"Oh, mother, has it come to this, that you must sit without a fire?"
"Never mind, dear, let us get to bed now; I am tired, and so are you." And she kissed and bade him good-night as she drew him upstairs.
[CHAPTER XVII.]
TOM'S SCHOLARSHIP.
"MOTHER, mother, I have got it! I have won the scholarship after all."
Tom burst in with the news about a week after the examination, and announced it to the empty room first, for his mother was upstairs with Elsie. She was still very poorly, but managed to come down and do what she could to help about the house, but by the afternoon was so tired that she had to go and lie down again. And Mrs. Winn had just gone up to tell her it was nearly tea time, and Tom would be home soon, when Tom announced himself and his success in true schoolboy fashion, without thinking of the effect it might have upon his sister.
The immediate result was all that Tom could desire. She came running downstairs before he could get up to them, and threw herself into his arms, shouting, "Oh, Tom! Tom! I am so glad, I am so glad."
And for a minute, he clasped her in his arms, and kissed her, in the fullness of his joy and relief. But instead of being content with this, Elsie clung to him more tightly, laughing and crying by turns, until Mrs. Winn came down and led her to a chair, when she became even worse, until Tom grew quite alarmed, for she was soon in hysterics of laughter and tears.
"Mother, whatever is the matter with her? She seemed all right when she came downstairs," said Tom, in a tone of alarm.
"Yes, yes; she was so glad, of course, at the good news, for we have had so little lately, but the suddenness of this has been too much for her. I am afraid she is very weak, or she would have borne it better," his mother added.