you tell me sooner?  If I had only known!”

Harry could not help his tears flowing fast now.  It had been such a long strain upon him to keep up hour after hour, that it was quite a relief at last to have the very worst fully confessed.

“I thought it would go off, mamma,” he said, “or I would have told.  And I was so anxious to be well just now, for the sea; and oh, I can’t move one single step!”

“Don’t cry, dear.  We’ll send for the doctor and see what he says.  I daresay he will make it better before long.  And you mustn’t fret, you know, or you’ll make yourself worse.”  So saying, Mrs. Leslie

had the nearest medical man sent for, and the little patient laid neatly and comfortably in bed—as her skilful hands could well do.

Dr. Bell came, and pronounced poor Harry’s a very grave case of what is popularly known as “white swelling,” brought on by the hurt he had received, but chiefly owing to the little boy’s very delicate system.  “He must lie quite still for some weeks at least,” said the doctor.  “There must be no trying to get up or move about until I give permission.”

Poor Harry! it was indeed a hard and bitter trial, and he did not then know that he would yet be thankful one day for a lesson taught him by this very trouble.  But, indeed, we very seldom know such things till the time of trial is long past.

Walter was removed to a sofa-bed in the parlour, so as to give Harry more room and

air, since the little attic must be his sole abode for long weeks in all probability.

And so it proved.  Harry lay there day after day, hardly daring even to sit half up in bed for meals, and compelled to lie mostly on his back.  There stood the unfortunate ship Rover, whose piratical wanderings had also been cruelly frustrated.  It stood on a table just below the skylight, so that Harry could see it easily where he lay; but now the sight rather added to his vexation than otherwise.  Would he ever be able to sail it before they left Kingshaven and returned to Rosehampton?  It seemed very unlikely.

Their kind friend Dr. Hammond came down at once on hearing of Harry’s illness—which was of course a great comfort, as he knew so well about his little patient; but he only confirmed Dr. Bell’s verdict, and declared Harry must continue in the

quiet quarters of “Blanket Bay,” as his mother called it.  The unfortunate thing of this Blanket Bay was that it did not look to the sea, nor indeed to anything but the sky.

The days passed wonderfully, however.  Harry was fond of reading, and plenty of nice books were got for him; the younger children were, of course, perfectly happy digging houses and castles in the sand; and Walter did the best he could to amuse himself companionless, or with any boys who seemed friendly and ready to play with him.  He did all he could to amuse Harry, too, by coming home with stories of all he had seen, and would sit for hours on the bedside chatting to him, if allowed; but Mrs. Leslie said it was very wrong to waste his holidays that way, and generally packed him off to the shore again.

Harry Leslie knew that to Walter as well as to himself it was a great disappointment

not to see the Rover floated.  He thought over it many a time, and being a kind-hearted boy in general, it did vex him not a little that Walter also should be disappointed.  But the idea of his telling Walter to take the Rover down himself to the rocks, and have the delight of seeing it ride proudly on the waves—oh, that was too much for Harry!  If the idea ever did really present itself plainly to his