mother, sometimes," said the invalid, fondling Elsie's rather rough red hands. "You see I have the dearest, sweetest mother and father that ever was, but then somehow I have wished I could know a girl like myself. Can you keep a secret?" she suddenly asked.
"What sort of a secret is it?" said Elsie. "You see I got into trouble once through that, for mother said I ought not to have promised to keep secret what I did, as a good deal of trouble might have been saved to other people, if I had spoken in time."
"I don't think; I hope my secret will not cause anybody trouble, and I do want to tell you so much," said Mary. "You see it is this way, the doctors said I must lie on my back for two years, and only one year has passed. I have not walked all that time, for I am not heavy, and father carries me up and down stairs, and I lie here all day. I hardly thought of what I was doing, but when I saw Mr. Thompson pick your brother up and bring him towards our gate, I remembered that the street door was locked, and I just slipped off the chair, and walked across the room and unlocked it, and then came back again. Nobody thought to ask how he got in, and I was afraid to tell mother, for she would have fretted so much about it."
"But why should she if you are no worse?" interrupted Elsie.
"You see the doctors said I was to lie still for two years."
"But if you are no worse for sitting up in the chair and walking across the room, you—"
"Oh no, I am not worse, I slept better last night than I have done for a long time, and that is why I am going to ask you something, but you must keep it a secret. I want you to let me lean on your arm and try to walk again, I don't think I could do it by myself, for there is no one wanting to get in to-day."
Elsie laughed and clapped her hands. "I see you want to cheat the doctors if you can, and you would like me to help you," she said.
Mary laughed too, and her pale cheek flushed with pleasant excitement when she saw how heartily her new friend could enter into her feelings. "Wouldn't it be delightful to surprise my mother and father one day, by going to meet them as they come out of school?" she said.
"We'll talk about that afterwards, but you shall have your walk indoors if you like. Suppose we lock the street door before we begin our secret mischief, and then you must have a pair of slippers on, or you may catch cold."