"It depends on how he is," was the reply. "Mrs. Ross hopes that he will have a little sleep now, but if he is awake and not too tired when you have finished your lessons, I will read aloud to you both in his room."
"Miss Lilly," began Chrissie again, looking up very sadly when they were seated at the schoolroom table, "I don"t want to be silly, but I really don"t feel as if I could do any lessons. It is so--so dreadful to be without Ferdy, when you think that only the day before yesterday we were both here together and so happy, looking forward to his birthday,"
and the child put her head down on her arms and broke into deep though quiet sobs.
In an instant Miss Lilly had left her place and was kneeling on the floor beside her.
"My poor little Chrissie, my dear little Chrissie," she said, "I am so sorry for you," and the tone of her voice showed that it was difficult for her to keep back her own tears,--"so very sorry; but remember, dear, that we can do much better for Ferdy by controlling our grief than by giving way to it. A great deal depends on keeping him cheerful and happily employed and interested. When I got your mother"s note yesterday afternoon--oh dear, what a shock it was to me!--I spoke to my grandfather about Ferdy a great deal, and he said in such cases much depends on not letting the nervous system give way. Do you understand at all what I mean?"
"Yes, I think so," said Chrissie, drying her eyes and listening eagerly.
"You mean if poor Ferdy was to lie there all day alone, like some poor children have to do, I daresay, he"d get to feel as if he would never get well again."
"Just so," said Miss Lilly, pleased to see how sensible Chrissie was.
"Of course, he must not be tired or allowed to excite himself, and for a few days he is sure to be restless and fidgety from weakness; but as he gradually gets stronger again in himself, we must do all we can not only to amuse him, but to keep up his interest in things and people outside himself."
"I know," said Chrissie, "if he can feel he"s of any good to anybody, that would make him happier than anything. Ferdy has never been selfish, has he, Miss Lilly?"
"No, he certainly has never seemed so, and I do not think suffering and trial such as he may have to bear will make him so."
Chrissie"s face fell again at the two sad words.
Miss Lilly saw it, and went on speaking quietly. "I don"t mean anything very dreadful, dear, but he may have to stay in bed or on a couch for a long time, and of course that cannot but be a great trial to an active boy. Let us get on with your lessons now, Chrissie, in case Ferdy is awake when they are over."
He was not awake. He slept a good part of the morning, which Mrs. Ross, sitting beside him, was very glad of; and when at last he opened his eyes and looked about him, it was not long before a smile came to his face, and he cheered his mother by saying he felt "so nicely rested."
"May Chris and Miss Lilly come back now?" he asked. "Miss Lilly said she would read aloud."
Yes, Chris and Miss Lilly would be only too happy to come, but first Ferdy must be "good" and drink some beef-tea, which was standing all ready.
It was rather an effort to do so. Ferdy did not like beef-tea, and he was not at all hungry, and he just wanted to lie still and not be bothered. But "To please me" from his mother was enough, and when she kissed him and said he _was_ "a good boy," he told her, laughing, that he felt as if he were a little baby again.
Chrissie"s face brightened when she heard the sound of her brother"s laugh.
"Are you feeling better, Ferdy dear?" she said. "I _am_ so glad, and Miss Lilly has brought a story-book of her own that we have never read."
"Oh, how nice!" said Ferdy. "Do tell me the name of the book, Miss Lilly."
"It is short stories," she replied. "I will read you the names of some of them, and you shall choose which you would like best."
The t.i.tles were all very tempting, but Ferdy made a good hit, and fixed upon one of the most interesting in the book, so said Miss Lilly. It was about a family of children in Iceland, and though it was rather long, they wished there was more of it when it came to an end. Then Miss Lilly looked at her watch.
"There is still a quarter of an hour," she said, as she turned over the leaves. "Yes, here is a short story, which will just about fill up the time."
Ferdy and Chrissie looked very pleased, but they did not say anything.
They were so afraid of losing any of the precious fifteen minutes.
CHAPTER VI
A FAIRY TALE--AND THOUGHTS
"The name of the story," said Miss Lilly, "is "A Fairy House,"" and then she went on to read it.
"Once upon a time there was a fairy who had done something wrong, and for this reason had to be punished. I do not know exactly what it was that she had done, perhaps only something that we should scarcely think wrong at all, such as jumping on a mushroom before it was full grown, or drinking too much dew out of a lily-cup, and thereby leaving the poor flower thirsty through the hot noontide. Most likely it was nothing worse than something of this kind, but still it was a fault that had to be corrected; so the little culprit was banished to a desert part of fairyland, a bleak and barren spot, which you would scarcely have thought could be found in the magic country which we always think of as so bright and beautiful.
"There she stayed with nothing to do for some time, which is about the worst punishment a fairy can have to endure. So she felt very pleased when one morning there came a messenger direct from the queen, charged to tell the little exile that she should be forgiven and released from her banishment as soon as she should have fulfilled a task which was to be set her. This task was to build a house, which to us may sound almost impossible without masons and carpenters and all manner of workmen. But fairy houses are not like ours, as you will hear.
"The messenger led the fairy to a spot on the moor where there was a heap of stones.
""These are what you are to build with," he said. "As soon as the house is completed you may send a b.u.t.terfly to tell the queen, and she will then come to test it. If it is quite perfect, you shall return at once with her to the court," and so saying he fled away.
"The fairy set to work in good spirits. She had no need of mortar, or scaffolding, or tools, or anything, indeed, but her own little hands and the stones. Nor were the stones cut evenly and regularly, as you might have expected. They were of all sizes and shapes, but each only required a touch from the fairy"s fingers at once to fit itself into the place which she saw it was intended for. So for some time the work went on merrily. It was not till the house was very nearly completed that the fairy began to fear something was wrong. It lopped a little--a _very_ little--to one side. But there was nothing to be done that she could see. So she finished it in hopes that the queen would not notice the tiny imperfection, and despatched the b.u.t.terfly to announce her readiness for her royal lady"s visit.
"The queen arrived promptly,--fairy queens are never unpunctual,--and at first sight she smiled amiably.
""You have worked hard," she said to the poor fairy, who stood there half hopeful and half trembling. Then her Majesty stepped out of her chariot, patting her winged steeds as she pa.s.sed them, and entered the new building, followed by the little architect.
"All seemed right till they got to the second floor, when the queen stopped and looked round her sharply.
""Something is wrong here," she said. "The left-hand wall is out of level. I suspected it downstairs, but waited to see."
"The fairy builder looked very distressed.
""Did you know there was anything wrong?" said the queen, more coldly than she had yet spoken.
""I--I was afraid it was a little crooked," the little fairy replied, "but I hoped perhaps your Majesty would not mind it."
""My messenger told you that the building must be _perfect_," replied the queen. "You had all the stones, every one ready for its place. If you have left one out, even the smallest, the building cannot be perfect. Ah, well, you must try again," and so saying she left the house, followed by the builder. As soon as she stepped outside she waved her wand, and in an instant the walls had fallen apart, and there was nothing to be seen but the heap of stones as before.
"The poor little fairy sat down and cried as she saw the queen"s chariot disappear in the air.
""I don"t know what to do," she thought. "It would be just the same thing if I set to work to build it up again. I am sure I used every stone, down to some quite tiny ones; but still it is no good crying about it," and she started up, determined to try afresh.
"As she did so, a very slight sound caught her ears. Out of her pocket had rolled a very small stone, a tiny, insignificant pebble, probably smaller than any she had used in the building.
""That"s the very pebble I found in my shoe the other day," she exclaimed. "I must have picked it up with my handkerchief," and she was just about to fling it away when a new idea struck her. Was it possible that this little atom of a stone--or rather its absence--was what had spoilt the whole piece of work? It might be so, for had not the queen said that the slightest little sc.r.a.p of material wanting would spoil the perfection of the building.
"And, full of fresh hope, she carefully placed the little stone on the top of the heap and began again. All went well. Deep down in the foundations, unseen but far from unneeded, the tiny pebble found its own place, and before the sun set, the magic edifice stood perfect, gleaming white and fair in the radiance of the evening sky.
[Ill.u.s.tration: TOOK HER BACK TO COURT IN HER OWN CHARIOT.]
"It was without fear or misgiving this time that the fairy sent off her b.u.t.terfly messenger the next morning; and her joy was complete when the queen not only took her back to court in her own chariot, but as a proof of her perfect restoration to favour, transported the pretty white house by a wave of her wand to the centre of a lovely garden near her own palace, and gave it to the fairy as her home."
Miss Lilly stopped reading. The children looked up, pleased but a little puzzled.
"What a funny story," said Ferdy; "it"s nice, but isn"t it more what you call a--I forget the word."