r, "that's something that
couldn't ever possibly happen, you know. Oh, Betty, dear, please don't
talk about it, because you see it's impossible."

Suddenly Betty laid her face down beside her brother's on the pillow,
with a sob.

"Very, very wonderful things do happen sometimes," she whispered,
"things that are almost as wonderful as fairy stories. If you ever could
be made to walk, Jack, wouldn't you be the very happiest boy in the
whole world?"

"Of course I should," said Jack with decision, "if it only could happen,
but then you know, it couldn't."

Betty said no more, but hugged Jack tight, and kissed him a great many
times, and then she went away to the kitchen to help Miss Clark get
dinner.

CHAPTER VIII

THE DOCTOR'S VERDICT

Miss Clark's prediction proved correct, and in a few days Mrs. Randall
was able to sit up, and to be helped into the sunny little parlor, where
she sat by Jack's sofa, looking happier and more at rest than the
children had ever seen her look before. After that she improved so
rapidly that even Dr. Bell was surprised, and declared he had never seen
a woman with a finer constitution. At the end of another week Miss Clark
went away to another case, and Mrs. Flynn, the good-natured Irishwoman
who did the Randalls' washing, was engaged to come in by the day. So the
bright spring days came and went, and when the sun was brightest and the
air warmest, Jack's pale face would often look a little wistful, but
nothing more was said about drives in the park, and Betty, still waiting
patiently for leave to reveal her secret, began to wonder if after all
Mrs. Hamilton had been mistaken, or Dr. Bell had changed his mind.

One Saturday morning in May, Winifred appeared shortly after breakfast,
looking pleased and excited, and bringing an invitation for Betty.

"It's from Lulu Bell," she explained, when Betty, quite thrilled at the
prospect, had brought the visitor into the parlor to tell the news to
her mother and Jack. "Lulu asked Gertie Rossiter and me to lunch with
her and go to the circus to-day, but Gertie has the measles, so Lulu
telephoned, and asked me to bring Betty instead. Mother says she hopes
you'll let Betty go, Mrs. Randall, because she's sure Mrs. Bell would
like to have her very much."

Mrs. Randall looked pleased.

"I am sure Betty would enjoy it," she said; "you would like to go,
wouldn't you, dear?"

Betty hesitated, and glanced a little uneasily at Jack.

"I sh