malade, et je supplie Dieu a genoux
de ne pas me punir si severement, de ne pas me prendre mon enfant.

"D'apres le dernier bulletin du Professeur Knieberger, il a la fievre
scarlatine, et l'issue de la maladie est incertaine. Je ne quitte plus
son chevet. Et sans cesse je me dis, 'C'est une punition du Ciel.'"

Gabrielle saw that, to the outside world, it was a statement by a
frantic mother that her child had caught scarlet-fever. "What could it
really mean?" she wondered.

Slowly she read it, and as she did so noticed the curious effect it had
upon her father, seated as he was in the deep saddle-bag chair. His face
grew very grave, his thin white hands clenched themselves, and there was
an unusually bitter expression about his mouth.

"Eh?" he asked, as though not quite certain of the words. "Read it
again, child, slower. I--I have to think."

She obeyed, wondering if the key to the cryptic message were contained
in some conjunction of letters or words. It seemed as though, in
imagination, he was setting it down before him as she pronounced the
words. This was often so. At times he would have reports repeated to him
over and over again.

"Ah!" he gasped at last, drawing a long breath, his hands still tightly
clenched, his countenance haggard and drawn. "I--I expected that. And so
it has come--at last!"

"What, dad?" asked the girl in surprise, staring at the crisp
typewritten sheet before her.

"Oh, well, nothing child--nothing," he answered, bestirring himself.

"But the lady whoever she is, seems terribly concerned about her little
boy. The judgment of Heaven, she calls it."

"And well she may, Gabrielle," he answered in a hoarse strained voice.
"Well she may, my dear. It is a punishment sent upon the wicked."

"Is the mother wicked, then?" asked the girl in curiosity.

"No, dear," he urged. "Don't try to understand, for you can never do
that. These reports convey to me alone the truth. They are intended to
mislead you, as they mislead other people."

"Then there is no little boy suffering from scarlet-fever?"

"Yes. Because it is written there," was his smiling reply. "But it only
refers to an imaginary child, and, by so doing, places a surprising and
alarming truth before me."

"Is the matter so very serious, dad?" she asked, noticing the curious
effect the words had had upon him.

"Serious!" he echoed, leaning forward in his chair. "Yes," he answered
in a low voice, "it is very serious, child,