I will try never to think of myself; I will remember,
mother darling, exactly what you want me to do. I will try to be
beautiful, to be a little messenger of the gods, as you sometimes said
I might be, and to be like the rainbow, full of hope. And I will try
to help Apollo to be the most beautiful and the bravest boy in the
world; and, mother, I will do my best to help Diana to be strong and
bright and full of courage; and I will do what I can for Orion--he
must be grand like a giant, so that he may live up to the wonderful
name you have given him. Mother, it will be very hard, but I promise,
I promise with all my might, to do everything you want me to do. I
will act just as if you were there and could see, mother, and I will
_always_ remember that it is beautiful for you to have gone away, for
while you were here you had so much pain and so much illness. I won't
fret, mother; no, I won't fret--I promise to be a mother to the
others, and there won't be any time to fret."

No tears came to Iris' bright eyes, but her little thin face grew
paler and paler. Presently she left the window and went slowly
downstairs again.

Fortune had now left the other children to themselves. They were
scattered about the bright day nursery, looking miserable, though they
could scarcely tell why.

"I don't believe a bit that mother is never coming back," said Orion,
in a stout, determined voice.

He was a very handsome little fellow, strongly made--he had great big
black eyes like his father's. He was standing now with his Noah's ark
in his hand.

"It is unfeeling of you to want to play with your Noah's ark to-day,
Orion," said Apollo. "Now, do you think I would go into my laboratory
and try to make a thermometer?"

"Well, at least," said Diana, speaking with a sort of jerk, and her
small face turning crimson, "whatever happens, the animals must be
fed."

"Of course they must, Diana," said Iris, coming forward, "and, Apollo,
there is not the least harm in our going into the garden, and I don't
think there is any harm in Orion playing with his Noah's ark. Come,
children; come with me. We will feed all the pets and then go into the
arbor, and, if you like, I will tell you stories."

"What sort of stories?" asked Diana, in quite a cheerful voice. She
trotted up to her sister, and gave her her hand as she spoke. She also
was a finely made child, not unlike her name.

"I 'gree with Orion," she said. "I'm quite certain sure that mothe