bia about the patient, found Mrs. Morrison herself in the
kitchen, crying as if her heart would break, her face buried in one of
her little daughter's white aprons that lay on the ironing-board.

"Is she worse?" Lillian exclaimed, much alarmed, for surely it must be
something serious to unnerve this bright, hopeful person.

"I don't know--the doctor didn't say so--but she is ill, and one can
never tell. Oh, my darling baby!--if she should get worse, and Jack
away--why did I let him go!" she began a trembling search for her
handkerchief. "I left her with Zenobia-- I couldn't stand it any longer,
but I must go back now," she said, wiping her eyes. "I know I am
foolish, but I can't help it."

"You are not foolish at all, but tired and anxious, poor child," said
Lillian, with her arms around her. "Now listen to me; Frances is going
to pull through, I am certain of it. The doctor would have said so, if
he thought her very ill; but I am going to stay with you. I am a good
nurse,-- I took care of my little cousin only a year ago, in just such
an attack, and you may lie on the sofa and watch me."

"Oh, thank you, but--"

"Please don't say a word, dear, for I know I can help. I am going to
take Zenobia's place now, and you may come when you have bathed your
face."

There was strength in Lillian's quiet, confident tone; Mrs. Morrison
smiled through her tears: "You will think me a great fraud, after all my
good advice to you. Like the physician who gave up his profession to
enter the ministry, I find it easier to preach than to practise."

"I am glad you are human," Lillian answered, and dropping a kiss on her
forehead, she went to relieve Zenobia.

She was quite right in thinking she could help, and during the few days
while Frances lingered on the brink of a serious illness she was a tower
of comfort and strength. The experience drew them closer together; and
when the worst was over, and the patient convalescing, Mrs. Morrison
said she believed it was worth all the anxiety to have found out this
side of Lillian.

"I do want you and Jack to know each other," she said, and this meant
that her new friend had been taken into the inner circle.

About this time the Spectacle Man sat at his desk in the room below with
an anxious look on his usually cheery face. The storm cloud had settled
upon him, too, and his trouble was a question of money.

The directors of a certain institution in which he owned a good deal of
stock h