Shortly after his wife’s arrival in Montreal, Mr. Wilkie was summoned to England on business of importance, a fact with which Mrs. Wilkie became easily acquainted through the _Gazette_, which heralded all his movements, the fond mother now became more anxious than ever about her boy, and indeed not without reason, for, being monarch of all she surveyed, the easy-going housekeeper laid herself out for “a good time,” and, although in her way she was kind enough to the child, she left him to take care of himself as well as he could, being content if she prepared a bed for him to sleep in, and ordered his three meals a day with unfailing regularity. The house Mr. Wilkie lived in was situated in one of the newest and most fashionable localities, having what are generally designated “modern improvements,” and one of these latter so improved the internal arrangements of Master Aleck, that he was soon confined to bed with enteric fever. Mrs. Johnson, missing the boy from the street, called to enquire after him, and had her fears confirmed by the housekeeper, who said she did not know what to do for his father was away, and she had never in her life nursed a fevered patient. The wily mother seized the opportunity with avidity, and with unblushing effrontery perpetrated the atrocious falsehood that she was a professional nurse of large experience, and that such an interest did she feel in the little fellow that she would if permitted undertake to nurse him free of charge. Mrs. Riddell was delighted, and at her neighbor’s suggestion sent for Dr. Brownie, who had, she said great experience in such cases. A cablegram was despatched to Mr. Wilkie, and everything that science could devise was done for the poor little sufferer. For many days he seemed to get worse and worse and his devoted mother was nearly worn out as she sat up night after night wiping his fevered brow, or moistening his parched lips, at length the crisis came, and the doctor pronounced him on the way to recovery, adding that the slightest neglect on the part of those who tended him would permit a relapse, which would in all probability prove fatal. In this case, however, the latter caution was altogether unnecessary, what Mrs. Johnson lacked in experience she more than made up for in care and solicitude, and, as every direction of the physician was carried out to the letter, the little fellow began perceptibly to mend before the telegram came announcing Mr. Wilkie’s arrival in Quebec. On the receipt of the missive Mrs. Johnson made preparations for her departure, saying that her services were now scarcely needed, and that she needed rest; Mrs. Riddell at first tried hard to induce her to remain, but when she looked at the pale thin face, and thought how many weary nights the lady had voluntarily sat up with the raving child, she ceased to urge the request, and at once set out for a mercenary to replace her.