The Birth of Venus

The Birth of Venus
already I love the bold-tongued little rascal. How soldierlike he faced the smutty rabble and flung back his high defiance! And what a comely, sweet and gentle face he hath, now that sleep hath conjured away its troubles and its griefs. I will teach him, I will cure his malady; yea, I will be his elder brother, and care for him and watch over him; and who so would shame him or do him hurt, may order his shroud, for though I be burnt for it he shall need it!"
The Birth of Venus
He bent over the boy and contemplated him with kind and pitying interest, tapping the young cheek tenderly and smoothing back the tangled curls with his great brown hand. A slight shiver passed over the boy's form. Hendon muttered:
"See, now, how like a man it was to let him lie here uncovered and fill his body with deadly rheums. Now what shall I do? "Twill wake him to take him up and put him within the bed, and he sorely needeth sleep."
The Birth of Venus