Take a sup of the good wine Mrs. Minot sent , for you are as cold as a clod , and it breaks my heart to see my Janey so . '' `` I ca n't go to sleep ; I do n't see how Jack 's mother could send me anything when I 've half killed him . I want to be cold and ache and have horrid things done to me . Oh , if I ever get out of this bed I 'll be the best girl in the world , to pay for this . See if I ai n't ! '' and Jill gave such a decided nod that her tears flew all about the pillow like a shower . `` You 'd better begin at once , for you wo n't get out of that bed for a long while , I 'm afraid , my lamb , '' sighed her mother , unable to conceal the anxiety that lay so heavy on her heart . `` Am I hurt badly , Mammy ? '' `` I fear it , lass . '' `` I 'm glad of it ; I ought to be worse than Jack , and I hope I am . I 'll bear it well , and be good right away . Sing , Mammy , and I 'll try to go to sleep to please you . '' Jill shut her eyes with sudden and unusual meekness , and before her mother had crooned half a dozen verses of an old ballad , the little black head lay still upon the pillow , and repentant Jill was fast asleep with a red mitten in her hand . Mrs. Pecq was an Englishwoman who had left Montreal at the death of her husband , a French Canadian , and had come to live in the tiny cottage which stood near Mrs. Minot 's big house , separated only by an arbor-vitae hedge . A sad , silent person , who had seen better days , but said nothing about them , and earned her bread by sewing , nursing , work in the factory , or anything that came in her way , being anxious to educate her little girl . Now , as she sat beside the bed in the small , poor room , that hope almost died within her , for here was the child laid up for months , probably , and the one ambition and pleasure of the solitary woman 's life was to see Janey Pecq 's name over all the high marks in the school-reports she proudly brought home . `` She 'll win through , please Heaven , and I 'll see my lass a gentlewoman yet , thanks to the good friend in yonder , who will never let her want for care , '' thought the poor soul , looking out into the gloom where a long ray of light streamed from the great house warm and comfortable upon the cottage , like the spirit of kindness which made the inmates friends and neighbors . Meantime , that other mother sat by her boy 's bed as anxious but with better hope , for Mrs. Minot made trouble sweet and helpful by the way in which she bore it ; and her boys were learning of her how to find silver linings to the clouds that must come into the bluest skies . Jack lay wide awake , with hot cheeks , and throbbing head , and all sorts of queer sensations in the broken leg . The soothing potion he had taken did not affect him yet , and he tried to beguile the weary time by wondering who came and went below .
Gentle rings at the front door , and mysterious tappings at the back , had been going on all the evening ; for the report of the accident had grown astonishingly in its travels , and at eight o'clock the general belief was that Jack had broken both legs , fractured his skull , and lay at the point of death , while XXXXX had dislocated one shoulder , and was bruised black and blue from top to toe .
Canadian Jill Montreal days gentlewoman linings months potion right school-reports