The small boy and girl were far from realising their brother's condition, but they knew what he wished, and in a warbling voice little Dottie began:
"This is my country's flag, and I am my country's child,
To love and serve her well will ever be my joy."
A little farther on her tiny brother took up the formula which it had been Gerald's pleasure to teach them.
The consultation below had broken up, and several of the doctors had crept to the door of the room, but the boy did not seem to notice them. His attention was riveted on the children, to the exclusion of all others.
"Give brother the flag!" he murmured, when they finished.
They handed him the Stars and Stripes, but he could not retain it, and the princess, quietly moving to the bedside, steadied it between his trembling fingers.
"Now sing with brother."
The two children lifted up their little quavering voices, and turning his own face to the ceiling, a face illumined by a joy not of this world, he tried to sing with them: