The good-natured offer being accepted with thanks , the changes were made , and , leaving him behind , the two boats went gayly up the river . He really did not care what he did , so sat in Grif 's boat awhile watching the red sky , the shining stream , and the low green meadows , where the blackbirds were singing as if they too had met their little sweethearts and were happy . Jack remembered that quiet half-hour long afterward , because what followed seemed to impress it on his memory . As he sat enjoying the scene , he very naturally thought about Ed ; for the face of the sister whom he saw was very anxious , and the word `` fever '' recalled the hard times when Frank was ill , particularly the night it was thought the boy would not live till dawn , and Jack cried himself to sleep , wondering how he ever could get on without his brother . Ed was almost as dear to him , and the thought that he was suffering destroyed Jack 's pleasure for a little while . But , fortunately , young people do not know how to be anxious very long , so our boy soon cheered up , thinking about the late match between the Stars and the Lincolns , and after a good rest went whistling home , with a handful of mint for Mrs. Pecq , and played games with Jill as merrily as if there was no such thing as care in the world . Next day Ed was worse , and for a week the answer was the same , when Jack crept to the back door with his eager question . Others came also , for the dear boy lying upstairs had friends everywhere , and older neighbors thought of him even more anxiously and tenderly than his mates . It was not fever , but some swifter trouble , for when Saturday night came , Ed had gone home to a longer and more peaceful Sabbath than any he had ever known in this world . Jack had been there in the afternoon , and a kind message had come down to him that his friend was not suffering so much , and he had gone away , hoping , in his boyish ignorance , that all danger was over . An hour later he was reading in the parlor , having no heart for play , when Frank came in with a look upon his face which would have prepared Jack for the news if he had seen it . But he did not look up , and Frank found it so hard to speak , that he lingered a moment at the piano , as he often did when he came home . It stood open , and on the rack was the `` Jolly Brothers ' Galop , '' which he had been learning to play with Ed . Big boy as he was , the sudden thought that never again would they sit shoulder to shoulder , thundering the marches or singing the songs both liked so well , made his eyes fill as he laid away the music , and shut the instrument , feeling as if he never wanted to touch it again . Then he went and sat down beside Jack with an arm round his neck , trying to steady his voice by a natural question before he told the heavy news . `` What are you reading , Jacky ? '' The unusual caress , the very gentle tone , made Jack look up , and the minute he saw Frank 's face he knew the truth . `` Is Ed -- ? '' he could not say the hard word , and Frank could only answer by a nod as he winked fast , for the tears would come . Jack said no more , but as the book dropped from his knee he hid his face in the sofa-pillow and lay quite still , not crying , but trying to make it seem true that his dear Ed had gone away for ever .
He could not do it , and presently turned his head a little to say , in a despairing XXXXX , -- `` I do n't see what I shall do without him ! ''
Stars caress face minute question sister sweethearts tone word world