"You aren't really going to die, mamma? What shall I do without
you?--all alone--and--and Dr Palmer won't believe me. I know he
won't," sobbed Harry.

"Dr Palmer won't believe you? What is it, dear? and what is the matter
with your face? Oh, Harry, you haven't been fighting, have you?" she
added, and her voice bore shadow of reproach in it.

"Yes, mamma, I have," answered Harry, "but I didn't begin; they all set
on me, and shied balls at me, and said I cribbed, and called me a liar
and a coward, and I fought Warburton, and licked him," and then came
the English schoolboy's triumphant glance, through his tearful eyes.

"Said you cribbed? When, dear? How?" asked Mrs Campbell. "Tell me
all about it."

And, then, when the two had at length succeeded in quieting Harry, he
began his story. Through excitement, it was naturally very confused at
first, but, by degrees, he had made everything plain.

"But why don't you tell Dr Palmer that it was Egerton's crib? and all
that you saw in morning school?" said Mrs Campbell.

"Yes," chimed in the doctor's wife, "you can tell him you distinctly
saw Egerton using the book."

"That's no good, mamma," answered Harry, despondingly. "He wouldn't
believe me. He'd say I put it off on Egerton, because he was next me
in class."

"What _is_ to be done?" said Mrs Bromley. "I quite see what the poor
boy means."

"Never mind, Harry, dear, tell the truth, as I know you will," said Mrs
Campbell, "and it will all go well with you. Egerton will be found out
sooner or later, and Dr Palmer will be sorry if he has punished you for
nothing."

"I shall tell Mr Bromley to go and speak to Dr Palmer. That horrid
boy, Egerton! I could give him a good shaking!" said Mrs Bromley,
excitedly. "And now, dear Mrs Campbell, I must go. I will try and
send you round some grapes in the morning. They will be so good for
your thirst. I shall come and see you again soon. Keep up," she
added, in a whisper. "Think of what we have been saying. God is but
calling you to a better country, and He will guard your motherless boy!"

"He will! He will, I know! Good-bye. You are so good and kind to me.
Come again soon, won't you?"

"Come, Harry," said the doctor's wife, turning to him, "come down with
me, and Mrs Valentine will give you your tea."

"And ask her to bathe your face, dear boy," added Mrs Campbell, "and
put a vinegar pad on it."

And then Mrs Bromley, kissing her affectionately