Jack remembered that quiet half-hour long afterward,because what followed seemed to impress it on his memory.As he sat enjoying the scene,he very naturally thought about Ed;for the face of the sister whom he saw was very anxious,and the word "fever"recalled the hard times when Frank was ill,particularly the night it was thought the boy would not live till dawn,and Jack cried himself to sleep,wondering how he ever could get on without his brother.Ed was almost as dear to him,and the thought that he was suffering destroyed Jack's pleasure for a little while.But,fortunately,young people do not know how to be anxious very long,so our boy soon cheered up,thinking about the late match between the Stars and the Lincoins,and after a good rest went whistling home,with a handful of mint for Mrs.Pecq,and played games with Jill as merrily as if there was no such thing as care in the world.
Next day Ed was worse,and for a week the answer was the same,when Jack crept to the back door with his eager question.
Others came also,for the dear boy lying upstairs had friends everywhere,and older neighbors thought of him even more anxiously and tenderly than his mates.It was not fever,but some swifter trouble,for when Saturday night came,Ed had gone home to a longer and more peaceful Sabbath than any he had ever known in this world.
Jack had been there in the afternoon,and a kind message had come down to him that his friend was not suffering so much,and he had gone away,hoping,in his boyish ignorance,that all danger was over.An hour later he was reading in the parlor,having no heart for play,when Frank came in with a look upon his face which would have prepared Jack for the news if he had seen it.But he did not look up,and Frank found it so hard to speak,that he lingered a moment at the piano,as he often did when he came home.It stood open,and on the rack was the "Jolly Brothers' Galop,"which he had been learning to play with Ed.Big boy as he was,the sudden thought that never again would they sit shoulder to shoulder,thundering the marches or singing the songs both liked so well,made his eyes fill as he laid away the music,and shut the instrument,feeling as if he never wanted to touch it again.Then he went and sat down beside Jack with an arm round his neck,trying to steady his voice by a natural question before he told the heavy news.
"What are you reading,Jacky?"
The unusual caress,the very gentle tone,made Jack look up,and the minute he saw Frank's face he knew the truth.
"Is Ed--?"he could not say the hard word,and Frank could only answer by a nod as he winked fast,for the tears would come.Jack said no more,but as the book dropped from his knee he hid his face in the sofa-pillow and lay quite still,not crying,but trying to make it seem true that his dear Ed had gone away for ever.He could not do it,and presently turned his head a little to say,in a despairing tone,"I don't see what I shall do without him!""I know it's hard for you.It is for all of us.""You've got Gus,but now I haven't anybody.Ed was always so good to me!"and with the name so many tender recollections came,that poor Jack broke down in spite of his manful attempts to smother the sobs in the red pillow.
There was an unconscious reproach in the words,Frank thought;for he was not as gentle as Ed,and he did not wonder that Jack loved and mourned for the lost friend like a brother.
"You've got me.I'll be good to you;cry if you want to,I don't mind.
There was such a sympathetic choke in Frank's voice that Jack felt comforted at once,and when he had had his cry out,which was very soon,he let Frank pull him up with a bear-like but affectionate hug,and sat leaning on him as they talked about their loss,both feeling that there might have been a greater one,and resolving to love one another very much hereafter.
Mrs.Minot often called Frank the "father-boy,"because he was now the head of the house,and a sober,reliable fellow for his years.Usually he did not show much affection except to her,for,as he once said,"I shall never be too old to kiss my mother,"and she often wished that he had a little sister,to bring out the softer side of his character.He domineered over Jack and laughed at his affectionate little ways,but now when trouble came,he was as kind and patient as a girl;and when Mamma came in,having heard the news,she found her "father-boy"comforting his brother so well that she slipped away without a word,leaving them to learn one of the sweet lessons sorrow teaches--to lean on one another,and let each trial bring them closer together.
It is often said that there should be no death or grief in children's stories.It is not wise to dwell on the dark and sad side of these things;but they have also a bright and lovely side,and since even the youngest,dearest,and most guarded child cannot escape some knowledge of the great mystery,is it not well to teach them in simple,cheerful ways that affection sweetens sorrow,and a lovely life can make death beautiful?I think so,therefore try to tell the last scene in the history of a boy who really lived and really left behind him a memory so precious that it will not be soon forgotten by those who knew and loved him.For the influence of this short life was felt by many,and even this brief record of it may do for other children what the reality did for those who still lay flowers on his grave,and try to be "as good as Eddy.
