Page:Dapples of the Circus (1943).pdf/168

 About three o'clock that afternoon the children in the ward saw the strangest sight ever beheld in the hospital. This was when the groom from the stable led Sir Wilton into the ward and down to the cot of his driver.

At first Freckles thought he was asleep, and that it was all a dream, but when Dapples's nose touched his hand he was convinced. The nurse would only let the pony stay a very few minutes, but this was enough to convince Freckles that his friend was alive and well.

This was the turning point in Freckles's sickness. It broke the delirium, and from that day on he mended rapidly. In a week's time he was placed in a wheel-chair and wheeled out on a large piazza, where the groom again brought Sir Wilton for a longer visit. Two weeks from that day Freckles again rode the small horse. He did not go alone, though, for the groom walked by his side and led the pony, and even held Freckles in the saddle, but