Willders was lying on his mother's sofa, with his left leg broken below
the knee.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

MR JAMES AUBERLY.

With a very stiff cravat, and a dreadfully stiff back, and a painfully
stiff aspect, Mr James Auberly sat by the side of a couch and nursed
his sick child.

Stiff and starched and stern though he was, Mr Auberly, had a soft
point in his nature, and this point had been reached at last, for
through all the stiffness and starch there shone on his countenance an
expression of deep anxiety as he gazed at Loo's emaciated form.

Mr Auberly performed the duties of a nurse awkwardly enough, not being
accustomed to such work, but he did them with care and with an evident
effort to please, which made a deep impression on the child's heart.

"Dear papa," she said, after he had given her a drink and arranged her
coverings. "I want you to do me a favour." She said this timidly, for
she knew from past experience that her father was not fond of granting
favours, but since her illness he had been so kind to her that she felt
emboldened to make her request.

"I will do it, dear," said the stiff man, bending, morally as well as
physically, as he had never bent before--for the prospect of Loo's death
had been presented to him by the physicians. "I will do it, dear, if I
can, and if the request be reasonable."

"Oh, then, do forgive Fred, and let him be an artist!" cried Loo,
eagerly stretching out one of her thin hands.

"Hush, darling," said Mr Auberly, with a look of distress; "you must
not excite yourself so. I have forgiven Fred long ago, and he has
become an artist in spite of my objections."

"Yes, but let him come home, I mean, and be happy with us again as he
used to be, and go to the office with you," said Loo.

Mr Auberly replied somewhat coldly to this that Fred was welcome to
return home if he chose, but that his place in the office had been
filled up. Besides, it was impossible for him to be both a painter and
a man of business, he said, and added that Loo had better not talk about
such things, because she did not understand them. All he could say was
that he was willing to receive Fred, if Fred was willing to return. He
did not say, however, that he was willing to restore Fred to his former
position in regard to his fortune, and as Loo knew nothing about her
brother having been disinherited, she felt that she must be satisfied
with this cold concession.

"Can you not ask some