“Oh, something to Nurse Clara, but I mustn’t tell you. If I told you it would be breaking my word. Nurse, come here. I’m going to be a good boy, and I’m going to love your mother. If I love her and if I keep my word for a whole week, may I go home?”
“Perhaps,” said Nurse Clara.
Mrs. Ives fixed her shrewd eyes on her daughter.
“There’s something at the back of all this,” thought the old lady to herself. “That boy is no ordinary patient. I’ll get to the bottom of it, or my name’s not Sarah Ives. It’s just like Clara, she was always one for mysteries.”
“It’s a fine day,” said Mrs. Ives, getting up as she spoke and going to the window.
“No, it isn’t; it rains,” said little Piers.
“It did rain, but it’s fine now. Suppose I take you for a walk?”
“Oh, yes,” said the child, clapping his hands.
“But you mustn’t walk to-day,” said Nurse Clara. “It’s part of the cure; the doctor wishes him to stay indoors,” she continued, turning to her mother.
Little Piers frowned.