ul?" she said, in a low tone.

Tod put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a ten-dollar bill.

"Terrible!" he said. "Here--give her this. She needs it more than I.
It's the first thing I've done for charity in my life, and somehow it
makes one feel good."

Paula looked at him and smiled as she passed the money over to Mrs.
Hughes.

"This is from my friend here," she said.

"God bless you, sir!" she said. "It'll help keep Annie and me going a
little while more. 'Tain't for long, though. I've given up hope. I'll
never get any better. The doctor says I'm a goner. He knows. He told a
neighbor, and she told Annie. The poor child came home crying as if her
dear little heart would break. It's not for myself that I'm worrying.
It's for Annie. If you only knew what a good child she is, sir----"

She stopped short, choked by another fit of violent coughing.

"Don't worry," said Paula, soothingly and trying to keep back her own
tears. "We'll take good care of Annie."

The sick woman raised herself with difficulty on one arm.

"The child's gone a long time," she said uneasily. "I'm always anxious
when she's away."

The words were hardly out of her mouth when through the crack in the
window came the sound of unusual commotion in the street below. There
was the noise of an automobile stopping with a jerk, warning shouts, and
then the shrieks and sobbing of women. Tod rushed to the window.

"It's an accident!" he said. "Some one has been run over."

Paula, her heart in her mouth, seized by an indefinable dread, leaned
out of the window. All they could see was a surging crowd gathered
round a big, red automobile. A burly policeman, and a tall, thin man in
a linen duster were stooping over a prostrate form. Suddenly a wild cry
from the bed behind them froze the blood in their veins. They looked
back. Mrs. Hughes, livid, had raised herself to a sitting posture and
was trying to get out of bed to come and see for herself. The mother's
unerring instinct had told her what had happened--yet she dare not give
expression to her dread. Her hollow eyes dilated wide with terror, she
cried:

"Annie only went to the Dispensary. She ought to be back by now. Where
can she be?"

Outside, the noise and excitement had been succeeded by an unnatural
calm. Suddenly Tod, who was still hanging half out of the window, turned
round, and before Paula could silence him, called out:

"They're coming into this house."

A cry from the mother