-desk, upon which were
the two silver-framed portraits. And there--between the portraits--was
the flower-embossed calendar, with pencil-marks checking off each figure
in the lines that led up to her birthday.

She sighed--a deep, tremulous sigh of content.

CHAPTER XVI

She moved her head from side to side slowly. And felt the cool touch of
the pillow against either cheek. Then she tried to lift her arms; but
found that one hand was still in a big grasp, the other in a clasp that
was softer.

Little by little, and with effort, she opened her gray eyes. In the
dimness she could see, to her left, scarcely more than an outline of a
dark-clad figure, stooped and watchful; of that other slender figure
opposite. After all the fatigue and worry of the night, her father and
mother were with her yet! And someone was standing at the foot of her
bed, leaning and looking down at her. That was the Doctor.

She lay very still. This was a novel experience, this having both
father and mother in the nursery at the same time--and plainly in no
haste to depart! The heaviness of deep sleep was gradually leaving her.
Yet she forbore to speak; and as each moment went she dreaded the
passing of it, lest her wonderful new happiness come to an end.

Presently she ventured a look around--at the pink-tinted ceiling, with
its cluster of full-blown plaster roses out of which branched the
chandelier; at the walls of soft rose, met here and there by the deeper
rose of the brocade hangings; at the plushy rug, the piano, the large
table--now scattered with an unusual assortment of bottles and glasses;
at the dresser, crystal-topped and strewn daintily, the deep upholstered
chair, and the long cushioned seat across the front window, over which,
strangely enough, no dome-topped cage was swinging.

And there was the tall toy-case. The shelves of it were unchanged. On
that one below the line of prettily clad dolls were the toys she favored
most--the black-and-red top, the handsome soldier in the scarlet coat,
the jointed snake beside its pipe-like box, and the somersault man,
poised heels over head. Beyond these, ranged in a buff row, were the six
small ducks acquired at Easter. She gave each plaything a keen glance.
They reminded her vividly of the long busy night just past!

Her small nose wrinkled in a quizzical smile.

At that the three waiting figures stirred.

Her look came back to them, to rest first upon her father's face, noting