The Project Gutenberg eBook, Old Mr. Wiley, by Fanny Greye La Spina

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Title: Old Mr. Wiley

Author: Fanny Greye La Spina

Release Date: November 6, 2007 [eBook #23379]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

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Transcriber note:

This etext was produced from Weird Tales, March, 1951.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.

OLD MR. WILEY

by

GREYE LA SPINA

[Illustration: _Old Mr. Wiley and the dog came over every night ... but
were they real?_]

"He just lies here tossing and moaning until he's so weak that he sinks
into a kind of coma," said the boy's father huskily. "There doesn't seem
anything particular the matter with him now but weakness. Only," he
choked, "that he doesn't care much about getting well."

Miss Beaver kept her eyes on that thin little body outlined by the fine
linen sheet. She caught her breath and bit her lower lip to check its
trembling. So pitiful, that small scion of a long line of highly placed
aristocratic and wealthy forebears, that her cool, capable hand went out
involuntarily to soothe the fevered childish brow. She wanted suddenly
to gather the little body into her warm arms, against her kind breast.
Her emotion, she realized, was far from professional; Frank Wiley IV had
somehow laid a finger on her heartstrings.

"If you can rouse him from this lethargy and help him find some interest
in living," Frank Wiley III said thickly, "you won't find me
unappreciative, Miss Beaver."

The nurse contemplated that small, apathetic patient in silence. Doctor
Parris had warned her that unless the boy's