"That's my brave boy," said father, faintly, and I think there were
tears in his eyes. "Dora"--my mother's name was Dora--"I am too tired
to talk; let the children go now, and come and sit by me while I go
to sleep;" and mother gently dismissed us.

I had rather a difficulty with Dot when I got outside, for he
suddenly lowered his crutch and sat down on the floor.

"I don't want to go to bed," he announced, decidedly. "I shall sit
here all night, in case mother wants me; when it gets dark she may
feel lonely."

"But, Dot, mother will be grieved if she comes out and finds you
here; she has anxiety enough as it is; and if you make yourself ill,
too, you will only add to her trouble. Come, be a good boy, and let
me help you to undress." But I might as well have talked to Smudge.
Dot had these obstinate fits at times; he was tired, and his nerves
were shaken by being so many hours in the sick room, and nothing
would have induced him to move. I was so tired at last that I sat
down on the floor, too, and rested my head against the door, and Dot
sat bolt upright like a watchful little dog, and in this ridiculous
position we were discovered by Allan. I had not heard of his arrival;
and when he came toward us, springing lightly up two stairs at a
time, I could not help uttering a suppressed exclamation of delight.

He stopped at once and looked at us in astonishment. "Dot and
Esther! in the name of all that is mysterious; huddled up like two
Chinese gods on the matting. Why, I took Esther for a heap of clothes
in the twilight." Of course I told him how it happened. Dot was