“Quite right too,” said the Miss Bannisters’ brother. “‘Must’ is a very good word, if one has the character to back it up. And now tell me, quickly, what is the trouble. Something very small, I should think, or you wouldn’t be able to carry it in your pocket.” “It’s not in my pocket,” Roy said, “it’s not here at all. I want—I want a lesson.” “A lesson?” Mr. Theodore asked in surprise. “Yes, in eye mending. When eyes fall inside and rattle, you know.” The Miss Bannisters’ brother sat down and took Roy between his knees. There was something about this little dusty, nervous boy that his clients (often tearful enough) had never displayed before, and he wished to understand it. “Now tell me all about it,” he said. Roy told him everything, right from the first. “And what is your father’s name?” was the only question that had to be asked. When he heard this, the Miss Bannisters’ brother rose. “You must stay here a minute,” he said. “But—but the lesson?” Roy exclaimed. “You know I ought to be getting back again. Christina—” “All right, just a minute,” Mr. Theodore replied. When the Miss Bannisters’ brother came back, Miss Selina came with him. “Come and get tidy for dinner,” she said, “and afterwards we’ll drive home.” “Oh, but I can’t stop for dinner!” Roy cried. “It’s much too important to stop for dinner; I’m not really hungry either.” [Illustration: “I’M NOT YOUR DOCTOR. I’M A DOLL’S DOCTOR.”—page 165 _From the drawing by Carton Moorepark_] “Dinner will only take a little while,” said Miss Selina, “and the horse can be getting ready at the same time; and if you were to walk you wouldn’t be home nearly so soon as you will if you drive, dinner time included.” “But the lesson—?” Roy gasped again. “Oh, we’ve thought of a better way than the lesson,” Miss Selina said. “Mr. Bannister is going with you.” It took a moment for Roy to appreciate this, but when he did he was the happiest boy in Dormstaple. He never tasted a nicer chicken, he said afterwards. Certainly not more than three-quarters of an hour had passed before the carriage was on its way to Mapleton—with the Miss Bannisters’ brother propped up with cushions (for he could not bear the jolting of carriages) on the back seat, and Miss Selina and Miss Sarah, who had come to look after their brother, on the other. Roy was on the box. You never saw such puzzled faces as the Dormstaple people had when the party went by, for Mr. Theodore had not driven out these twenty years; but their surprise was nothing to that of old Mary, who wandered about the rooms all the rest of the day muttering, “Little imperent boy!” At the Mapleton gates Roy jumped down and rushed up to the house. His mother came to the door as he reached it. “Oh, mother, mother,” he cried, “he’s come himself!” “Who has come?” she asked, forgetting to say anything about Roy’s long absence. “I hoped it was the doctor. Christina is worse, I’m afraid; she won’t sleep.”