with a smile of pleasure at seeing a familiar face bent over him . ` Glad he went , and I wo n't scold any more . Now , what shall we put in the box for Dan ? ' And Mrs Jo worked off her impatience to get hold of the invalid by sending comforts enough for a hospital . Cheering accounts soon began to come , and at length Dan was pronounced able to travel , but seemed in no haste to go home , though never tired of hearing his nurses talk of it . ` Dan is strangely altered , ' wrote Laurie to Jo ; ` not by this illness alone , but by something which has evidently gone before . I do n't know what , and leave you to ask ; but from his ravings when delirious I fear he has been in some serious trouble the past year . He seems ten years older , but improved , quieter , and so grateful to us . It is pathetic to see the hunger in his eyes as they rest on Ted , as if he could n't see enough of him . He says Kansas was a failure , but ca n't talk much ; so I bide my time . The people here love him very much , and he cares for that sort of thing now ; used to scorn any show of emotion , you know ; now he wants everyone to think well of him , and ca n't do enough to win affection and respect . I may be all wrong . You will soon find out . Ted is in clover , and the trip has done him a world of good . Let me take him to Europe when we go ? Apron-strings do n't agree with him any better than they did with me when I proposed to run away to Washington with you some century ago . Are n't you sorry you did n't ? ' This private letter set Mrs Jo 's lively fancy in a ferment , and she imagined every known crime , affliction , and complication which could possibly have befallen Dan . He was too feeble to be worried with questions now , but she promised herself most interesting revelations when she got him safe at home ; for the ` firebrand ' was her most interesting boy . She begged him to come , and spent more time in composing a letter that should bring him , than she did over the most thrilling episodes in her ` works ' .
No one but Dan saw the letter ; but it did bring him , and one November day Mr Laurie helped a feeble man out of a carriage at the door of Plumfield , and Mother Bhaer received the wanderer like a recovered son ; while XXXXX , in a disreputable-looking hat and an astonishing pair of boots , performed a sort of war-dance round the interesting group .
Apron-strings Dan Europe Jo Kansas Ted Washington firebrand ravings years