Carol's sleep lasted two hours. Then he awoke, with something of his
old bright smile. Mrs. Mandeville was still watching beside him.
"Auntie, I have been asleep."
"Yes, darling, I know. I have been watching you. It was a beautiful
sleep. I thought as I sat beside you of the words, 'He giveth His
beloved sleep.' I am sure you are better for it."
"Yes, Auntie, it was lovely, and my back doesn't hurt me quite so much.
But I cannot move my legs yet."
"Do not try, dear."
"Did I dream it, Auntie, or were you reading _Science and Health_ to
me?"
"It was not a dream, dear. Mr. Higgs came and brought the book, and he
has left it with me."
"I remember now, Auntie. Was it not nice of him to come? Has any
message come yet from Cousin Alicia?"
"No, love; I cannot understand why the letters and telegrams are not
forwarded to her."
"There is some reason, I know, Auntie. We shall understand by and by."
She gave him some soda and milk, which was all the doctor would let him
have.
"I should like to see Rosebud, Auntie. Couldn't she come for a little
while?"
Mrs. Mandeville had already admitted one visitor against orders. Dare
she act on her own responsibility a second time? She began to realize
how much the doctor's fears of developments, which might or might not
follow, were influencing her, though, happily, she was not able to
influence Carol. He had no fear.
"I think it must be almost Rosebud's bedtime, dear; but she shall come
for a few minutes."
After sending a message to the nursery for Rosebud, her eye fell on the
medicine bottle. "Oh, Carol, I didn't give you your medicine this
afternoon. It was just time for it when Mr. Higgs came, and afterwards
you were asleep. It is time again for it now. I see it must be fresh
medicine; it is a different color."
"Auntie, Mr. Higgs was my doctor, this afternoon. The medicine he
brought sent me to sleep, and I do not ache quite so much. Must I take
this drug medicine as well?"
Mrs. Mandeville had poured out a dose, and now held the glass in her
hand.
"You are right, Carol. I can see a decided improvement. I will not ask
you to drink this."
She emptied the contents of the glass away. A few minutes afterwards
Rosebud's sweet voice was piping at the door:
"Me's 'tome to see Tarol."
Mrs. Mandeville lifted her up to kiss Carol, very carefully guarding her
from touching him anywhere.
"You must only kiss Carol, darling." The little arms were about to twine
themselves around him. "Me does 'ove 'ou, Tarol, so welly much."
The boy would have liked to hold her closely to him, but he could not
raise an arm.
"It does make me so happy to see Rosebud again, Auntie. Perhaps
to-morrow I shall be able to see all my cousins."
Mrs. Mandeville did not say, but she thought it would be many
"to-morrows" before he would be strong enough to receive them all in his
room.
"Now run back to the nursery, darling," she said to the wee girlie.
"Take a good-night kiss to Sylvia and Estelle, will you Rosebud?" Carol
said. Then she had to be lifted up again to receive a kiss for
"eberybody."
Mrs. Mandeville sat silent by the bedside for some time after Rosebud
left the room. Then she said in a very low, soft voice, "Do you
remember, Carol, coming to my room one day when I lay prostrate with one
of my bad headaches?"
"Yes, Auntie; I remember quite well."
"I was very ungrateful, Carol, I would not let myself acknowledge it was
your little prayer that took it away. Yet I knew it was, for I had
never lost a headache like that before."
"Yes, Auntie, I knew Christian Science had helped you. But I thought
you did not understand."
She kissed him very tenderly. "I am not ungrateful any longer, dear. I
acknowledge the debt. Now I must not let you talk any more or Dr.
Burton will insist upon having a trained nurse. He has suggested it
several times."
"He couldn't keep you away from me, could he, Auntie?"
"I think he would find it a trifle difficult, dear."
"But I want you to go downstairs to dinner to-night, Auntie. Uncle will
like to have you, and Nurse will stay with me."
"Perhaps I will go then, for an hour, dear."
So, later on, to everyone's surprise Mrs. Mandeville appeared at the
dinner table, and was so bright they all knew, without asking, that
Carol was improving, though he had not been pronounced out of danger.
Nurse was quietly making all the needful little preparations for the
night when Carol asked her to place the clock where he could see it as
he lay in bed.
"The nights seem so long when I cannot sleep, Nurse. I like to watch
the fingers of the clock, then I know how long it will be before the
light can peep through the curtains."
Nurse found a position where he could see it quite well, even though he
could not raise his head from the pillows. Then, standing over him, she
said: "Dearie, you are in pain. Couldn't I ease your position just a
little?"
"No, Nurse, please don't touch me, the bruises seem so real. I ought to
be able to deny them, and I cannot."
"And would it make them better to deny them, Master Carol?"
"Oh, yes, Nurse. You are thinking the bruises are very sore and
painful, are you not?"
Yes, Nurse was decidedly dwelling in thought upon the pain the boy must
be suffering from such a bruised condition.
"If you could think, Nurse, that there is no sensation in matter, that
the pain is all in mind: in my mind and your mind, and Auntie's and the
doctor's. You are all thinking how I must be suffering. If only
someone would help me to deny it!"
"I wish I could, Master Carol."
But it was double Dutch to Nurse to try to understand that the pain was
in mind, and not in the poor bruised body.
It was half-past nine when she moved the time-piece so that Carol could
see it, and he at once began to count how many hours it would be till
morning. At ten o'clock Mrs. Mandeville returned to the room, followed
by Dr. Burton. Nurse held up a warning finger as they entered: the boy
was asleep.
"This is splendid! How long has he slept?" the doctor asked.
"It was just after half-past nine, sir. He seemed in great pain, I
thought there was no hope of sleep for him, and all at once he just
dropped off without a word."
It was such a beautiful sleep, calm, peaceful, untroubled by fret or
moan. Mrs. Mandeville and the doctor watched beside him an hour; then
the doctor left, and Mrs. Mandeville was persuaded to go to her own room
for a night's rest, leaving Nurse in charge. They did not know, nor
could they have understood had they known, how, far away, a woman, 'clad
in the whole armour of God,' was fighting for him: fighting error with
'the sword of the Spirit.'
Letters and telegrams had at last reached Cousin Alicia.