Going out to skate with some other boys the week before Christmas, on a pond which was not so securely frozen as it looked, the ice gave way; and though no one was drowned, the whole party had a drenching, and were thoroughly chilled.

None of the others minded it much, but the exposure had a serious effect on Phil.

He caught a bad cold which rapidly increased into pneumonia; and Christmas Day, usually such a bright one in the Carr household, was overshadowed by anxious forebodings, for Phil was seriously ill, and the doctor felt by no means sure how things would turn with him.

The sisters nursed him devotedly, and by March he was out again; but he did not get _well_ or lose the persistent little cough, which kept him thin and weak.

Dr.Carr tried this remedy and that, but nothing seemed to do much good; and Katy thought that her father looked graver and more anxious every time that he tested Phil's temperature or listened at his chest.
"It's not serious yet," he told her in private; "but I don't like the look of things.