“So you saw him! Did you get a real good sight of him?”

“Yes. I stayed some time; half-an-hour, I dare say.”

“What did he look like? Did he say anything?”

“Say anything!” cried Dale: “why, did you not hear he was asleep?”

“What did he look like, then?”

“He looked as he always does when he is asleep, as far as I could see. But we did not bring the light too near, for fear of waking him.”

“Did you hear—did anybody tell you anything about it?”

“Yes: my mother told me whatever I wanted to know.”

“What? What did she tell you?”

“She says it will not be so very bad a lameness as it might have been—as if he had not had his knee left. That makes a great difference. They make a false foot now, very light; and if his leg gets quite properly well, and we are not too much in a hurry, and we all take pains to help Hugh to practise walking carefully at first, he may not be very lame.”