you may get about
again, though it may be a long time first."

"Does he?--oh, papa!" and the colour spread over her face, as she
squeezed his hand very fast.

"He has known the use of the limbs return almost suddenly after even a
year or two," and Dr. May gave her the grounds of the opinion, and an
account of other like cases, which he said had convinced him, "though,
my poor child," he said, "I feared the harm I had done you was
irremediable, but thanks--" He turned away his face, and the clasp of
their hands spoke the rest.

Presently he told Margaret that she was no longer to be kept prostrate,
but she was to do exactly as was most comfortable to her, avoiding
nothing but fatigue. She might be lifted to the sofa the next day, and
if that agreed with her, she might be carried downstairs.

This, in itself, after she had been confined to her bed for three
months, was a release from captivity, and all the brothers and sisters
rejoiced as if she was actually on her feet again. Richard betook
himself to constructing a reading-frame for the sofa; Harry tormented
Miss Winter by insisting on a holiday for the others, and gained the
day by an appeal to his father; then declared he should go and tell Mr.
Wilmot the good news; and Norman, quite enlivened, took up his hat, and
said he would come too.

In all his joy, however, Dr. May could not cease bewailing the
alteration in his old friend, and spent half the evening in telling
Margaret how different he had once been, in terms little less measured
than Ethel's: "I never saw such a change. Mat Fleet was one of the most
warm, open-hearted fellows in the world, up to anything. I can hardly
believe he is the same--turned into a mere machine, with a moving spring
of self-interest! I don't believe he cares a rush for any living thing!
Except for your sake, Margaret, I wish I had never seen him again, and
only remembered him as he was at Edinburgh, as I remembered dear old
Spencer. It is a grievous thing! Ruined entirely! No doubt that London
life must be trying--the constant change and bewilderment of patients
preventing much individual care and interest. It must be very hardening.
No family ties either, nothing to look to but pushing his way. Yes!
there's great excuse for poor Mat. I never knew fully till now the
blessing it was that your dear mother was willing to take me so early,
and that this place was open to me with all its home connections and
interests. I am glad I ne