ve. He was so nervous that he could not get his lessons, and
roamed about the house in a frightened sort of way. The nurse was used
to housekeeping as well, and when she was needed downstairs Charles
stayed in the sick-room. His mother did not know him or any one, but
wandered in her mind, and was haunted by the ghosts of work in a manner
that was pitiful to listen to. The nurse said she had made work her
idol. There were two days when Mr. Reed stayed at home, though he sent
Charles off to school. They had a woman in the kitchen now, a relative
he had written for, Cousin Jane that Charles had once met in the
country. She was extremely tidy; but she put on an afternoon gown, and a
white apron, and found time in the evening to read the paper.

On the second afternoon both doctors went away just as Charles came
home. His father was standing on the stoop with them, and Doctor Joe
looked down and smiled. The boy's heart beat with a sudden warmth, as he
went down the area steps, wiped his feet, and hung up his cap and
overcoat with as much care as if his mother's sharp eyes were on him.
There was no one in the room; but he sat down at once to his lessons.

Presently his father entered. His eyes had a pathetic look, as if they
were flooded with tears.

"The doctor gives us a little hope, Charles," he said, in a rather
tremulous voice. "It's been a hard pull. The fever was broken yesterday;
but she was so awful weak; indeed, it seemed two or three times in the
night as if she was quite gone. Since noon there has been a decided
change; and, if nothing new happens, she will come around all right. It
will be a long while though. She's worked too hard and steady; but it
has not been my fault. At all events, we'll keep Cousin Jane just as
long as we can. And now I must run down-town for a few hours. Tell
Cousin Jane not to keep tea waiting."

Charles sat in deep thought many minutes. His father's unwonted emotion
had touched him keenly. Of course he would have been very sorry to have
his mother die, yet how often he had wished for another mother. The
thought shocked him now; and yet he could see so many places where it
would be delightful to have her different. Careful as she was of him, he
had no inner consciousness that she loved him, and he did so want to
have some one he could love and caress, and who would make herself
pretty. Hanny loved her father and mother so much. She "hung around"
them. She sat in her father's lap and