"Tut, tut! Don't be hysterical!" said the doctor as Eben choked and turned away his face. "Is this fresh water? There! Take that every fifteen minutes, and get yourself quieted down. I am going over to see Mr. Antis, and will look in again before I go home. You can talk to your mother and see what she says."
When the doctor looked in again, Mrs. Fairchild had come home; and was waiting to see him.
"Well, madam, and how is your patient?" asked the doctor.
"Oh, nicely. There wasn't anything to be scared at, but Mrs. Bennett's nervous, and that Dr. Green is no more good than a tow string. If Eben couldn't make a better doctor than he is, I should think he had better do 'most anything else."
"Then you like my plan for him?"
"Indeed I do, and thank you with all my heart, and so would Mr. Fairchild if he were here," replied Mrs. Fairchild. "I never did see how things come round! I don't think I'll ever borrow trouble again. Eben, he was saying something about leaving us alone, but, says I, 'Now, Eben, don't you say one word. You are not going to throw away any such chance as this. It would be flying in the face of Providence,' says I. Of course we shall be lonely without him, but then that's to be looked for. Boys have to go away from home some time, and parents shouldn't be selfish. I should like it if he could come home to spend Sundays now and then."
"There will be no trouble about that," said Dr. Henry. "I think, from what I have seen, that Eben will suit me exactly."
"Eben isn't as smart as some," said his mother. "No, Flora, he isn't!" as Flora made a gesture of dissent. "Flora never likes to have me say that, but it's true. Eben isn't naturally as quick as some, but he makes it up in another way. He's such a faithful boy. You always know just where to find him. If he promises to do a thing, he does it, and if he undertakes any work, he never disappoints you."
"That is better than being smart," said the doctor.
"Oh, he isn't any way deficient," replied Mrs. Fairchild; "all I mean is that Eben isn't as quick to learn as some. Now, there was that poor Tom Wilbur. He could always learn anything in half the time it took Eben, but he never would stick to anything longer than it went easy and he liked it, and see what he has come to. I've been very much blessed in my children, and every other way," said Mrs. Fairchild as Flora left the room for a minute. "Flossy has her little ways, to be sure, but a more industrious, generous girl don't live, and now that she has got a real sense of religion through Eben's sickness, I don't seem to have anything left to wish for her. Then, Mary Clarke is such a good girl, and the same as a daughter to me, and as for Eben, he always was a comfort from the very first day he came into the house. I did feel to murmur last spring when he went into the mill, because, you see, Mr. Fairchild had set his heart on Eben's getting an education and being a doctor, and I am afraid I was very rebellious. But it's all come round right now, and I don't seem to want for any good thing. I feel as if the Lord had been better to me than I deserve."