foresaw would be refused.

You cannot accuse him of

being unreasonable in his expectations."

"Had you not better answer his note?" said Lord De Cressy.

Kathleen sat down to her writing table, but the fair sheet before her was only blotted by her tears, and she said presently, in a voice choked with emotion "I cannot do it; Edward is at the office, and so I must write to Walter, to tell him that he is to be left to his fate, because we cannot forego this hateful society for a few weeks, and to know that he will read his doom to Agnes in his clear sweet voice it is too much, will drive to Brompton and see Agnes."

-

I

"Impossible!" said Lord De Cressy; "I am sure that Mrs. Lisle herself will desire you to keep away from the house, as long as there is any risk of carrying the infection. I will write, however, if you prefer it, and suggest engaging a lodging and a nurse for Walter, if they are resolved not to keep him at home. There is no ground for your desperately gloomy prognostications; it is very likely that he may escape altogether or if he sickens, it will be a good thing over, since it is of a mild kind."

He wrote to Walter accordingly, who read the letter to his mother with great satisfaction. "Of course," he said, "they could not have me, since Uncle Lionel has never had the fever, and I am very glad, for I would much rather stay with you. You will not send me into lodgings, mamma?"

"No, dear, I could not trust you to strangers."

"I am afraid, mamma, that you are disappointed; and I did hope that Aunt Kathleen might have come to help you in the nursing."

"Aunt Kathleen has her own home duties to attend

to," said Agnes, with a smile which was more patient and less hopeful than ever. She said that she must go to Cecil, but she first turned aside into her own room, seeking to still the despairing wail of agony which prompted the prayer that her precious child might be spared, at the cost of any personal suffering.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

But God gives patience, Love learns strength,
And Faith remembers promise;

And Hope itself shall smile at length

On other hopes gone from us.

Love, strong as Death, shall conquer Death,
Through struggle made more glorious;
The mother stills her sobbing breath,

Renouncing, yet victorious.

E. B. BROWNING.

AGNES was sitting by Cecil's bedside, when her husband returned from the office, and as soon as his inquiries for the little boy had been satisfactorily answered, he said, "Walter has shown me our brother-in-law's letter, and I was prepared for its contents by what I learned in Carlton Gardens on my way home."

"You saw Kathleen?" said Agnes.

"No, only the porter; her ladyship was dressing for dinner, and my lord was in his room, and before I had gone far from the door, the carriage, with its bright bays, pranced by me. I hope they will have a pleasant evening."

"There will be no pleasure for Kathleen," said Agnes; "I know, from her not writing herself, which way her inclinations lie, and I could sometimes wish that she did not resent these things so keenly. You see that Lord De Cressy has never had the scarlet fever."

"So he informs us.

"And even putting the risk of infection aside, it is natural that he should object to the inconvenience of putting his house into quarantine."

"You are severe on human nature, Agnes; more so, at least, than I am disposed to be, for the sake of sparing one individual."

"Dear Edward," said Agnes, imploringly, for the bitterness of her husband's tone was exceedingly painful to her, "we must not condemn others for failing in temptations by which we are not tried. And if sorrow be in store for us, we may not blame those who seem to be the immediate cause, lest we forget that they are only instruments in His hand, who worketh all things for good. Lord De Cressy is fond of Walter, and he would have helped us if he could."

"He would have paid for a lodging and a nurse," rejoined Edward, "expressly on condition that Kathleen was not to see him, and recommending that he should be cut off from all intercourse with us. It was a felicitous sentence, giving a pleasing picture of the advantages of being shut up for weeks, with no society but that of a sick nurse."

"Yes, that would never do," said Agnes; "no hired services could supply the care he needs. And now, Edward, will you go and read with him, or give him some work to do, if you have any in hand? He has been alone, or only with the children, nearly all day."

Edward Lisle complied with the request, a good deal relieved by the expression of the bitterness which had been rankling in his breast ever since his collo

quy with the porter in Carlton Gardens. But the dull, aching sense of anxiety weighed on Agnes more heavily than before, as she bent over Cecil's pillow to resume the task of repeating the Children in the Wood.

Days went by, and it almost seemed as if Lord De Cressy was justified in his more cheerful anticipations. Before Cecil was able to sit up, Agnes had two more patients on her hands, Mary and the baby; but these were both slight cases, and Walter was still well, or not more ailing than usual, and Kathleen ceased to await the daily report with the same sickening dread as before. One morning, however, when she was listening with great amusement to Lord De Cressy's account of the debate of the foregoing night, the message came: "The children are doing well; but Master Walter has sore throat and fever, and the doctor says that he is sickening."

Kathleen turned pale, and clasped her hands. "I always knew that it must be so," she said, slowly.

"And so, like a very woman, you are ready to triumph in your discernment," said Lord De Cressy, more discomposed by the news than he cared to show. "You need not look the picture of blank despair, for I dare say that he will do very well when the rash comes out. You had better send him some grapes."

Kathleen caught at the suggestion, if only for the sake of sending again to Brompton. Once more she urged her entreaty to be permitted to go to Agnes, but her husband's negative was decided. "It would be a useless risk," he said. "You have no experience in