etly from her own home to the
home Charlie was making ready for her; and it was decided that Harry's
marriage should take place in the latter part of April, and the other
early in the summer.

But before April, bad news came from Will. They heard from himself
first, that he had not been sometimes as well as usual, and then a
letter came from Mr Ruthven to Graeme, telling her that her brother was
ill with fever, quite unable to write himself; and though he did not say
in so many words, that there was danger for him, this was only too
easily inferred from his manner of writing.

The next letter and the next, brought no better news. It was a time of
great anxiety. To Graeme it was worst of all. As the days went on, and
nothing more hopeful came from him, she blamed herself that she had not
at once gone to him when the tidings of his illness first reached them.
It was terrible to think of him, dying alone so far from them all; and
she said to herself "she might, at least, have been with him at the
last."

He would have been at home by this time, if he had been well, and this
made their grief and anxiety all the harder to bear. If she could have
done anything for him, or if she could have known from day to day how it
was with him, even though she could not see him, or care for him, it
would not have been so dreadful Graeme thought. Her heart failed her,
and though she tried to interest herself still in the preparations and
arrangements that had before given her so much pleasure, it was all that
she could do, to go quietly and calmly about her duties, during some of
these very anxious days.

She did not know how utterly despondent she was becoming, or how greatly
in danger she was of forgetting for the time the lessons of hope and
trust which her experience in life had taught her, till there came from
Mrs Snow one of her rare, brief letters, written by her own hand, which
only times of great trial had ever called forth from her.

"My bairn," she said, "are you not among those whom nothing can harm?
_Absolutely nothing_! Whether it be life or death that is before your
brother, you hae surely nothing to fear for _him_, and nothing for
yourself. I think he will be spared to do God's work for a while yet.
But dear, after all that has come and gone, neither you nor I would
like to take it upon ourselves to say what would be wise and kind on
our Father's part; and what is wise and kind will surely come to