``What the deuce can have possessed him? Ah,
well. High-spirited, and disappointed in some
follies which that Tom Hillary has put into his
head. But his is a case for anodynes, and shall
be treated accordingly.''
While the Doctor formed this good-natured resolution,
young Middlemas rushed to Nurse Jamiesons
apartment, where poor Menie, to whom his
presence always gave holyday feelings, hastened
to exhibit, for his admiration, a new doll, of which
she had made the acquisition. No one, generally,
was more interested in Menie's amusements than
Richard; but at present Richard, like his celebrated
namesake, was not i'the vein. He threw
of the little damsel so carelessly, almost so rudely
that the doll flew out of Menie's hand, fell on
the hearth-stone, and broke its waxen face. The
rudeness drew from Nurse Jamieson a rebuke,
even although the culprit was her darling.
``Hout awa,' Richard---that wasna like yoursell,
to guide Miss Menie that gate.---Haud your
tongue, Miss Menie, and I'll soon mend the baby's
face.''
But if Menie cried, she did not cry for the doll;
and while the tears flowed silently down her cheeks,
she sat looking at Dick Middlemas with a childish
face of fear, sorrow, and wonder.
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