"And you are sure it is false?"
He shrugged his shoulders.
"I haven't any hope, Mrs. Lester. It wouldn't be fair to you to tell you otherwise. Mind, I would leave no stone unturned; I want another surgeon, the best man in Perth, to examine him with me to-morrow. But I think his verdict will be the same as my own."
They told it to the parents gently next morning trying to soften the cruel words. No hope, so far as they could see, that Dick would ever walk again. In time, with special treatment and massage he might sit up; but further than that they could promise nothing.
"He's wonderfully strong," Dr. Brereton said. "Everything is in his favour, to a limited extent; there's no reason why he should not have a long and happy life, because he has pluck enough to face the future when once it becomes necessary to tell him."
"You would not tell him yet?" Mr. Lester said.
The doctor shook his head.
"He's too young—too full of hope. Later on, when lying still has become second nature"—Mrs. Lester shivered suddenly—"it will be easier for him to bear the telling. Now, if you take hope from him, he might slip back."
"What did you say to him this morning? He asked you, of course?"
"Oh, yes, he asked, poor laddie. We put him off; told him—it's the truth, too—that he was getting on well, but that he must be patient and put up with the massage. It will be painful, you know, Mrs. Lester. He was very good—extraordinarily patient under our handling this morning. After it all he was dog-tired, so we have put him to sleep. The nurse is with him."