Poor Will!" "Your father caught the scarlet fever from him, while he was attending him, and was very ill after he came back.

He is quite well again now; but if I must tell you the truth, the disease has affected his eyes.
You know how weak they always were, and how much worse they have grown of late years; and the doctors are afraid that he has little chance of recovering the sight, at least of the left eye." "Recovering?
He's blind, then." And Tom set his teeth more tightly than ever.

He felt a sob rise in his throat, but choked it down, shaking his head like an impatient bull.
"Wait a bit, Tom," said he to himself, "before you have it out with Dame Fortune.

There's more behind, I'll warrant.

News like this lies in pockets, and not in single nuggets." And he read on-- "And--for it is better you should know all--something has happened to the railroad in which he had invested so much.