Was it not he
who had picked him up and carried him to the hospital? And had not
this same big schoolboy bought the beautiful wheel-chair that
enabled one to travel about the house and yard almost as readily as
if on foot? In addition to all this was it not Van who came often to
the house, never forgetting to bring in his pocket some toy or
picture-book? Small things they often were--these gifts that meant
so much to the child--often things of very slight money value; but
to the invalid whose long, tedious days of convalescence were
stretches of monotony the tiny presents seemed treasures from an
enchanted land.
Tim was now at home in the shabby cottage on the outskirts of
Colversham where he lived with his mother and four sisters. Poor as
the place was it was spotlessly neat and Tim's family were
spotlessly tidy too. Mrs. McGrew, who supported her household by
doing washing for some of the families in the town, might have had
a permanent and much more lucrative position elsewhere had it not been
for leaving her five little ones; as it was, she clung to her
children, struggling to meet her living expenses as best she could.
It had been a sore grief to her when Tim, her only boy and the baby
of the home, had become crippled. Perhaps she sensed more clearly
than did the lad the full seriousness of the calamity. As for Tim,
he accepted it in childish fashion, hopefully ignoring the problems
of the future.
To Van Blake Mrs. McGrew was all gratitude.
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