“Well,” he said, “THAT job's done. It's a nice clean fracture, and it'll go on all right, I've no doubt. Plucky young chap, too--hullo! what's all this?” His eye had fallen on Peter who lay mousy-still in his bonds on the settle. “Playing at prisoners, eh?” he said; but his eyebrows had gone up a little. Somehow he had not thought that Bobbie would be playing while in the room above someone was having a broken bone set. “Oh, no!” said Bobbie, “not at PRISONERS. We were playing at setting bones. Peter's the broken boner, and I was the doctor.” The Doctor frowned. “Then I must say,” he said, and he said it rather sternly, “that's it's a very heartless game. Haven't you enough imagination even to faintly picture what's been going on upstairs? That poor chap, with the drops of sweat on his forehead, and biting his lips so as not to cry out, and every touch on his leg agony and--” “YOU ought to be tied up,” said Phyllis; “you're as bad as--” “Hush,” said Bobbie; “I'm sorry, but we weren't heartless, really.” “I was, I suppose,” said Peter, crossly. “All right, Bobbie, don't you go on being noble and screening me, because I jolly well won't have it. It was only that I kept on talking about blood and wounds. I wanted to train them for Red Cross Nurses. And I wouldn't stop when they asked me.” “Well?” said Dr. Forrest, sitting down. “Well--then I said, 'Let's play at setting bones.' It was all rot. I knew Bobbie wouldn't. I only said it to tease her. And then when she said 'yes,' of course I had to go through with it. And they tied me up. They got it out of Stalky. And I think it's a beastly shame.” He managed to writhe over and hide his face against the wooden back of the settle. “I didn't think that anyone would know but us,” said Bobbie, indignantly answering Peter's unspoken reproach. “I never thought of your coming in. And hearing about blood and wounds does really make me feel most awfully funny. It was only a joke our tying him up. Let me untie you, Pete.” “I don't care if you never untie me,” said Peter; “and if that's your idea of a joke--” “If I were you,” said the Doctor, though really he did not quite know what to say, “I should be untied before your Mother comes down. You don't want to worry her just now, do you?” “I don't promise anything about not saying about wounds, mind,” said Peter, in very surly tones, as Bobbie and Phyllis began to untie the knots. “I'm very sorry, Pete,” Bobbie whispered, leaning close to him as she fumbled with the big knot under the settle; “but if you only knew how sick you made me feel.” “You've made ME feel pretty sick, I can tell you,” Peter rejoined. Then he shook off the loose cords, and stood up. “I looked in,” said Dr. Forrest, “to see if one of you would come along to the surgery. There are some things that your Mother will want at once, and I've given my man a day off to go and see the circus; will you come, Peter?” Peter went without a word or a look to his sisters.