"I should like your word, in return for the relief I have undoubtedly
brought you, that you will not molest certain parties till the three
days are up which I have mentioned as the limit of my own silence."
"Shall I give him my word, Harry?"
The child, startled by the abrupt address, drew his fingers from the
long beard he was playfully stroking and, eyeing me with elfish gravity,
seemed to ponder the question as if some comprehension of its importance
had found entrance into his small brain. Annoyed at the doctor's whim,
yet trusting to the child's intuition, I waited with inner anxiety for
what those small lips would say, and felt an infinite relief, even if I
did not show it, when he finally uttered a faint "Yes," and hid his face
again on the doctor's breast.
My last remembrance of them both was the picture they made as the doctor
closed the door upon me, with the sweet, confiding child still clasped
in his arms.