he anaesthetic, now crying
aloud, the next long hour somehow passed for the helpless, suffering
little animal that was Julia. A climax came, and the kindly chloroform
smothered the last terrible cry.

Julia awoke to a realization that something was snapping brightly, like
wood on a fire; that the cottony fumes in her head were breaking,
drifting away; that commonplace cheerful voices were saying things very
near her. She seemed to have fallen from infinite space to this
wretchedly uncomfortable bed and this wretchedly uncomfortable position.
She wanted a pillow; her head was rocking with pain, and her forehead
was sticky with moisture. Yet under and over all other sensations was
the heavenly relief from the familiar agonies of the day. She felt so
tired that the mere thought of beginning to rest distressed her; she
would not open her eyes; her lids seemed sealed. She felt faintly
worried because she could not seem to intelligently grasp the subject of
Honolulu.

"Honolulu? Honolulu?" This was the doctor's pleasant drawl. "No. I
haven't. Mrs. Lippincott's people live in New York, so our junketings
are usually in that direction."

"Ah, well, you'd like Honolulu," Miss Wheaton's voice answered. A pause.
Then she said, "I put some wood on. It's not so warm to-day as it was
yesterday."

Julia strove in vain to pierce the meaning of these cryptic words.
Presently the doctor said, "Perfectly normal?" more as a statement than
a question, and Miss Wheaton answered in a matter-of-fact voice, "Oh,
absolutely."

Julia opened her eyes, looked up into the nurse's face, and with
returning consciousness came self-pity.

"I couldn't do it, Miss Wheaton," she whispered pitifully, with
trembling lips.

"Hello, little girlie, you're beginning to feel better, aren't you?"
Miss Wheaton said. "Here she is, Doctor, as fine as silk."

Julia's languid eyes found the doctor's kindly face.

"But the baby?" she faltered, with a rush of tears.

"The baby is a very noisy young woman," said Doctor Lippincott
cheerfully. "I wrapped her in her pink thingamagig, and she's right here
in Jim's room, getting her first bath from her granny."

"Really?" Julia whispered. "You wouldn't--fool me?"

"Listen to her!" Miss Wheaton said. "Now, my dear, don't you be nervous.
You've got a perfectly lovely little girl, and you've come through
_splendidly_, and everything's fine. If you want to go look at that baby,
Doctor," she added, "ask Doctor Studdi