Then (my two dear friends standing together at the foot of the bed) I told them what the doctor had said, and warned them that they were to tell nobody else—nobody whatever, especially Martin.
"Leave me to tell him," I said. "Do you faithfully promise me?"
I could see how difficult it was for them to keep back their tears, but they gave me their word and that was all I wanted.
"My boy! My poor boy veen! He's thinking there isn't another woman in the world like her," said Christian Ann.
And then Father Dan said something about my mother extracting the same promise concerning myself, when I was a child at school.
After that the Blackwater doctor stepped up to say good-bye.
"I leave you in good hands, but you must let me come to see you again some day," he said, and then with a playful smile he added:
"They've got lots of angels up in heaven—we must try to keep some of them on earth, you know."
That was on the fifth of July, old Midsummer Day, which is our national day in Ellan, and flags were flying over many of the houses in the village.