ut he did
not say so then--he could only listen, while he mentally resolved that
if Mabel were indeed about to die, he would make the remainder of her
short life happy, and thus atone, as far as possible, for the past.
But alas for John Jr., his resolutions were easily broken, and as days
and weeks went by, and there was no perceptible change in her, he grew
weary of well-doing, absenting himself whole days from the sick-room,
and at night rather unwillingly resuming his post as watcher, for Mabel
would have no one else.

Since Mabel's illness he had occupied the little room adjoining hers,
and often when in the still night he lay awake, watching the shadow
which the lamp cast upon the wall, and thinking of her for whom the
light was constantly kept burning, his conscience would smite him
terribly, and rising up, he would steal softly to her bedside to see if
she were sleeping quietly. But anon he grew weary of this, too; the
shadow on the wall troubled him, it kept him awake; it was a continual
reproach, and he must be rid of it, somehow. He tried the experiment
of closing his door, but Mabel knew the moment he attempted it, and he
could not refuse her when she asked him to leave it open.

John Jr. grew restless, fidgety, and nervous. Why need the lamp be
kept burning? He could light it when necessary; or why need he sleep
there, when some one else would do as well? He thought of 'Lena--she
was just the one, and the next day he would speak to her. To his great
joy she consented to relieve him awhile, provided Mabel were willing;
but she was not, and John Jr. was forced to submit. He was not
accustomed to restraint, and every night matters grew worse and worse.
The shadow annoyed him exceedingly. If he slept, he dreamed that it
kept a glimmering watch over him, and when he awoke, he, in turn,
watched over that, until the misty day-light came to dissipate the
phantom.

About this time several families from Frankfort started for New
Orleans, where they were wont to spend the winter, and irresistibly,
John Jr. became possessed of a desire to visit that city, too. Mabel
would undoubtedly live until spring, now that the trying part of autumn
was past and there could be no harm in his leaving her for awhile, when
he so much needed rest. Accordingly, 'Lena was one day surprised by
his announcing his intended trip.

"But you cannot be in earnest," she said; "you surely will not leave
Mabel now."

"And why not?"