"Slippers?" repeated Mary. "Don't you think these wool ones would be enough? They are nice and warm." And Mary put one foot from under the rug to assure Elsie on this point.
Elsie was about to suggest that they should postpone this trial trip until the next afternoon, but she saw that Mary would be greatly disappointed, for she was all eagerness to put her feet on the ground again. And so she said, "They would do for a little trial, just once across the room and back again, and then if you can do it, I will run home and fetch a pair of mine or mother's, that would go over those soft woollen boots and prevent you taking cold."
This was readily agreed upon, and Mary went so well with the help of Elsie's arm, that she would have repeated the experiment again and again, if Elsie had not insisted that she should wait until she could run home for the shoes, before crossing the room again.
"If I am to keep your secret, I must take care that no harm happens through it," said Elsie, "and it would do you a great deal of harm if you were to catch cold."
So Mary agreed to wait, and Elsie was not long before she was back again, bringing with her a warm soft shawl to wrap round the invalid, for she did not doubt but that she would want to go into the kitchen, when the parlour had been crossed several times.
She knew where to find a comfortable pair of old slippers, and was soon back with Mary, and had put them over the woollen boots she wore.
"Now then, you are dressed for the journey," she said, as she wrapped the shawl about her and walked gently round the room, Mary seeming to grow stronger and more confident at every step.
"Do let me walk once round the kitchen now?" said the invalid. "You don't know how nice and funny it feels to be on your feet again."
So she walked once round the kitchen, and then Elsie said she must not attempt any more walking for that day, but she promised to bring the slippers and shawl the next afternoon, that she might try again, if she was no worse for this experiment.
