`` Would n't it be fun to keep it till he gives back Jack 's stamps ? It would plague him so if it was a note , and I do believe it is , for compo 's do n't begin with two words on one side . I 'll get it , and Jack and I will plan some way to pay him off , cross thing ! '' Forgetting her promise not to stir , also how dishonorable it was to read other people 's letters , Jill caught up the long-handled hook , often in use now , and tried to pull the paper nearer . It would not come at once , for a seam in the carpet held it , and Jill feared to tear or crumple it if she was not very careful . The hook was rather heavy and long for her to manage , and Jack usually did the fishing , so she was not very skilful ; and just as she was giving a particularly quick jerk , she lost her balance , fell off the sofa , and dropped the pole with a bang . `` Oh , my back ! '' was all she could think or say as she felt the jar all through her little body , and a corresponding fear in her guilty little mind that someone would come and find out the double mischief she had been at . For a moment she lay quite still to recover from the shock , then as the pain passed she began to wonder how she should get back , and looked about her to see if she could do it alone . She thought she could , as the sofa was near and she had improved so much that she could sit up a little if the doctor would have let her . She was gathering herself together for the effort , when , within arm 's reach now , she saw the tempting paper , and seized it with glee , for in spite of her predicament she did want to tease Frank . A glance showed that it was not the composition nor a note , but the beginning of a letter from Mrs. Minot to her sister , and Jill was about to lay it down when her own name caught her eye , and she could not resist reading it . Hard words to write of one so young , doubly hard to read , and impossible to forget . `` Dear Lizzie , -- Jack continues to do very well , and will soon be up again . But we begin to fear that the little girl is permanently injured in the back . She is here , and we do our best for her ; but I never look at her without thinking of Lucinda Snow , who , you remember , was bedridden for twenty years , owing to a fall at fifteen . Poor little Janey does not know yet , and I hope '' -- There it ended , and `` poor little Janey 's '' punishment for disobedience began that instant . She thought she was getting well because she did not suffer all the time , and every one spoke cheerfully about `` by and by . '' Now she knew the truth , and shut her eyes with a shiver as she said , low , to herself , -- `` Twenty years ! I could n't bear it ; oh , I could n't bear it ! ''
A very miserable Jill XXXXX on the floor , and for a while did not care who came and found her ; then the last words of the letter -- `` I hope '' -- seemed to shine across the blackness of the dreadful `` twenty years '' and cheer her up a bit , for despair never lives long in young hearts , and Jill was a brave child .
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