up into the softened light here and there, to be kissed as the face went by—for these little patients are very loving—and would then submit itself to be composed to rest again. The mite with the broken leg was restless, and moaned; but after a while turned his face towards Johnny’s bed, to fortify himself with a view of the ark, and fell asleep. Over most of the beds, the toys were yet grouped as the children had left them when they last laid themselves down, and, in their innocent grotesqueness and incongruity, they might have stood for the children’s dreams.
The doctor came in too, to see how it fared with Johnny. And he and Rokesmith stood together, looking down with compassion on him.
“What is it, Johnny?” Rokesmith was the questioner, and put an arm round the poor baby as he made a struggle.
“Him!” said the little fellow. “Those!”
The doctor was quick to understand children, and, taking the horse, the ark, the yellow bird, and the man in the Guards, from Johnny’s bed, softly placed them on that of his next neighbour, the mite with the broken leg.
With a weary and yet a pleased smile, and with an action as if he stretched his little figure out to rest, the child heaved his body on the sustaining arm, and seeking Rokesmith’s face with his lips, said:
“A kiss for the boofer lady.”
Having now bequeathed all he had to dispose of, and arranged his affairs in this world, Johnny, thus speaking, left it.