If _he_ did not help, who
would?
He stood up before the mirror, stretching himself to his full
height,--a tall, broad-shouldered young fellow.
"Many a boy younger than I takes care of himself, and so can I, and of
my mother too," and wide awake now he sat down to think.
On the table lay a note from Mrs. Howard, which he had only half read.
He took it up now, and the warm affection it expressed, and the
confidence that he would bear his trouble bravely, stirred his
manliness--he would not disappoint her. "I have been a coward," he
said, and with the same prompt decision which had surprised his
companions on that Halloween so long ago he turned his back on his
pride and useless regrets and became a man. When his father's brother
arrived that night Jim met him, saw to his comfort, explained all he
knew about the trouble, and asked such intelligent questions, with
such an evident determination to help himself, that his uncle was
greatly pleased.
There were weeks of anxious nursing while Mr. Carter hung between life
and death, and his son, strong and gentle, made himself most useful in
the sick-room. When at last the once sturdy, ambitious man struggled
back to life he was only the wreck of what he had been.
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