"I took him some grapes, you know."
"Yes. Could he eat them?"
"Had no sort of difficulty about that."
"What can we do, David?" Matilda repeated anxiously.
"I have thought of this. We might pay the woman for a week or two as much as she gets by her washing and let her take him into her room and put down her fire and make him comfortable. She cannot open her window; but we can send them a decent bed and some clean coverings and some good things to feed the fellow with. I spoke to Mrs. Binn about giving up her washing; she said she couldn't afford to lose her customers. She might manage it for a week or so, though."
"And then? A week or two would not cure him, David?"
"I doubt if any time would, in that air. Perhaps we can get him out into the country by the end of the week or two."
"Oh, David!"—Matilda exclaimed after a few minutes of perplexed thinking. What more she would have said was cut short. They had been speaking very low, but those last two words had come out with a little energy, and Judy caught them up.
"O David, what? You have been plotting mischief long enough, you two; what are you up to? Grandmamma, make them tell. Matilda is making a fool of David. I wish you'd stop it."
David looked up and over towards Mrs. Lloyd with a frank smile.