tly:

"I am very, _very_ glad! You haven't needed me much, have you? How is
wee Harry?"

Nurse took no notice of her question, but looking gravely at her, said:

"I wonder the wind didn't carry you away, poor child!"

"It very nearly did," said Christie, laughing. "I am very glad to be
safe within doors again; but I am very glad I went, for all that."

"But you are wet through!" said nurse, laying her hand on her shoulder.
"Go and change your clothes this very moment. Stay," she added, as
Christie began to ascend the stairs. "If the children get a sight of
you there will be an end of your peace. Go down to the kitchen, and I
will bring down your things for you."

Christie looked wonderingly into her face.

"You are very kind. But you need not take the trouble. I'm not so very
wet."

"Do as I bid you," said Mrs Greenly, impatiently. "You'll be ill with
those pains in your ankles again. And you have a weary week before you,
or I'm mistaken."

"What is it?" asked Christie, in alarm.

"It may be little, after all; but little Harry seems far from well, and
his mother is naturally anxious. At any rate, I'm going to call for the
doctor this afternoon, and if it should prove that he has taken the
fever, why, I must stay for a week, and you have the prospect of a
longer confinement in the attic-nursery."

It was too true. Little Harry was very ill--much worse than his sister
had been at first. The doctor looked very grave when he saw him that
afternoon, and positively directed that the other children should be
kept away from the room. But Christie was not sent with them to the
attic.

Having caught a glimpse of her passing the door, Harry could not be
pacified till he found himself in her arms; and not even his mother
could beguile him from her through all that long afternoon. He was very
feverish, and seemed to suffer much, poor little fellow. Sometimes she
soothed his restlessness by singing to him in a low voice, or by telling
him the tales that had amused him many a time during the long winter.
Sometimes she walked about with him in her arms; but she was not able to
do this very long, and so she sat on a low chair, rocking him gently in
her arms. The other children were down-stairs with Nelly. Mrs Greenly
had gone out to make arrangements for a longer stay; and poor Mrs Lee,
anxious and unhappy, went in and out of the nursery, unable to quiet
herself or to take the rest she so much needed.