"I went to see the Doctor, because I am unwilling to start away,
without having asked his advice; and he has prescribed some new
medicine which you will find in this bottle. The directions are marked
on the label. Now I will put things in order, and try my hands on that
refractory bed."

"What did the Doctor say about me?"

"Nothing new; but he is confident that you can be cured in time, if we
will only be patient and obedient. He promised to see you in the
morning."

She stripped the bed of its covering, shook bolster and pillows; turned
over the mattress, and beat it vigorously; then put on fresh sheets,
and adjusted the whole comfortably.

"Now mother, turn your head, and let me comb and brush and braid all
this glossy black satin, to keep it from tangling while I am away. What
a pity you did not dower your daughter with part of it, instead of this
tawny mane of mine, which is a constant affront to my fastidious
artistic instincts. Please keep still a moment."

She unwrapped the tissue paper that covered her flowers, and holding
her hands behind her, stepped in front of the invalid.

"Dear mother, shut your eyes. There--! of what does that remind you?
The pergola--with great amber grape clusters--and white stars of
jasmine shining through the leaves? All the fragrance of Italy sleeps
in the thurible of this Grand-Duke."

"How delicious! Ah, my extravagant child! we cannot afford such
luxuries now. The perfume recalls so vividly the time when Bertie--"

A sob cut short the sentence. Beryl pinned the flowers at her mother's
throat, kissed her cheek, and kneeling before her, crossed her arms on
the invalid's lap, resting there the noble head, with its burnished
crown of reddish bronze braids.

"Mother dear, humor my childish whim. In defiance of my wishes and
judgment, and solely in obedience to your command, I am leaving you for
the first time, on a bitterly painful and humiliating mission.
To-night, let me be indeed your little girl once more. My heart brings
me to your knees, to say my prayers as of yore, and now while I pray,
lay your dear pretty hands on my head. It will seem like a parting
benediction; a veritable Nunc dimmitas."

CHAPTER II.

"I do not want a carriage. If the distance is only a mile and a half, I
can easily walk. After leaving town is there a straight road?"

"Straight as the crow flies, when you have passed the factory, and
cemetery, and turned to the left. There is a l