om, and you will know nothing about it till it is all over."

"I am not frightened," said the child; "but oh, sirs, if somebody's leg
must be cut off, please, please let it be my leg instead of Kate's."
Frances in her eagerness had forgotten her own pain; and had raised
herself in bed, and stretched out her arm towards the doctors.

The elder of the two men came toward her, and bent over her. "My dear
child," he said, "you are doing very well; there is no need to cut off
your leg. And try not to distress yourself about your friend, for only
what is wisest and best is being done for her."

"I will try and be good, and not mind so much, please sir," said
Frances; and then she hid her face in the pillow, and tried to choke
down her sobs.

The doctors moved away at last, and Kate turned a pair of wondering
eyes upon Frances as she said:

"What made you wish to lose your leg instead?"

"Only Kate, because I love you more than I could tell any one. And if
you must lose your leg, please God, I will comfort you for it as much
as ever I can."

"Thank you, dear," said Kate, very much touched,--and after that she
relapsed into silence.

Easter fell very late that year. Good Friday was kept in the hospital
after Kate had lost her leg. There was a service in the ward, and
moreover, the nurse came and sat by Kate's side, and read to her the
fifty-third chapter of Isaiah.

"She doesn't seem to take much notice of reading," the nurse said later
to Mother Agnes, who had come up again to see Kate. They little knew
that it was the first "notice" that Kate had ever taken of anything in
the Bible.

Kate would not talk to-day to Mother Agnes. She answered gently, but
shortly, and could not be drawn into conversation. One of her old fits
of reserve seemed to have taken hold of her.

Mother Agnes was going away, deeply disappointed, when the nurse told
her the story of little Frances wishing to lose her leg for Kate's
sake. And also, how the children had grown to love each other; and
what a dear child Frances was, and how she talked to Kate of everything
that is good.

And then Mother Agnes was comforted, for she saw that all she had to do
was to stand aside, and let a little child do the work. And as she
walked along the Thames Embankment in the glory of the setting sun, it
came into her mind how Christ had taken all that was sweetest on earth,
the love and trust of little children, the love of the father for the
chi