did.

Susan went, as sober as a judge, on Friday, as the saying is, her great
anxiety being to get out of the house before the doctor returned. The
doctor himself arrived true to his time, and I lay awake--for no human
being ever slept or felt he wanted to sleep while Dr. Washburn was
anywhere near--and listened to the gusts of laughter that swept
continually through the house. Even my aunt laughed that supper time,
and when the doctor himself laughed it seemed to me that the bed shook
under me. Not liking to be out of it, I did what spoilt little boys
and even spoilt little girls sometimes will do under similar stress of
feeling, wrapped the blanket round my legs and pattered down, with
my face set to express the sudden desire of a sensitive and possibly
short-lived child for parents' love. My mother pretended to be angry,
but that I knew was only her company manners. Besides, I really had, if
not exactly a pain, an extremely uncomfortable sensation (one common to
me about that period) as of having swallowed the dome of St. Paul's. The
doctor said it was a frequent complaint with children, the result of too
early hours and too much study; and, taking me on his knee, wrote then
and there a diet chart for me, which included one tablespoonful of
golden syrup four times a day, and one ounce of sherbet to be placed
upon the tongue and taken neat ten minutes before each meal.

That evening will always live in my remembrance. My mother was brighter
than I had ever seen her. A flush was on her cheek and a sparkle in her
eye, and looking across at her as she sat holding a small painted screen
to shield her face from the fire, the sense of beauty became suddenly
born within me, and answering an impulse I could not have explained, I
slipped down, still with my blanket around me, from the doctor's knee,
and squatted on the edge of the fender, from where, when I thought no
one was noticing me, I could steal furtive glances up into her face.

So also my father seemed to me to have become all at once bigger and
more dignified, talking with a vigour and an enjoyment that sat newly on
him. Aunt Fan was quite witty and agreeable--for her; and even I asked
one or two questions, at which, for some reason or another, everybody
laughed; which determined me to remember and ask those same questions
again on some future occasion.

That was the great charm of the man, that by the magnetic spell of his
magnificent vitality he drew from everyo