"I want to see! Let me see, mamma. Please do, dear mamma!" said Ida, struggling to pull off her bandages.
"Not now, darling, Be patient a little longer."
The next morning, their own physician came to see the little girl. He said the scratches would soon be well, and he hoped to prevent a scar under the eye. He cut some tiny strips of sticking-plaster, and put on the place where the lid was torn, talking very cheerfully to Ida about a new pup his little boy had bought.
"In a week or two you will be well enough to come and see it," he said, laughing, as he bid her good-by.
The next day the expressman stopped at the door; and there was a beautiful new bedstead, which papa had bought for his little girl. Grandma was to room with Aunt Mary, and Ida to go back to her old place by the side of mamma.
The old lady's trunks came safely by the cars, and, soon after, a letter from Uncle Mason, saying that Joseph had been very dangerously ill; but there was now hope he would recover. The doctor forbade any kind of excitement, and said the greatest care would be necessary to preserve his reason.
"You may think, sister Kent," he added, "that both wife and I have something to think of during these days of sorrow. If Mary should ask me now if I had prayed with Joseph, I could no longer say, 'no;' I have prayed by his couch many, many, times; and I have wept bitter tears, as I have thought of my own want of self-control. How could I expect my son to be different from what he was, while I set him so bad an example! Amanda and I are both resolved, with the help of God, to begin life anew, and, if he spares us our only son, we humbly look to him for strength and wisdom to guide him aright."
"Next year, when you bring mother home, for we cannot spare her longer, I know she will rejoice that we have at last begun to pray morning and night, for the blessing of God on our habitation."
This was delightful news.
"The very best," grandma said again and again.
Now, if they could hear that Joseph was entirely out of danger, they would feel happy.