But Mr. Murray almost shuddered at the proposal. "My dear, your mother would not hear of it," he said; "you are getting a little better we can all see, and we must let well alone. Your mother would think you were fretting again if you asked such a thing, and she says Elsie Winn has cured you of that a good deal."
Mary had been on the point of telling her father once or twice that she could walk, and felt all the better for walking round the house every day. But after this talk, the girls agreed that they must keep their secret a little longer, and find out some other plan for divulging it.
Elsie had convinced Mary that it would never do to give her mother the surprise she intended, for to go and meet her coming from school would probably give her such a shock, that she would not recover from the effects of it for some days, even if she was not seriously ill through it.
Things were in this condition, when Elsie went to stay for a week or two with Mrs. Perceval, and before she came home, she had told the secret to that lady, hoping she would be able to find a way out of the difficulty for them, as Mr. Perceval was Mary's doctor now.
[CHAPTER XVI.]
A FRIEND IN NEED.
DURING Elsie's stay with Mrs. Perceval, she contrived to tell her all about the friendship that had sprung up between herself and Mary, and that lady was quite glad to hear of it. But she did not know what to say of the secret walks about the house, which Mary had been indulging in for some time past.
"I must talk to the doctor about it, and hear what he says, for it was scarcely a wise thing to do, I am afraid."
"But you will not let Mrs. Murray know about it, will you?" said Elsie, pleadingly. "If it had been my own secret, I should have told my mother long ago, or if Mrs. Murray was not frightened about everything for Mary; I mean, if she was brave and wise, as my mother is, there would not have been any need for it to be a secret," said Elsie, by way of explanation.
"I will tell the doctor all about it, and he will manage everything so as not to shock Mrs. Murray or get Mary into trouble; and I hope no harm has been done by your rash experiment."