must give up
his dabbling, and set to work like a man. I hope
you will get on well. I shall see you some day.

--Your affectionate father, RAYMOND LEICESTER."

And this was all! They had looked forward to his coming home. They had
watched for him day by day. In Raymond's heart there was a strange
yearning to see the face of his only living parent; to know if he would
be glad that he had been restored, when he was so near death; and these
few hurried words were all! They read them through several times. Then
Madge clasped her hands, and hid her face with a low cry.

"Don't, Madge, don't," said Raymond, though his own voice was trembling
with emotion. "I cannot bear to see you like that."

"O Raymond, will he never come back?"

"Yes; don't you see he says that he will, some day. Meanwhile, we will
do our best."

"_You_ will never leave me, Raymond?"

"Never, if I can help it," he said, laying his long thin fingers on her
hair.

"Poor father! Raymond, I did want to see him so much."

"So did I."

They did not speak much more. For some time they only sat holding each
other's hands, and thinking mournfully of the future. Everything seemed
very dark and gloomy that evening, both within and without. A heavy rain
was falling, and the sight of wet roofs and chimney-pots gleaming in the
twilight is never very enlivening. Raymond at last gave a long, deep
sigh, at the sound of which Madge started up.

"That won't do, Raymond. I'm forgetting my duty as nurse, and it is very
bad for a patient to get vapourish! Oh, here's Mr. Smith!"

He came in, in his own pleasant, friendly way, but his quick eye soon
discovered that something was wrong, for Madge's quiet little face was
troubled, and Raymond looked tired and moody.

Mr. Smith sat down, and began in a lively tone,--"Well, Raymond, my boy,
how have things gone to-day? are you any stronger?"

"Not much, sir," he answered mournfully.

"And I don't expect you will be, while you are up here. You want change
of air to set you up."

"I must get well as soon as possible," he said, with a very determined
look.

"You must not be in too great a hurry. People want a great deal of
patching up after an illness like yours."

"I must be at work!" said Raymond.

"Yes, when you are well. What is the cause of this extreme impatience?
You were quite content yesterday to lie back in your chair and let
Madge nurse you and pet you to her heart's co