w what happened next was this--in one way it was almost the nicest
thing that we had ever had; that is to say, it would have been but for
the pull-backs to it. Very jolly things generally do have pull-backs, I
think.

This was it. Everybody who knows anything about children's illnesses
knows that when they're getting better they should have change of air,
especially after whooping-cough. Indeed, even before they're much better
of whooping-cough they're often sent away, for change of air helps
actually to cure it. And a week or two after Hebe had been so very bad,
the doctor began to talk of the others going away.

It was the end of April now, and it was nice, fine weather, and promised
to be a mild spring and early summer. Anne and Serry had really not been
very ill in themselves, though they had been noisy enough with their
coughing. Maud had been the worst next to Hebe, but as she had begun
first she had got better first. And she got better in a very sensible
way. She did everything in a sensible way, you know. She never fussed or
fidgeted, and was very patient and cheerful. She took all her medicines,
and even if nurse or mums forgot anything the doctor had said, you may
be sure, if Maud herself had heard it, _she_ wouldn't let it be
forgotten. Yes, really, she was too 'old-fashioned' for anything, as old
nurse said. She wasn't quite as sweet as Hebe-- Hebe looked like a
little crushed flower when she first began to be better; you could
scarcely help kissing her every minute. She isn't so what people call
'clinging' as Hebe, but still she's a good, kind little girl, and it's
not hard to get on with her. My life would be a very different affair if
I had four sisters all like Hebe and Maud--wouldn't it just?

So Maud was pretty well again in herself, and the other two hadn't much
the matter with them, and I of course was all right, though dear old
mums said I was looking pale, and that I'd been such a comfort to her
and knocked myself up. I think she said it partly to show that she
wasn't thinking less of me than of the girls because I hadn't been ill.

And just as things were like that, Dr. Marshall said we should go away
for change of air.

But unluckily 'we' only meant Anne and Serena and Maudie and I. Not
Hebe--no, indeed. That was quite another story. _We_ wanted 'bracing,'
the doctor said--nice fresh hill or moor air, but for Hebe anything like
cold or strong air was out of the question. In the first place sh