Page:Anna Chapin--Half a dozen boys.djvu/43

Rh mean to; but it’s all so dreadful, here in the dark.”

The tears stood in the girl’s eyes as she answered,—

“My dear little boy, we all know how terrible it must be; but I won’t tell the boys if you say so. Just cry it all out; you have tried to be too brave. Rob almost cried for you last night.”

The sobs came less often, but the look of sadness on the boyish face made Bessie’s heart ache for the child, but she said cheerfully,—

“Now, my son, I am going to take my old place as nurse to-day. You aren’t very strong yet, and I want you to lie down again here on the sofa, and if you can spare a little of this lunch—I don’t approve of candy between meals, you know—I’ll move the table away, pull up this low chair, and tell you all the news.”

Suiting the action to the word, Bess tucked the afghan round Fred’s feet, drew a willow chair up to the place of the despised table, and sat down close to the child, who once more reached out for her hand.