the word with a face of such unutterable horror that he
turned his eyes away, lest the memory of her look should interfere with
his treatment of the next case he visited. There was something infernal
in the sound of the thing which always knocked over the mothers of his
generation. He had never seen one of them who could hear it without
going to pieces on his hands; and for that reason he never mentioned the
disease by name unless they drove him to it. They feared it as they
might have feared the plague--and even more! If the medical profession
would begin calling it something else, he wondered if the unmitigated
terror of it wouldn't partially subside?

"Well, it looks like that now, Jinny," he said soothingly; "but we'll
come out all right, never fear. It isn't a bad case, you know, and the
chief thing is to get the other children out of danger."

At this she went over like a log on the bed, and it was only after he
had found the bottle of camphor on the mantelpiece and held it to her
nostrils, that she revived sufficiently to sit up again. But as soon as
her strength came back, her courage surprised and rejoiced him. After
that one sign of weakness, she became suddenly strong, and he knew by
the expression of her face, for he had had great experience with
mothers, that he could count on her not to break down again while he
needed her.

"I'd like to get a tent made of some sheets and keep a kettle boiling
under it," he said, for he was an old man and belonged to the dark ages
of medicine. "But first of all I'll get the children over to your
mother's. They'd better not come in here again. I'll ask the servant to
attend to them."

"You'll find her in the dining-room," replied Virginia, while she
straightened Harry's bed and made him more comfortable. The weakness had
passed, leaving a numbed and hardened feeling as though she had turned
to wood; and when, a little later, she looked out of the door to wave
good-bye to Lucy and Jenny, she was amazed to find that she felt almost
indifferent. Every emotion, even her capacity for physical sensation,
seemed to respond to the immediate need of her, to the exhaustless
demands on her bodily strength and her courage. As long as there was
anything to be done, she was sure now that she should be able to keep up
and not lose control of herself.

"May we come back soon, mamma?" asked Lucy, standing on tiptoe to wave
at her.

"Just as soon as Harry is well, darling. Ask grandpa