She did not say any more, but walked slowly and thoughtfully up stairs and took out a book to spell over her lessons, as she had been accustomed to do. But somehow the sight of the old worn spelling book that Bob had bought as a present for her, brought back the old scenes so vividly to her mind that, at the recurrence of the thought that these two friends might be ill, with no one to take care of them, she burst into tears. She was still crying when Dr. Mansfield came in from the garden. "What is the matter, Milly? What has happened, my darling?" he asked, lifting her upon his knee as he sat down. For a minute or two Milly could only sob. But at length she said, "I think I shall have to go away from you soon." "Go away from me?" repeated the doctor, clasping her in his arms as he spoke. "What do you mean, Milly?" "I don't know, quite; but Bob told me I must be an angel, and help everybody, and I think he will want me to go and help him now." "Help who? Bob, the fisher-boy?" Milly nodded. "He'll want me soon, I think," she said, wiping the tears from her eyes and trying to look very brave. "What for?" asked the doctor. "What can a little girl like you do for him?" "I don't know. I'm going to try and do everything; that is, take care of him while he's ill. That would be helping him, wouldn't it?" she added. "Yes, if you could do it. But is he ill?" asked the doctor, smiling. "Not yet; but he's going to be. He'll have the fever, Mary says." "O! It's what Mary says, is it?" said the doctor, kissing her. "Well, then, I don't think you need trouble your little head much about it. Tell me what you have been learning this morning," he added, by way of turning her thoughts to another subject. But Milly was not to be put off so easily. "I can't learn my lesson this morning," she said. "I must think about Bob and Jack, and how I can help them." "But it will be time enough to think about that when they are ill," said the doctor, again smiling. "But Mrs. Ship's two little girls are ill now, and Mary said she wanted some one to help her. Do you think I could help a little bit?" "What do you think you could do?" asked the doctor in an amused tone. He was unusually cheerful this morning, and loved to hear Milly talk. "I think I could light the fire—I've seen Bob do it a good many times—and I could go after water. Mother said that I helped her when I brought the water for her. I learned to wash cups and saucers before I came here, and I could do that." "But I'm afraid this wouldn't help these poor people much," said the doctor, speaking more seriously. "If Mary said they wanted help, she meant help of a different sort from what a little girl can give." Milly looked disappointed. "I wish I wasn't a little girl, then," she said. "Little girls don't seem to be any good in the world, if they can't help when people are ill."