第20章

THE RAINBOW CHILDREN.

IT was Sunday afternoon, and everything was very still.

Teddy had been allowed to sit up that morning for the first time since he had been ill.He had put on the little blue dressing-gown that mamma had made for him, and she was so funny about getting him into it, and wheeling the chair over to the window, that Teddy had laughed and laughed.

After that he sat at the window looking out and watching the chickens in the yard below, and the people going along the street.

Teddy's mamma was going to church, but his father stayed home with the little boy, and told him stories, and drew pictures with a blue pencil on a writing-pad; pictures of "David Killing Goliath," and of "Daniel in the Lions' Den."Then he drew a picture of the house in the real country where he and mamma and Teddy were going to live some time--a house with a barn, and horses, and cows, and pigs, and a pony that Teddy could ride when he came in to town to school.

The morning flew by so quickly that the little boy was surprised when mamma came back from church, and said it was almost time for luncheon.

She looked at the pictures that papa had drawn, and smiled when Teddy told her about them; but very soon she began to talk seriously with papa.She told him she had stopped in at Mrs.McFinney's on her way home, and that she had been wondering whether something couldn't be done for little Ellen McFinney's lameness.She felt so sorry for her.

Papa said the child ought to be sent to a hospital, and he thought that if that were done she could be cured.Mamma said that she thought so too; but that someone had been talking to little Ellen, and frightened her so that she cried whenever the hospital was talked of, and her mother would not send her unless she felt willing to go.

Then mamma spoke of how lonely it must be for the little girl there in the house by herself all the day, while her mother was out at work, with so little to amuse her.

"Mamma," said Teddy, "why can't little Ellen have some of my books to amuse her--some I had when I was sick? Because, you know, I'm well now, and don't need them any more.""That's a very good idea," said mamma, looking pleased."You may choose the ones you will give her, and perhaps papa will leave them with her when he goes out for a walk this afternoon.""Well," cried Teddy, eagerly, "I think I'll give her the Ali Baba book and Robinson Crusoe, and I think, maybe, I'll give her Little Golden Locks too."Mamma brought the books, and they tied them up in a neat package, and just as they finished there was a little rattle of china outside the door, and in came Hannah with Teddy's luncheon, and a great yellow orange that Aunt Pauline had sent him.

After luncheon mamma made Teddy lie down for a while to rest.The Venetian shutters were drawn, so that all the room was dimly green, and then mamma and papa went out and left him alone.

Teddy lay there for what seemed to him a long time.The house was very still, and the afternoon sun shone in through the slats of the shutters in golden chinks and lines.

Teddy wondered where mamma was, and why she didn't come back, for it seemed to him that he had been alone almost all the afternoon, though really it had not been for long.

Presently he heard someone humming cheerfully back of the counterpane hill, and as soon as he heard it he felt sure that the Counterpane Fairy must be coming.

Sure enough in a few minutes she appeared at the top and stood looking down at him with a pleasant smile."Oh, Mrs.Fairy, I knew that was you!" cried Teddy.

"Did you?" said the fairy, sitting down on top of his knees."And then did you think, 'Now I shall see another story'?""Oh, yes!" cried Teddy, eagerly.'I hoped you would show me one.""Then I suppose I'll have to," said the fairy."And what square shall it be this time?""There's one close by you," said Teddy, "and it's most every color, like a rainbow.Will you show me that story?""Yes," said the fairy, "I'll show you that.Now fix your eyes on it."Then she began to count.

"FORTY-NINE!" she cried.

* * * * * * * *

Teddy and little Ellen McFinney were running along, hand in hand, over a rainbow that stretched across the shining sky like a bridge.The clouds above them shone like opals, and far, far below was the green world, with shining rivers, and houses that looked no larger than walnuts.

"Can't we run fast?" said Teddy."I think we go as fast as an express train; don't you, Ellen?""I know a faster way to go than this," said the little girl.

"Do you?"

"Yes, I do.Let go of my hand, and I'll show you." She drew her hand away from Teddy, and very slowly she leaned back against the air as though it were a pillow, then she gave herself a little push with her feet, and away she floated so lightly and easily that Teddy could hardly keep up with her.

"Oh, Ellen!" cried Teddy, "will you teach me to do that?""Yes, I will," said Ellen.So she stood up and showed Teddy how to take a long breath, and how to push himself, and then he found he could do it quite well, and when Ellen began to float too, they could go along together hand in hand just as they had before.

Suddenly a thought crossed Teddy's mind, and he cried, "Why, Ellen, Ithought you were lame!""So I am," said the little girl.

"But you can run and float."