THE DOCTOR'S VERDICT
Miss Clark's prediction proved correct, and in a few days Mrs. Randall
was able to sit up, and to be helped into the sunny little parlor, where
she sat by Jack's sofa, looking happier and more at rest than the
children had ever seen her look before. After that she improved so
rapidly that even Dr. Bell was surprised, and declared he had never seen
a woman with a finer constitution. At the end of another week Miss Clark
went away to another case, and Mrs. Flynn, the good-natured Irishwoman
who did the Randalls' washing, was engaged to come in by the day. So the
bright spring days came and went, and when the sun was brightest and the
air warmest, Jack's pale face would often look a little wistful, but
nothing more was said about drives in the park, and Betty, still waiting
patiently for leave to reveal her secret, began to wonder if after all
Mrs. Hamilton had been mistaken, or Dr. Bell had changed his mind.
One Saturday morning in May, Winifred appeared shortly after breakfast,
looking pleased and excited, and bringing an invitation for Betty.
"It's from Lulu Bell," she explained, when Betty, quite thrilled at the
prospect, had brought the visitor into the parlor to tell the news to
her mother and Jack. "Lulu asked Gertie Rossiter and me to lunch with
her and go to the circus to-day, but Gertie has the measles, so Lulu
telephoned, and asked me to bring Betty instead. Mother says she hopes
you'll let Betty go, Mrs. Randall, because she's sure Mrs. Bell would
like to have her very much."
Mrs. Randall looked pleased.
"I am sure Betty would enjoy it," she said; "you would like to go,
wouldn't you, dear?"
Betty hesitated, and glanced a little uneasily at Jack.
"I should like it," she said. "I've never been to the circus and it must
be lovely, but--but----"
"Oh, Betty, you must go!" cried Jack eagerly. "It'll be so nice, and you
can tell me all about it when you come home."
The time had been, and not so long before either, when Mrs. Randall
would have been inclined to regard this invitation as an attempt at
patronage, but she had been learning more than one lesson in these days
of her convalescence, and Mrs. Hamilton's kindly advice was beginning to
bear fruit.
"Lulu says her mother doesn't want us to wear anything especially nice,"
Winifred went on, "because we shall go around to see the animals before
the circus begins, and it may be dusty. I've got a lovely new book out
of the library; it's called 'Dorothy Dainty,' and I'm going to bring it
up for Jack to read this afternoon. I know he'll like it."
Matters being thus happily arranged, Winifred hurried away to telephone
her friend that Betty would be delighted to accept the invitation, and
Betty made herself very useful, helping Mrs. Flynn with the Saturday
cleaning, feeling all the time as if she were about to enter upon a new
and very interesting experience.
"You're sure you don't mind, Jack," she said, stooping to kiss him at
the last moment before going downstairs to join Winifred.
"Not a bit," said Jack heartily. "I hope you'll have a lovely time, and
it'll be such fun to hear all about it."
"You're not a single mite jealous, are you?" said Betty, with a sudden
recollection of her own feelings on another occasion.
"No, of course not. What does it feel like to be jealous?"
"Well, you know, I never went away and left you for a whole afternoon,
just to have fun before, and I'm going to have a good time, and you're
not. You wouldn't like it if you were jealous."
"But I am going to have a nice time," said Jack, looking rather puzzled;
"I've got that nice book Winifred brought, and mother's going to play
for me. I wonder what being jealous really does feel like."
"It doesn't feel nice," said Betty, blushing, "but I don't believe
you'll ever know anything about it, you're too dear."
It was about twelve o'clock when the two little girls, accompanied by
Mrs. Hamilton, left the apartment house, and started on their walk
across the park, to the Bells' home on Madison Avenue. It was a
beautiful day, and the park was full of children, all making the most of
their Saturday holiday. They met several May parties, and Betty told
them how her mother had once read them Tennyson's "May Queen," and how
Jack had been so much interested in the poem that he had learned it by
heart.
"Jack is really a very clever boy," said Winifred admiringly. "I don't
like boys very much generally, they're so rough, but I respect Jack very
much indeed."
"There isn't any other boy in the world like him," said Betty, with
conviction. "Mrs. Hamilton," she added rather shyly, "do you suppose Dr.
Bell has forgotten Jack, now that he doesn't come to see mother any
more?"
"I am very sure he has not," said Mrs. Hamilton decidedly.
Betty said no more on the subject, but her heart beat high with renewed
hope, and during the rest of the walk she felt as if she were treading
upon air.
Betty could not help feeling a little uncomfortable when she first
caught sight of the handsome house where Winifred's friends lived. She
had met Lulu only once, and although she looked upon the doctor as one
of her best friends, she did not know any other members of the family,
and the thought of being presented to entire strangers was a rather
embarrassing one. Mrs. Hamilton, having another engagement, left them at
the foot of the steps. Winifred rang the bell, and when the door was
opened by the boy in brass buttons, she walked in with the air of a
person very much at home. Betty followed more slowly, wondering rather
uncomfortably what people who lived in such a grand-looking house would
think of her faded brown dress and last year's straw hat. But all such
speculations were speedily forgotten in the kind cordiality of the
greeting she received. Lulu was a charming little hostess, and her
mother and her blind aunt both greeted the little stranger so kindly,
that they soon succeeded in making her feel almost as much at home as
Winifred herself.
At luncheon the ladies asked questions about Jack, and quite won Betty's
heart by telling her of the many kind things the doctor had said about
her little brother. Lulu had a great deal to say about the pretty
seaside cottage her father had just hired for the summer.
"You must come and make us a long visit, Winifred," she said decidedly,
but Winifred shook her head.
"I can't leave mother," she said, with equal decision on her part. "It's
so perfectly beautiful to have her, I can't ever go away from her."
"There is a good hotel very near us," said Mrs. Bell kindly. "Perhaps
your father and mother will come there to board for a while."
But Winifred still looked doubtful. She had an idea that money was not
very plentiful with her family just then, and she had heard her
mother say that a couple of weeks in the mountains, while father had his
vacation, would probably be all they could afford that summer.
[Illustration: What a delightful afternoon that was!--_Page 111._]
As soon as they rose from the luncheon table Mrs. Bell and the three
little girls started for the circus.
What a delightful afternoon that was! Even Betty's wildest anticipations
had scarcely prepared her for the blissful reality. She enjoyed every
moment, and every incident, from the clown who made her laugh till she
cried, to the "Battle of Santiago," which made her shiver and cling
tightly to Winifred's hand.
"It's been the loveliest afternoon I ever knew," she said gratefully to
Mrs. Bell, when it was all over, and the little girls were saying
good-bye at the door of the apartment house. "It was so kind of you to
take me, and I shall have lots and lots to tell Jack."
"I am very glad you could come with us, dear," said Mrs. Bell, smiling
kindly, "and next year I hope we can take Jack with us too."
"I suppose it isn't a very nice thing to say," Lulu whispered to
Winifred, "but I can't help being a little glad Gertie has the measles.
I do like Betty ever so much, and I know mamma likes her too."
At the door of the Hamiltons' apartment the children separated, and
Betty ran gayly upstairs, thinking of the delightful time she should
have living the events of the afternoon all over again in describing
them to Jack. She opened the front door with her key, and was just going
to call out to her mother and Jack, when something in the unusual
stillness of the place caused her to pause suddenly.
"Perhaps mother's lying down," she said to herself, "and Jack doesn't
like to make any noise for fear of disturbing her. I'll go in softly and
see."
She stole on tiptoe to the sitting room door, and peeped in. Her mother
was not there, but Jack was lying on the sofa as usual. At sight of her
the little fellow started up and held out his arms. One glance at his
face was enough to convince Betty that something had happened.
"What is it, Jack?" she whispered, running to his side, and beginning to
tremble with a strange new sensation, but whether of joy or fear she did
not know. "What makes you look so--so queer? Where's mother?"
"Mother's in her room," said Jack; "she shut the door; she's gone to
lie down, I guess." His voice trembled, and he hid his face on Betty's
shoulder.
"But something has happened, I know it has," persisted Betty, trembling
more than ever. "Oh, Jack, what is it?"
"Betty," said Jack softly, "do you remember what you said the other day,
about--about the thing that would make you happier than anything else,
even than mother's getting well?"
"You mean the thing about you--oh, Jack, you mean about your being made
to walk?"
Jack nodded.
"Tell me quick," gasped Betty breathlessly, the circus and everything
else forgotten in the excitement of this wonderful news.
"Well, Doctor Bell came this afternoon right after lunch, and there was
another doctor with him. He was rather old, and not so nice as Dr. Bell,
but I think he wanted to be very kind. First they went in the dining
room, and talked to mother for a little while, and I think I heard
mother crying. Then they came in here, and looked at me. What they did
hurt a good deal, but I tried not to mind, because Dr. Bell called me a
brave soldier boy. Then they went back to the dining room, and talked
some more to mother, and the new doctor went away. After that mother
and Dr. Bell came back here. Mother was crying a good deal, but she
looked awfully glad too, and they told me what it all meant. Next week
I'm to go to a hospital, and have an operation. It won't hurt, Dr. Bell
says, because they'll give me something to make me go to sleep, and when
I get better, they think--they're not quite sure--but they really do
think, that I shall be able to walk."