ling, my beloved child!" he whispered, putting his arm about her
and holding her fast with tender caresses.

"What did the doctor say, papa?" she asked, nestling closer to him and
laying her cheek to his. "Does he hope to make you well very soon?"

For a moment there was no reply, and Evelyn, startled at her father's
silence, suddenly raised her head and gazed earnestly, inquiringly into
his face.

He smiled, a little sadly, and gently smoothing her hair back from her
forehead, "I was thinking," he said, "of a text in the psalm we read
together this morning--'My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my
expectation is from him.' He and He only can make me well, daughter."

"Then why send for the doctor, papa?"

"Because God works by means; it pleases Him so to do, though it would be
no more difficult to Him to accomplish His designs without. He has
provided remedies, and I think it is His will that we should use them, at
the same time asking His blessing upon them, feeling that without it they
will be of no avail."

"Then you are to have some medicine, I suppose?"

"Yes; and to be out a good deal in the open air."

"Oh, then, won't you come out to the summer-house and lie in the hammock
there, with me close beside you to wait on you?"

"Presently; but I must write a letter first," he said, putting her gently
aside and resuming his seat at the writing-table.

"Can't it wait till to-morrow, papa?" she asked. "You may feel stronger
by then."

"It is to be only a few lines, to your Uncle Lester; and I want it to go
by this afternoon's mail, that, if possible, it may reach Fairview before
they have arranged their plans for the summer. I want them to come here
to spend the hot months. Should you like it?"

"Yes, indeed, papa! I've always been fond of Uncle Lester, as you know,
and I quite fell in love with Aunt Elsie and the baby when he brought
them to see us on their return from Europe."

CHAPTER II.

"How sudden do our prospects vary here!"

It was the breakfast-hour at Fairview. The young husband and wife chatted
pleasantly over their coffee, omelet and rolls, strawberries and cream,
the principal subject of discourse being the expected trip to Nantucket
in company with her mother, grandparents, and the rest of the family at
Ion.

Lester and his Elsie had been there the previous evening, helping to
celebrate the first anniversary of the marriage of Edward and Zoe, and
had readily fallen in with the