d better get Congo to fix
you up for the night. It is too wet for your rheumatism," and she ran
singing upstairs to where the general was dozing in the sitting-room.
"Wake up, dad! it's going to clear!"

The general started heavily from his sleep. There was a dazed look in
his eyes.

"Clear?" he asked doubtfully, "has it been raining?"

Eugenia shook him into consciousness.

"Raining for three whole days, and I believe you've slept through it.
Now the clouds are breaking."

"What is it the Bible says about 'the winter of our discontent'?--that's
what it is."

"Not the Bible, dear--Shakespeare."

"It's the same thing," retorted the general testily. His speech came
thickly as if he held a pebble in his mouth, and the swollen veins in
his face were livid.

Eugenia bent over him in sudden uneasiness. "Aren't you well, papa?" she
asked. "Is anything the matter?"

The general laughed and pinched her cheek.

"Never better in my life," he declared, "but I'll have to be getting
new glasses. These things aren't worth a cent. Find them, Eugie."

Eugenia picked them up, wiped them on his silk handkerchief, and put
them on his nose.

"You've slept too long," she said. "Come and take a walk in the hall."

She dragged him from his chair, and he yielded under protest.

"You forget that two hundred pounds can't skip about like fifty," he
complained.

But he followed her to the long hall, and they paced slowly up and down
in the afternoon shadows. At the end of ten minutes the general declared
that he felt so well he would go back to his chair.

"I'll get the 'Southern Planter' and read to you," said Eugenia. "Don't
go to sleep."

She ran lightly upstairs and, coming down in a moment, called him. He
did not answer and she called again.

The sitting-room was in dusk, and, as she entered, the firelight showed
the huge body of the general lying upon the hearth rug. A sound of heavy
snoring filled the room.

She flung herself beside him, lifting the great head upon her lap; but
before she had cried out Miss Chris was at her elbow.

"Hush, Eugie," she said quickly, though the girl had not spoken. "Send
Sampson for Dr. Bright, and tell Delphy to bring pillows. Give him to
me."

Her voice was firm, and there was no tremor in her large, helpful hands.

When Eugenia returned, the general was still lying upon the hearth rug,
his head supported by pillows. Miss Chris had opened one of the western
windows, and a cool,