nk I have never lacked love for Bertie, though I may not always
have given expression to my feelings. If at times I have deplored his
reckless waywardness, and expostulated with him, genuine affection
prompted me; but I promise you now, that I will do all a sister
possibly can for a brother. Trust me, mother; and rest in the assurance
that his welfare shall be more to me than my own; that should the
necessity arise, I will stand between him and trouble. Banish all
depressing forebodings. When you are strong and well, and when I paint
my great picture, we will buy a pretty cottage among the lilacs and
roses, where birds sing all day long, where cattle pasture in clover
nooks; and then Bertie, your darling, shall never leave you again."

"I do trust you, for your promise means more than oath and vows from
other people, and if occasion demand, I know you will guard my Bertie,
my high-strung, passionate, beautiful boy! Your pretty cottage? Ah,
child! when shall we dwell in Spain?"

"Some day, some day; only be hopeful, and let me find you better when I
return. Sleep, and dream of our pretty cottage. I must hurry away with
my pictures, for this is pay day."

Tying the strings of her hat under one ear, and covering her face with
a blue veil, Beryl took a pasteboard box from a table, on which lay
brushes and paints, and leaving the door a-jar, went down the narrow
stairs.

At the window of a small hall on the next floor, a woman sat before her
sewing-machine, bending so close to her work that she did not see the
tall form, which paused before her, until a hand was laid on the steel
plate.

"Mrs. Emmet, will you please be so good as to go up after a while, and
see if mother needs anything?"

"Certainly, Miss, if I am here, but I have some sewing to carry home
this afternoon."

"I shall not be absent more than two hours. To-night I am going South,
to attend to some business; and mother tells me you have promised to
wait upon her, and allow your daughter Maggie to sleep on a pallet by
her bed, while I am gone. I cannot tell you how grateful I shall be for
any kindness you may show her, and I wish you would send the baby often
to her room, as he is so sweet and cunning, and his merry ways amuse
her."

"Yes, I will do all I can. We poor folks who have none of this world's
goods, ought to be rich at least in sympathy and pity for each other's
suffering, for it is about all we have to share. Don't you worry and
fret, for I