Johan and Anna were driven nearly to distraction by the terrible commotion created by Selma's illness.
That one may well understand. Johan was then seven years of age, and learning to read under the tutelage of Herr Tyberg. He was a boy, of course, and almost regarded as the eldest child; though, to be sure, he had an elder brother. But the latter mostly stayed with his maternal grandparents at Filipstad, and was hardly ever at home. And now, all at once, it seemed that nobody had a thought for him—Johan—but only for the littlest girl.
As for Anna—she was five, and she could already both sew and crochet. She was pretty to look at, too, and the elder daughter, and mamma's pet. But what was the good of all that since Selma had gone and got sick?
The grown-ups, you see, were so touched by the sight of a child who could not walk. "How will the poor little thing go through life?" they would sigh." She'll have to stay in the one place always, and never see anything of the world." "She'll never get
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