’No, he needn’t stay in bed,’ the doctor said, ’but something must be done about the nights. He has simply _got_ to get some natural sleep.’ So I informed the invalid that I was going to sit up with him, make tea, and read aloud, and perhaps the night would seem a little less long, and he’d get a nice sleep before the morning. But my brother is not one of those people whose submissive patience is always apparent to the naked eye, and all he said was, quite politely, but _quite_ firmly,— ’You’re going to do nothing of the kind.’ ’I quite definitely _am_,’ I said. So then there was a little gust of temper. ’Oh, _do_ stop fussing, Meg. You and Sam really are the limit. Anybody would think that I was "going to leave this mortal world of sin, and hatch myself a Cherubim," the way you both go on! When you hear me begin to chip the shell you can both sit up, but not before.’ So then the feathers underneath my skin got ruffled, and I said that he was simply hateful and delighted to worry people who only wanted to be kind to him. And then he turned into a glacier, so I tried thawing it. ’Please, Ross.’ ’No, darling.’ ’But if you had something to do in the night it wouldn’t seem so long.’ ’I have got something to do, Meg.’ ’What?’ ’Swear,’ said my brother laconically. ’Oh, you poor old thing,’ I exclaimed. And then he added, rather hesitatingly, ’Or else try to stick it out and be courteous to Him about it.’ My eyes filled up suddenly with tears. My brother evidently had still that ’picture of Him in his head,’ and of course one ought always to be courteous to a person with a crown on, though I’ve not been decently civil myself lately. Then Ross, feeling, perhaps, that he had inadvertently been betrayed into ’talking religion’ (though he apparently didn’t mind trying to ’live it’) said irrelevantly, ’I wonder how Charlie has got on?’ ’I am longing to know what she said to him, Ross.’ ’Let’s hope she kissed him "good-night, darling," which is what you’re going to do to me now,’ said my brother, whose face whitened suddenly as the pain seized him again. At that moment Sam came in dragging a basket chair. ’I don’t intend to argue it out again with you, Brown,’ said his master coldly. ’Nor I with you,’ said Brown. The two men looked at one another, and I could almost hear the clashing of their wills. ’I don’t feel up to it to-night, Sam.’ ’I don’t either, Master Ross.’ ’Is your knee bad?’ ’Putrid. I shan’t sleep, anyway.’ ’Are you telling me the truth, Brown?’ ’I’m not in the habit of lying to you, sir.’ ’Sorry,’ said Ross, ’of course you aren’t. You can stay if you have your bed wheeled in.’ ’Thanks,’ said the other briefly.