Christian fiction; Didactic fiction; Domestic fiction; England -- Juvenile fiction; Mothers and sons -- Juvenile fiction
But when Fred woke again, he was very ill; he was quite delirious, and
talked fast and indistinctly about "muddie" and "Fwank" and "gwandma."
It was many a long day before he could be questioned, and when they
tried to do so, he seemed to have forgotten everything and every one.
Several attempts were made, more with a view to finding out who the
child was than with any reference to Frank's death. For by that time,
Frank's little grave was green; the doctor, feeling sure that some day
the children would be inquired about, had had him buried at his own
expense beside his own little son, his only child, who had died but a
short time previously. But no information could be got from poor Fred,
whose little white face, with the wistful dark eyes, looked full of
intelligence, but whose memory, for the present at least, seemed a
blank. At last the doctor forbade any further questioning of the child.
"I am sure," he said, "that as he regains his strength, his mind will
recover from the shock, but you may seriously injure him, if you do not
leave him in peace now."
Every effort was made, of course, to trace the children's wanderings,
and they were tracked back some stages in their journey. But then all
trace was lost. The distance the poor little things had come in the
luggage van was so great that the inquiries made were never heard of
by any one who knew them; nothing but their initials was marked on
their clothing, and, save the photograph of his father, Frank had had
nothing in his pocket. Even the photograph told nothing, for it had
been originally a cabinet-size portrait, and poor Janet had cut out the
head to fit it into a little leather case, so that the name and address
of the photographer were wanting.
"Really," said Dr. Wentworth one day, when he had looked in to see
Fred, "really, Betty, if we send this child to the union, he'll
probably grow up an idiot."
"Send him to the union?" interrupted Betty. "Is it the child I've
nursed through that terrible fever, and that has slept in my old arms
every night since I got him? What do you take me for, doctor?"
"For a good old body with a hasty tongue, Betty. Just let me finish my
remarks, please. If he goes to the union, he'll end in being an idiot.
Therefore, it would be doubly cruel to send him there. Now, if you can
continue to keep him for a while, I'll help you. I feel sure the child
will be looked for, and whoever finds him will find only one where two
were lost. But we need not add to their grief."
"I don't need any help, doctor, so far. Only for clothes. I'll keep the
child. I've got to love him."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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