suddenly from a movement upon the bed she
guessed that Betty was waking.

And actually her child's lips were smiling upon her not only bravely
but cheerfully, as though her sleep had brought both comfort and faith.

"Sit close by me, mother," Betty said, "and don't let any one else come
in for a long time. You know I have been trying to get you to tell me
the history of this old room for ages and now this is such a splendid
comfy chance. I am just exactly in the mood for hearing a long,
thrilling story."

CHAPTER XIV

"WHICH COMES LIKE A BENEDICTION"

"Tell me exactly what you think, Dr. Barton, please, and don't try to
deceive me," Betty Ashton pleaded. "I want to be told the truth at
once before mother or any one else joins us. Always I shall be
grateful to Rose for suggesting that you come here to me alone and when
no one was expecting you, so that there need be no unnecessary
suspense."

Betty Ashton was seated in a low rocking chair one morning a few days
later, with Dr. Barton standing near and carefully unwrapping the
bandages from about her head. The room was not brightly lighted,
neither was it dark, for a single blind had been drawn up at the window
on the opposite side of the room.

Dr. Barton's face showed lines of anxiety and sympathy. Indeed, Rose
Dyer could hardly have been persuaded to believe how nervous and shaken
he appeared and how, instead of his usual look of hardness and
austerity, he was now as tender and gentle as a woman.

"But my dear Betty," he returned in a more cheerful voice than his
expression indicated, "what I say to you about yourself is by no means
the last word. My opinion, you must remember, is of blessedly little
importance. If there are any scars left by my treatment of your burns,
there are hundreds of wonderful big doctors who can perform miracles
for you. And then time is the eternal healer."

"Yes, I know," the girl answered, "but just the same, please hurry and
let me know what you yourself honestly think. At least, I shall be
able to tell myself whether my eyes are injured, as soon as you let me
try them in a bright light."

For a fraction of a moment Dr. Barton delayed his work. "Won't you
allow me to call your mother, or Miss Dyer or Miss McMurtry? Miss Dyer
is in the house. I happen to have seen her. And it may be better, in
case you do not feel yourself, to have some one else here to care for
you. There is Sylvia. Actually I believe she