Part 32 (1/2)

Robby seemed much pleased. As long as the carriages were in sight he stood watching them, and then ran after his grandfather into the cottage.

As soon as the party reached Glen Tulloch, Norman was carried up to bed.

It was evident that he was very ill, he had been heated by scrambling about the rocks, and the cold water had given him a sudden chill.

Before the next morning he was in a high fever. A doctor was sent for, but some hours elapsed before he arrived. He looked very grave and said that the little boy required the greatest care and watching.

Mrs Leslie and her mamma insisted that f.a.n.n.y should go to bed, and as she was always obedient, she did as they wished, but she could not go to sleep. All night long she thought of her little brother, and of the danger he was in, and oh! how earnestly she prayed that he might recover.

Either his granny or mamma sat by his bedside throughout the night. He tumbled and tossed, his limbs and his head aching again and again, he saw little birds flitting backwards and forwards in the room.

”Ah! ah! naughty boy, I am Pecksy's brother, you killed him; you know you did!” said one nodding its head, as it perched on the back of a chair, at the end of his bed. Then it flew away, and another came and said, ”I am Pecksy's sister, naughty boy, you killed him, you know you did!” and it too nodded its head.

A third and a fourth and a fifth came and chirped in plaintive tones, ”Oh, why did you kill our dear little friend? you say you did not kill him; you know you did, you naughty boy!” and so they went on flying backwards and forwards, now concealed in the dark part of the room, and now appearing in the light of the lamp.

In vain Norman tried to raise his voice--he could not even whisper--all he could do was to watch them with his aching eyes as they flitted to and fro. Oh! how he longed to get rid of them. Would they never go away? No; back they came, and twittered in the same mournful strain.

”You killed our brother, you killed our friend; you know you did, naughty, naughty boy!”

At length he could bear it no longer, and with a scream he exclaimed, ”Oh, put them out of the room--catch them! catch them! take them away!

I will be a good boy, indeed I will. I will never do such a thing again.”

Though he did not speak very distinctly, his mamma understood his words.

”Take what away, dear? There is nothing in the room--there is nothing to hurt you.”

”The birds! the birds! Oh yes, oh yes, the birds, the birds, I see them again,” cried Norman, with his eyes wide open, staring into the air.

In vain Mrs Vallery tried to soothe him. He still cried out, ”Take the birds away!” He did not even know her.

”Naughty woman, do as I tell you! Don't let the birds come and tease me,” he cried out.

Strange as it may seem, he did not once speak of his fall from the rock into the water, or of the danger he had run on that occasion.

Thus the night pa.s.sed on.

As soon as it was morning, f.a.n.n.y hurried to her little brother's room.

Her grief and pain were very great when she heard him crying out, ”Take the birds away, oh, don't let them tease me!”

She sat down on a stool by his bedside.

Her papa soon came, and he and her mamma hung over Norman, anxiously watching him, but though he opened his eyes wide, he did not recognise them.

”Go away, go away, I do not want you,” he murmured.

Even when his mamma took his hand and affectionately bent down over him, he gazed at her as if she was a stranger.

f.a.n.n.y could scarcely restrain her grief to see him thus.

The doctor came back as early as he could, after visiting a patient some miles off. f.a.n.n.y anxiously waited to hear his report.