n, with humble gait and hair already white. Both
had been invited to pass the afternoon with the lord of the manor and
the doctor, whom he had sent for from the adjacent town, for the
purpose of examining the children's eyes and attempting an operation.
The doctor had repeatedly assured the two delighted fathers, that he
had every reasonable hope of a perfect cure; and he had requested them
to hold themselves in readiness for the morrow.

It was the mother's business to prepare what was needful in the
vicarage. The children were not to be parted on the day appointed to
restore to both the light, of which, together, they had been so long
deprived.

When the two fathers reached their homes (they were opposite
neighbours), the vicar gave his old friend's hand a squeeze, and
said, with glistening eyes: "God be with them and us!"--and then they
parted. The sexton went into his house, where all was quiet, for the
servant-girl was in the garden. He went into his room, rejoicing in the
stillness that made him feel alone with his God. But when he crossed
the threshold he was startled by his child. She had risen from her
chair, holding her handkerchief to her eyes, her bosom heaving, as if
in spasms, her cheeks and lips dead white. He sought to comfort her;
begging her to be composed, and anxiously enquiring what had happened?
Tears were her only answer--tears which, even to herself, she could not
have explained.

CHAPTER II.

The children had been laid in two small rooms with a northern aspect,
in the upper story of the vicarage. In default of shutters, the windows
had been carefully hung with shawls, making soft twilight of the
brightest noonday. The vicar's quiet extensive orchard, while it gave
the walls abundant shade, kept off the din of village life beyond.

The doctor had enjoined extreme precaution, for the girl especially. As
far as depended upon himself, the operation had proved successful. In
solitude and silence. Nature must be left to do the rest. The young
girl's temperament was so excitable as to require the utmost care, and
most attentive watching.

At the decisive hour Marlene had not flinched; and when her mother had
burst into tears on first hearing the doctor's step on the threshold,
she had gone up to her to comfort her.

The doctor began the operation with the boy. Though somewhat agitated,
he had seated himself bravely, and borne it well. At first he would not