"I
remember once he spent a whole afternoon making a splint for Danny's
leg. And it was a good splint," said Dr. Lavendar. Alas! how little he
could find to say of the young creature who was a stranger to them
all!
Dr. Lavendar stayed with them until noon. He had been summoned just as
he was sitting down to breakfast, and he had gone instantly, leaving
Mary wringing her hands at the double distress of a dreadful calamity
and Dr. Lavendar's going without his breakfast. When he saw William
King he asked no questions, except:
"Who will tell his grandfather?"
But of course there was only one person to tell Mr. Benjamin Wright,
and Dr. Lavendar knew it. "But you must come with me, William;
Benjamin is very frail."
"Yes;" said William King; "only you've got to have something to eat
first."
And that gave Dr. Lavendar the chance to ask Mrs. Wright for some
breakfast, which made her stop crying, poor soul, for a little while.
As Goliath pulled them slowly up the hill, William told part of his
part of the story. He had dropped in to the Wrights' the night before
to say how-do-you-do. "It was nearly ten. I only stayed a few minutes;
then I went off. I had got as far as the gate, and I was--was fixing
my lantern, and I thought I heard a shot. And I said--'_What's that?_'
And I stood there, sort of holding my breath, you know; I couldn't
believe it was a shot.
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