CHAPTER XIV 122
" Is Colin a hunchback?" Mary asked. " He didn ' t look like one."
" He isn ' t yet," said Martha. " But he began all wrong. Mother said that there was enough trouble and raging in th ' house to set any child wrong. They was afraid his back was weak an ' they ' ve always been takin ' care of it--keepin ' him lyin ' down and not lettin ' him walk. Once they made him wear a brace but he fretted so he was downright ill. Then a big doctor came to see him an ' made them take it off. He talked to th ' other doctor quite rough--in a polite way. He said there ' d been too much medicine and too much lettin ' him have his own way."
" I think he ' s a very spoiled boy," said Mary.
" He ' s th ' worst young nowt as ever was!" said Martha. " I won ' t say as he hasn ' t been ill a good bit. He ' s had coughs an ' colds that ' s nearly killed him two or three times. Once he had rheumatic fever an ' once he had typhoid. Eh! Mrs. Medlock did get a fright then. He ' d been out of his head an ' she was talkin ' to th ' nurse, thinkin ' he didn ' t know nothin ', an ' she said, ' He ' ll die this time sure enough, an ' best thing for him an ' for everybody.' An ' she looked at him an ' there he was with his big eyes open, starin ' at her as sensible as she was herself. She didn ' t know what ' d happen but he just stared at her an ' says, ' You give me some water an ' stop talkin '.'"
" Do you think he will die?" asked Mary.
" Mother says there ' s no reason why any child should live that gets no fresh air an ' doesn ' t do nothin ' but lie on his back an ' read picture-books an ' take medicine. He ' s weak and hates th ' trouble o ' bein ' taken out o ' doors, an ' he gets cold so easy he says it makes him ill."
Mary sat and looked at the fire.
" I wonder," she said slowly, " if it would not do him good to go out into a garden and watch things growing. It did me good."