when Mr. Hamilton was
not by), "Carrie, I shouldn't suppose you'd ever expect to get well,
so long as you stay moped up here all day. You ought to come
down-stairs, and stir around more."

"Oh, I should be so glad if I could," answered Carrie.

"Could!" repeated Mrs. Hamilton; "you could if you would. Now, it's my
opinion that you complain altogether too much, and fancy you are a
great deal worse than you really are, when all you want is exercise. A
short walk on the piazza, and a little fresh air each, morning, would
soon cure you."

"I know fresh air does me good," said Carrie; "but walking makes my
side ache so hard, and makes me cough so, that Maggie thinks I'd
better not."

Mag, quoted as authority, exasperated Mrs. Hamilton who replied
rather sharply, "Fudge on Mag's old-maidish whims! I know that any one
who eats as much as you do can't be so very weak!"

"I don't eat half you send me," said poor Carrie, beginning to cry at
her mother's unkind remarks; "Willie 'most always comes up here and
eats with me."

"For mercy's sake, mother, let the child have what she wants to eat,
for 'tisn't long she'll need it," said Lenora, suddenly appearing in
the room.

"Lenora, go right down; you are not wanted here," said Mrs. Hamilton.

"Neither are you, I fancy," was Lenora's reply, as she coolly seated
herself on the foot of Carrie's bed, while her mother continued:

"Really, Carrie, you must try and come down to your meals, for you
have no idea how much it hinders the work, to bring them up here.
Polly isn't good for anything until she has conjured up something
extra for your breakfast, and then they break so many dishes!"

"I'll try to come down to-morrow," said Carrie meekly; and as the
door-bell just then rang Mrs. Hamilton departed, leaving her with
Lenora, whose first exclamation was:

"If I were in your place, Carrie, I wouldn't eat anything, and die
quick."

"I don't want to die," said Carrie; and Lenora, clapping her hands
together, replied:

"Why, you poor little innocent, who supposed you did? Nobody wants to
die not even _I_, good as I am; but I should expect to, if I had the
consumption."

"Lenora, have I got the consumption?" asked Carrie, fixing her eyes
with mournful earnestness upon her companion, who thoughtlessly
replied:

"To be sure you have. They say one lung is entirely gone and the other
nearly so."

Wearily the sick girl turned upon her side; and, resting her dimpled
cheek upon