Page:Anna Chapin--Half a dozen boys.djvu/37

Rh parents and Bess Carter, who spent two or three afternoons of each week with him. Then his mother declared that her own nerves were getting  so unstrung, and Fred was not gaining any, why  not have him go to Boston to a specialist?

So a private car was ordered, and the boy was taken to Boston, where he was left in  charge of a noted doctor and a professional nurse  of undeniable reputation and heart of iron, who  presided over her patients with a clock in one hand and a thermometer in the other, with no allowance made for personal variations.

His mother, in the mean time, was free to recuperate her nervous system by a round  of calls, shopping, teas, and theatre-going,  to which the illness of her only son had  been a serious hinderance. People talked a little, as well they might, but Mrs. Allen spoke  so regretfully of her own poor health, and  wiped her eyes so daintily when any one asked  for Fred, that it was the general opinion that  she was more to be pitied than her little son.

As the months passed, and the boy did not return, inquiries for him grew fewer, and to  these few Mrs. Allen responded with indiffer-