ing-room, except the bed with its silken
cover, and even this was hidden behind a screen in the daytime. A couch
was drawn up before the fire, and over it lay the daintiest pink silk
dressing-gown that was ever seen, with the warmest of linings inside,
and trimmed without with a profusion of those airy frills and laces dear
to the feminine heart.

"For me?" gasped Evie, staring at its splendour with big, astonished
eyes. A glow of colour came into her cheeks as she turned it over and
over to inspect its intricacies. "I should think I _would_ come in to
dinner just, with such a gown to wear!" she cried laughingly. "I am
longing to put it on and see what it feels like to be a fashionable
lady."

She would not acknowledge that she was tired, but even after an hour's
sleep she still looked so fragile that the two members of the household
who had not seen her before were deeply impressed with the change which
had taken place since their last meeting. Very charming did she look
when the sofa was wheeled into the dining-room, and she lay in her
pretty pink fineries the centre of attraction and attention; but the
flush of excitement soon faded, and the dark eyes looked pathetic in
spite of their smiles. Rhoda watched the faces of father and mother,
and her heart sank as she saw the elder man knit his brow, and the
younger look away quickly and bite his lip under his moustache as if the
sight were too painful to be endured. Beyond a few loving words at
greeting, neither had manifested any concern about herself, and once
again she had not noticed the omission.

"I've had such a happy day. I feel like a princess--such a spoiled
princess!" said Evie, when she went to bed that night; but there were
sad days in store for the poor little princess from which all the care
and love of her friends could not save her.

When the decree went forth that she should make her first attempt to
walk, Rhoda clapped her hands with joy, and could not understand the
reason of the quick, grave glance which the nurse cast upon her. She
and her mother had decided that the attempt must be made in the drawing-
room after tea, and nurse made no objection, hoping, perhaps, that the
presence of onlookers would give her patient extra strength for the
ordeal. She knew what it meant if the others did not; but, alas! they
all learned soon enough, as, at the first slight movement, Evie's white
face turned grey, and she groaned in mingled anguish and