other.'

'It was long before your time, my dear, but your mamma has never
entirely got over it, though he only lived nine weeks. I would not have
had the recollection recalled on any account. And now John has brought
this child here! If he was to die here I don't know what the effect on
your mamma would be.'

'He is not going to die!' said Theodora, hastily; 'but let me hear of my
other brother, aunt.'

'There is nothing to hear, my dear,' said Mrs. Nesbit. 'How could the
girl think of bringing him on us without preparation? An effect of
John's spoiling her, of course. She expects him to be made much of; but
she must be taught to perceive this is no house of which she can make
all parts a nursery.'

'Let me hear about my brother,' repeated Theodora. 'How old would he be?
What was his name?'

'His name was Theodore. He never could have lived,' said Mrs. Nesbit:
'it was much as it was with this child of Arthur's. He was born
unexpectedly at Vienna. Your mamma had a dreadful illness, brought on by
your father's blundering sudden way of telling her of the death of
poor little Dora and Anna. He has not a notion of self-command or
concealment; so, instead of letting me prepare her, he allowed her to
come home from the drive, and find him completely overcome.'

Theodora better understood her mother's stifled sympathy for Violet, and
her father's more openly shown feeling for Arthur.

'We were in great alarm for her,' continued Mrs. Nesbit, 'and the poor
child was a miserable little thing, and pined away till we thought it
best to send him home to be under English treatment; and your father
chose to go with him to see John, who was in a very unsatisfactory
state.'

'And mamma did not go?'

'She was unfit for the journey, and I remained with her. It was a
fortunate arrangement of mine, for I knew he could not survive, and
anxiety for him retarded her recovery, though we had hardly ever let her
see him.'

'Then he died?--how soon?'

'At Frankfort, a fortnight after we parted with him. It was a dreadful
shock to her; and if it had happened in the house, I do not think she
would ever have recovered it. Was it a fortnight? Yes, I know it was;
for it was on the 3rd of September that I had your papa's letter.
We were going to a party at Prince K--'s, where there was to be a
celebrated Italian improvisatrice, and I would not give her the letter
till the next morning.'

Theodora stared at her in incredulous horror.

'