ood for me, too good to live, that is the truth; and now I
must lose her!'

'Do not think so, Arthur; do not give way. The getting through this
night is more than could have been hoped. Happiness is often the best
cure; and if she is able to take so much pleasure in you, and in the
child, it is surely a hopeful sign.'

'So they said; that her noticing the child made them think better of
her. If she can but get over it, she shall see. But you will stay with
me, John,' said he, as if he clung to the support.

'That I will, thank you. I could not bear to go. I can sleep in Belgrave
Square, if you want my room for her mother.'

'We shall see how it is by post-time. I tried whether it would rouse her
to tell her I would write to Mrs. Moss, but she took no heed, and the
old nurse looked daggers at me.'

He was interrupted; Violet had awakened in an alarming fit of trembling,
imploring to be told why he was angry, and whether he would ever come
back.

So glimmered the feeble ray of life throughout the day; and when the
post went out, the end was apparently so near, that it was thought in
vain to send for Mrs. Moss; whom Arthur shrank from seeing, when it
should be too late. He was so completely overwhelmed with distress,
that in the short intervals he spent out of the sick-room, it was his
brother's whole work to cheer and sustain him sufficiently to perform
those offices, which Violet was incapable of receiving from any one
else.

It was no wonder he broke down; for it was a piteous sight to see that
fair young mother, still a child in years, and in her exhausted state of
wavering consciousness, alive only through her fond affections; gleams
of perception, and momentary flashes of life, called forth only by her
husband, or by the moanings of the little frail babe, which seemed to
have as feeble and precarious a hold of life as herself. The doctors
told John that they were haunted through the day by the remembrance of
her face, so sweet, even in insensibility, and so very lovely, when the
sound of her babe's voice, for a moment, lighted up the features. Their
anxiety for her was intense; and if this was the case with strangers,
what must it not have been for her husband, to whom every delirious
murmur was an unconscious reproach, and who had no root of strength
within himself! The acuteness of his grief, and his effectiveness as a
nurse, were such as to surprise his brother, who only now perceived how
much warmth of h