As John became familiar with the altered life of a household once happy
and in pleasant relation to the outer world, he felt as Leila had done
the depressing influence of a home in which the caprices of an invalid
life were constantly to be considered. Meanwhile his own spare figure
gained flesh, and on one sunny morning--he long remembered it--he was
rather suddenly free from pain, and with only the stiff elbow was, as
McGregor described it, "discharged cured."
For some time he had been feeling that in bodily vigour and sense of
being his normal self he had been rapidly gaining ground. The relief from
the thraldom of pain brought a sudden uplift of spirits and a feeling of
having been born anew into an inheritance of renewed strength and of
senses sharpened beyond what he had ever known. A certain activity of
happiness like a bodily springtime comes with such a convalescence.
Ceasing to feel the despotism of self-attention, he began to recover his
natural good sense and to watch with more care his uncle's state, his
aunt's want of consideration for any one but James Penhallow, and the
effect upon Leila of this abnormal existence. He began to understand that
to surely win this sad girl-heart there must be a patient siege, and
above all something done for the master of Grey Pine.
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