"Stand on this side only. Now, can you walk?"
"No," answered Barbara, in a sad little whisper, "I can't." She reached for her faithful crutches, which leaned against the foot of the bed, but Doctor Allan snatched them away from her.
"No," he said, with his face illumined. "Never again."
New Hopes
Barbara gasped. "What do you mean?" she asked, terror and joy strangely mingling in her voice.
"Never again," Doctor Allan repeated. "You're never to have your crutches again."
Barbara gazed at him in astonishment. She stood there in her little white night-gown, which was not long enough to cover her bare pink feet, with a great golden braid hanging over either shoulder and far below her waist. Her blue eyes were very wide and dark.
"Am I going to walk?" she asked, in a queer little whisper.
"Certainly, except when you're riding, or sitting down, or asleep."