"I can't bear the thought of losing you, mother," said Frank, deeply
moved.

"You will miss me, then, Frank?" said Mrs. Fowler.

"Shall I not? Grace and I will be alone in the world."

"Alone in the world!" repeated the sick woman, sorrowfully, "with
little help to hope for from man, for I shall leave you nothing. Poor
children!"

"That isn't what I think of," said Frank, hastily.

"I can support myself."

"But Grace? She is a delicate girl," said the mother, anxiously. "She
cannot make her way as you can."

"She won't need to," said Frank, promptly; "I shall take care of her."

"But you are very young even to support yourself. You are only
fourteen."

"I know it, mother, but I am strong, and I am not afraid. There are a
hundred ways of making a living."

"But do you realize that you will have to start with absolutely nothing?
Deacon Pinkerton holds a mortgage on this house for all it will bring in
the market, and I owe him arrears of interest besides."

"I didn't know that, mother, but it doesn't frighten me."

"And you will take care of Grace?"

"I promise it, mother."

"Suppose Grace were not your sister?" said the sick woman, anxiously
scanning the face of the boy.

"What makes you suppose such a thing as that, mother? Of course she is
my sister."

"But suppose she were not," persisted Mrs. Fowler, "you would not recall
your promise?"

"No, surely not, for I love her. But why do you talk so, mother?" and
a suspicion crossed Frank's mind that his mother's intellect might be
wandering.

"It is time to tell you all, Frank. Sit down by the bedside, and I will
gather my strength to tell you what must be told."

"Grace is not your sister, Frank!"

"Not my sister, mother?" he exclaimed. "You are not in earnest?"

"I am quite in earnest, Frank."

"Then whose child is she?"

"She is my child."

"Then she must be my sister--are you not my mother?"

"No, Frank, I am not your mother!"

CHAPTER II

MRS. FOWLER'S STORY

"Not my mother!" he exclaimed. "Who, then, is my mother?"

"I cannot tell you, Frank. I never knew. You will forgive me for
concealing this from you for so long."

"No matter who was my real mother since I have you. You have been a
mother to me, and I shall always think of you as such."

"You make me happy, Frank, when you say that. And you will look upon
Grace as a sister also, will you not?"

"Always," said the boy, emphatically. "Mother, will you tell all you
k