ll of nursing now and then.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

A LITTLE SHOE.

That which happens now and then occurred in the case of "Cobbler" Horn.
The doctors proved to be mistaken; and thanks to a strong and unimpaired
constitution, and to the blessing of God on efficient nursing and medical
skill, "the Golden Shoemaker" survived the crisis of his illness, and
commenced a steady return to health and strength.

Great was the joy on every side. But, perhaps, the person who rejoiced
most was Miss Owen. Not even the satisfaction of Miss Jemima at the
ultimate announcement of the doctors, that their patient might now do
well, was greater than was that of the young secretary. Miss Owen rejoiced
for very special reasons of her own. During the convalescence of "Cobbler"
Horn, the young secretary was with him very much. He was glad to have her
in his room; and, as his strength returned, he talked to her often about
herself. He seemed anxious to know all she could tell him of her early
life.

"Sit down here, by the bed," he would say eagerly, taking her plump, brown
wrist in his wasted fingers, "and tell me about yourself."

She would obey him, laughing gently, less at the nature of the request,
than at the eagerness with which it was made.

"Now begin," he said one evening, for the twentieth time, settling himself
beneath the bed-clothes to listen, as though he had never heard the story
before; "and mind you don't leave anything out."

"Well," she commenced, "I was a little wandering mite, with hardly any
clothes and only one shoe. I was----"

His hand was on her arm in an instant. This was the first time she had
mentioned the fact that, when she was found by the friends by whom she had
been brought up, one of her feet was without a shoe.

"Only one shoe, did you say?" asked "Cobbler" Horn, in tremulous tones.

"Yes," she replied, not suspecting the tumult of thoughts her simple
statement had excited in his mind.

In truth, her statement had agitated her listener in no slight degree. He
did not, as yet, fully perceive its significance. But the coincidence was
so very strange! One shoe! Only one shoe! His little Marian had lost one
of her shoes when she strayed away. A wonderful coincidence, indeed!

"I was very dirty, and my clothes were torn," resumed Miss Owen; "and I
was altogether a very forlorn little thing, I have no doubt. I don't
remember much about it,