ters came; and the moment she had entered
the parlor, holding the hurriedly read note,--it was scarcely more than
a note,--there was not one of them who did not understand all before she
spoke.

Mrs. Phil burst into tears; Phil himself laid down his brush and changed
color; Mollie silently clung to Tod as a refuge, and looked up with
trembling lips.

Mrs. Phil was the first to speak.

"You may as well tell us the worst," she said; "but it is easy enough to
guess what it is, without being told."

"It is almost the _very_ worst," answered Aimee.

"Miss MacDowlas wants me to go to them at once. _She_ is so ill that if
a change does not take place, she will not live many weeks, and she has
asked for me."

They all knew only too well that "she" meant Dolly.

"Then," said Phil, "you must go at once."

"I can go to-day," she answered. "I knew it would come to this, and I
am ready to leave London at any moment."

There was no delay. Her small box was even then ready packed and corded
for the journey. She had taken Miss MacDowlas's warning in time. It
would not have been like this heavy-hearted wise one to disregard it.
She would have been ready to go to Dolly at ten minutes' notice, if she
had been in India. She was not afraid, either, of making the journey
alone. It was not a very terrible journey, she said. Secretly, she had a
fancy that perhaps Dolly would like to see her by herself first, to have
a few quiet days alone with her, in which she could become used to the
idea of the farewell the rest would come to say. And in her mind the
poor little oracle had another fancy, too, and this fancy she confided
to Mollie before bidding her good-by.

"Mollie," she said, "I am going to leave a charge in your hands."

"Is it anything about Dolly?" asked Mollie, making fruitless efforts to
check her affectionate tears.

"I wish you would leave me something to do for Dolly, Aimee."

"It is something connected with Dolly;" returned Aimee. "I want you to
keep constantly on the watch for Griffith."

"For Griffith!" Mollie exclaimed. "How can I, when I don't know whether
he is in England or not?"

"He is in England," Aimee replied. "He is in London, for Mr. Gowan has
seen him."

"In London--and Dolly in Switzerland, perhaps dying!"

"He does not know that, or he would have been with her before now," said
Aimee. "Once let him know that she is ill, and he will be with her. I
know him well enough to be sure of that. And i