Page:Anna Chapin--Half a dozen boys.djvu/277

Rh flannel blouse and the two bright green leaves that Rob had again plastered on his face, just  before he went down-stairs. The remedy, applied in that way, was so original that Rob was at once dubbed “the doctor,” a name that clung to him, to his disgust, till the end of the visit.

It was hard to see the gay party starting off in their three boats; Mr. Muir rowing Bess in the first. Jack, Alice, and the children in a second, and the third in charge of a servant, with a tent and the lunch. Several friends from the hotel were to meet them, and among them was one little girl, with whom Rob had  established quite a friendship. Yes, it would be great fun, but there was Fred, blind, ill, and alone, and the thought of his friend helped him to smile bravely and answer decidedly all their entreaties to go.

“I think Fred doesn’t need you,” Bess had said. “I am glad to have you willing to stay, Robin, but I am sure he really won’t mind being alone.”

“I’d rather stay,” said Rob, and nothing could change his purpose.