pale and ill, and as she lay back in her
cushioned-chair she tried to wipe away a tear unseen. But Grace's sight
was very sharp, and she ran across the room and threw her arms
impetuously round her mother's neck.

"Oh, mother, are you very miserable?" she asked, while her own lip
quivered pitifully.

"No, no, my darling, not 'very miserable,'" answered her mother, kissing
the little girl tenderly. "Hush! don't cry, my love, or you will make
father unhappy. Here he comes."

Mr. Goodman re-entered the room looking very thoughtful; but as he came
and sat down beside his wife, he smiled and said cheerfully, "You will
soon be well now, the doctor says. The worst is over, and you only need
strengthening."

Mrs. Goodman smiled sadly.

"He little knows how impossible it is to carry out his orders," she
said.

"Not impossible. We shall be able to manage it, I think."

A sudden light of hope sprang into the sick lady's eyes.

"Is the book taken at last, then?" she asked eagerly.

"The book? No, indeed. The publishers all refuse to have anything to do
with it. It is a risky business, you see, to bring out such an expensive
book, and I can't say that I'm surprised at their refusal."

"How are we to get the money, then?" asked his wife. "We have barely
enough for our everyday wants, and we cannot spare anything for extras."

"We must sell something."

Mrs. Goodman glanced round the shabbily furnished room, and then looked
back at her husband questioningly.

"Uncle Jacob's Indian cabinet must go," said he.

Mrs. Goodman looked quickly towards a large black piece of furniture
which stood in a dusky corner of the room, and after a moment's pause,
she said: "I don't like to part with it at all. It may be very foolish
and superstitious of me, but I always feel that we should be unwise to
forget Uncle Jacob's advice. You know what he said about it in his
will."

"I can't say that I remember much about it," answered her husband. "I
have a dim remembrance that he said something that sounded rather
heathenish about the cabinet bringing good luck to its owners. I didn't
pay much attention to it at the time, because I don't believe in
anything of the sort. And besides, your Uncle Jacob was a very peculiar
old gentleman; one never knew what to make of his odd fancies and
whims."

"Yes, you are quite right; he was a strange old man; but somehow I never
shared the belief of most people that his intellect was weak. I think he