d went downstairs.

'What is it, mother?' said Poppy; 'did the doctor say you were worse?'

'Poppy,' said her mother, 'shall I tell you what the doctor said, my
darling?'

'Yes, please, mother,' said the child.

'He said that in a few days more I should be quite well, Poppy; well and
strong, like you, my dear--no more pain--no more weakness--for ever.'

'Then why does granny cry?' said Poppy, with a puzzled face.

'Because, darling, grandmother wanted me to go to _her_ home and get
well there; but instead of that, God is going to take me to _His_ home,
Poppy, to be well for ever and ever. Will you try to be glad for me,
darling?'

'Yes, mother,' said little Poppy with a sob,--'I'll try; but, oh mother,
I wish He'd take me too!'

CHAPTER XI.

THE STORY OF THE RING.

'Polly, my dear,' said grandmother, when she was sitting beside her the
next day, 'aren't ye feared to die!'

'No, grandmother,' said the poor woman, 'I'm not afraid.'

'Well, _I_ should be,' said grandmother, 'if I knew I was going away in
a few days; why, my dear, I should be frightened out of my wits, I
should indeed.

'And so should I have been, two years ago,' said Poppy's mother; 'but
I'm not afraid now. I'll tell you how it was, granny, that I got not to
be frightened to die. I used to go to a Mothers' Meeting of a Monday
afternoon, before John Henry went away, and before I had to go out
washing, and while we did our sewing a lady used to read to us.'

'Who was it, my dear?'

'Miss Lloyd; she's the clergyman's sister, granny. Well, one day (I
remember it so well) she brought a beautiful ring to show us. Oh! it
_was_ a beauty, grandmother. There was a ring of lovely large diamonds
all round it. She told us that some old lady had given it to her for a
keepsake, just before she died, and that she would not lose it for a
great deal. "Now," she said, "you are all my friends, and I want a bit
of advice. I'm going to start to-morrow on a long journey; I am going to
travel in foreign parts, and stop at all sorts of inns and
lodging-places. Now do you think it would be safe for me to take my ring
with me?"

'"Well, ma'am," said old Betty, who's always ready with her tongue, "I
wouldn't advise you to do so. They're queer folk, them foreigners, and
maybe you'd be washing your hands at some of them outlandish places, and
take off your ring, and then go away and leave it behind, and never see
it no more."

'"That's just what I've been