"No, he certainly has never seemed so, and I do not think suffering and trial such as he may have to bear will make him so."
Chrissie's face fell again at the two sad words.
Miss Lilly saw it, and went on speaking quietly. "I don't mean anything very dreadful, dear, but he may have to stay in bed or on a couch for a long time, and of course that cannot but be a great trial to an active boy. Let us get on with your lessons now, Chrissie, in case Ferdy is awake when they are over."
He was not awake. He slept a good part of the morning, which Mrs. Ross, sitting beside him, was very glad of; and when at last he opened his eyes and looked about him, it was not long before a smile came to his face, and he cheered his mother by saying he felt "so nicely rested."
"May Chris and Miss Lilly come back now?" he asked. "Miss Lilly said she would read aloud."
Yes, Chris and Miss Lilly would be only too happy to come, but first Ferdy must be "good" and drink some beef-tea, which was standing all ready.
It was rather an effort to do so. Ferdy did not like beef-tea, and he was not at all hungry, and he just wanted to lie still and not be bothered. But "To please me" from his mother was enough, and when she kissed him and said he was "a good boy," he told her, laughing, that he felt as if he were a little baby again.
Chrissie's face brightened when she heard the sound of her brother's laugh.
"Are you feeling better, Ferdy dear?" she said. "I am so glad, and Miss Lilly has brought a story-book of her own that we have never read."