nd, besides, I could not bear to
leave her."

"I took a nap on purpose to be able to sit up to-night," Elsie said;
"also, I am less exhausted by mental distress than her mother is, dearly
as I love her. Can you not trust her to me, with the doctor sharing my
vigil?"

"I could trust your nursing sooner than my own, mother," Violet
answered; "it is not that; but I cannot tear myself away from my
darling, while she is in so critical a state."

"And I," said the captain, "while warmly thanking you and the doctor,
cannot consent to leave either wife or baby to-night."

So, finding they were not to be persuaded to rest, the others left them
to watch over the little one through that night.

The morning brought a slight change for the better, yet no certainty of
recovery; but even that barely perceptible improvement, joined to the
delightful prospect of always having her husband at home, cheered Violet
greatly.

They had talked much of that through the night, beguiling the long hours
of their tedium with many a bright plan for the future, always hoping
that "baby" would be a sharer in their realization.

The captain hoped to buy or build in the near neighborhood of Ion, that
Violet need not be separated from her mother,--a separation he was most
desirous to avoid on his own account, also; for he entertained a very
high regard and warm affection for his mother-in-law, averring that it
would be scarcely possible for him to love her better were he her own
son.

He had resigned to Violet the pleasure of telling the joyful news to her
mother and the whole family, except his children; reserving to himself
the right to communicate the glad tidings to them when, and in what way,
he should deem best.

Lulu, he said, was to be kept in ignorance of it till the time of her
imprisonment expired.

At a very early hour in the morning, Elsie and the doctor came to the
relief of the watchers. Arthur noted and announced the improvement,
thus reviving hope in the anxious hearts of the parents; and before
retiring for a few hours' rest and sleep, Violet whispered to them the
news that had gladdened her heart in spite of its heavy load of grief
and fear.

They both rejoiced with her, and bade her hope for the best in regard to
her babe.

Pain, mental and physical, kept Lulu awake a good while after her father
left her; but at length she fell into a deep sleep, which lasted far
beyond her customary hour for rising, the house being v