little divisions and brings him in a lot of new ones almost
every day. They fill Roxanne's days and nights with terror. And it is
upsetting to see the fishing-worms in the dirt, while the hop-toad
stays out on the bed a good deal of the time; but we have to stand it
and smile at it in our voices while talking to him, even if we have
terror in our faces. Yesterday Uncle Pompey spent most of his time
catching the chickens and bringing them in for him to feel, and
Lovelace Peyton has a box of straw on a chair by the bed, with a hen
tied in it, setting on a dozen eggs.

But a thing that stops my breath with pain is, that I am fraid that
Lovelace Peyton is beginning to think about being blind, and my throat
aches while I write what happened when Roxanne left him with me after
he had called us.

"Do you want me to read the medicine book, now, Lovelace Peyton? Mumps
comes next," I said, as I sat down by the head of the bed, nearer than
I liked to the setting hen.

"No, Phyllie," he answered in a queer, unlifelike way. "Please find
blind eyes and read all about them to me."

"Oh, they are not interesting," I said, and the lump rose so I could
hardly breathe. "Let me read measles, if you don't think you will like
mumps. Do you remember that experiment about cutting away a piece of
the heart itself that the man tried? Let me read that again." I was
pleading with him so that my voice began to tremble.

"Please let me put my hand on your face, Phyllie, so if I kin git you
to tell the truth to me, I kin feel if you cry," he said as he reached
up and put one little hand that is getting white and weak against my
cheek. I forced my eyes to drink up the tears that they had let get as
far as my lashes, and put my arm under his head and cuddled him
against my shoulder, my shoulder that has had to learn to cuddle since
he got hurt.

"Is I going to be blind, Phyllie, and kin they be a blind doctor, if I
am?" he asked, with his baby mouth set with the Byrd family
expression, the first time I had ever seen it on his face.

"Oh, no, Lovelace Peyton, No!" I exclaimed, hugging him up closer. "A
great big doctor is coming on the cars in just a few days to make you
well."

"But _kin_ a doctor be a blind man, Phyllie," he asked again, with
his mouth still set.

"Yes, Lovelace Peyton, if you are the blind man," I answered as
positively as I felt. It is true for if he is blind, then there will
be a blind doctor in the world and a famous