“Well,” he said at length; “this beats me. The child seems to be perfectly well, and yet....” And he scowled and puffed out his cheeks and walked up and down, while all the time Freda’s mother and the nurse waited in the utmost anxiety.
And then all of a sudden the clock struck, and as it was twenty-four hours since Freda had swallowed the magic dose, the effect vanished in a single instant.
The grown-up people who were watching her saw her jump out of the chair, and fling the lesson-book on the ground.
“Now, now,” said Dr. Tomlinson, “oughtn’t you to be more careful with that pretty book?”
Freda gave one look at him, and then she lay down on the floor and bellowed at the top of her voice.
“Thank heaven!” said her mother.
“Our dear little Miss Freda has come back to us,” said the nurse.
“Hum-ha,” said Dr. Tomlinson. “Yes, I think we have cured her.”
He had to say this, you see, because he was a doctor. But Freda’s mother was so glad that her little girl was herself once more, that she thanked him over and over again. And all the time Freda lay on the floor and bellowed at the top of her voice, and from that moment she was just as naughty as ever she had been before.
I hope that’s all perfectly clear. Some people say that this story will encourage little girls to be naughty, by making them think that their parents and nurses prefer them like that. I should be very sorry if this were so, but of course it’s no use pretending that anything happened otherwise than I have said.