afraid she is very ill, Livy."

"I must go round at once. Marcus, do you think you can spare me?
Martha is very careful; she will look after Dot. But you know"--and
here there were hot, smarting tears in Olivia's eyes--"you know what
Aunt Madge is to me. I cannot leave her to Deb."

Marcus sighed; he could not bear his wife to run the risk, and yet how
could he be selfish enough to deprive Mrs. Broderick of the comfort of
having her with her? He knew their deep affection for each other.
Aunt Madge was her second mother; few aunts were so fondly beloved.

"I hate you to go, dearest," he said, "and yet I cannot deny that
Randolph is very anxious about her. It is the prostration he fears;
the fever has been so high these two days."

"She has been ill two whole days, and Deb has never sent for me," and
Olivia sobbed in a heart-broken manner.

"My dear girl, you must not lose heart in this way," and Marcus stroked
her hair tenderly. "Let me tell you exactly how it was. I went round
with Randolph and waited while he paid his visit. Deb came out to
speak to me; she is an obstinate, incorrigible, cross-grained old
woman, and I told her so. Oh, I spoke my mind to her. She cannot deny
that she has been up for three nights, and yet the mention of a nurse
throws her into tantrums. 'I have always nursed my mistress, and as
long as I can drag about she shall have no strangers to harass her dear
soul,' she said, defiantly. Now what are you to do with a woman like
that? I asked her why she had not let us know," he went on, "and she
confessed that Aunt Madge had made her promise not to send. So you see
Deb was not to blame for that."

"No, I see;" and then Olivia looked up in her husband's face
pleadingly. "Marcus, dear, you will not forbid my sitting up with Aunt
Madge tonight. Deb will not mind me; she knows how Aunt Madge will
love to have me. I will be very careful, and do just as you tell me;
but I must! I must be with her!" and then very reluctantly Marcus gave
his permission.

Martha was interviewed and Dot kissed in her cot, and then Olivia told
Marcus she was ready; and they walked to Maybrick Villas almost in
silence.

Olivia's heart was too full for speech. If Aunt Madge died, she told
herself, the world would never be the same to her again; some of the
warmth and the light and the joy of life would have faded out of it.
"She is one of my few treasures," she thought. "Marcus and dear baby
come f