her tea; she was too happy even to eat.

"Have you had enough tea, mother?" she asked presently.

"Yes, darling. Please push the tea-table a little aside, and then come
up very near to me. I want to hold your dear little hand in mine; I
can't talk much."

"But you are better--you are surely better, mother?"

"In one sense, yes, Iris."

Iris moved the tea-table very deftly aside, and then, drawing up her
small chair, slipped her hand inside her mother's.

"I have made up my mind to tell you, Iris," said the mother. She
looked at the little girl for a full minute, and then began to talk in
a low, clear voice. "I am the mother of four children. I don't think
there are any other children like you four in the wide world. I have
thought a great deal about you, and while I have been ill have prayed
to God to keep you and to help me, and now, Iris, now that I have got
to go away--"

"To go away, mother?" interrupted Iris, turning very pale.

"Yes, dearest. Don't be troubled, darling; I can make it all seem
quite happy to you. But now, when I see it must be done, that I must
undertake this very long journey, I want to put things perfectly
straight between you and me, my little daughter."

"Things have been always straight between us, mother," said Iris. "I
don't quite understand."

"Do you remember the time when I went to Australia?"

"Are you going to Australia again?" asked Iris. "You were a whole year
away then. It was a very long time, and sometimes, mother, sometimes
Fortune was a little cross, and Miss Stevenson never seemed to suit
Apollo. I thought I would tell you about that."

"But Fortune means well, dearest. She has your true interest at heart,
and I think matters will be differently arranged, as far as Miss
Stevenson is concerned, in the future. It is not about her or Fortune
I want to speak now."

"And you are going back to Australia again?"

"I am going quite as far as Australia; but we need not talk of the
distance just now. I have not time for many words, nor very much
strength to speak. You know, Iris, the meaning of your names, don't
you?"

"Of course," answered Iris; "and, mother, I have often talked to the
others about our names. I have told Apollo how beautiful he must try
to be, not only in his face, but in his mind, mother, and how brave
and how clever. I have told him that he must try to have a beautiful
soul; and Orion must be very brave and strong, and Diana must be
bright and spark