ith such patience and cheerfulness that only those who
were constantly about him realized how he really suffered.

Mr. Traverse was always a welcome visitor, for Mr. Sherwood could never
forget that awful moment when death stared them both in the face, and how
Traverse had kept the flying timbers from crashing into his pinioned body,
receiving on his own head and arm the blows he might have escaped.

Dexie had listened with averted face and tear-dimmed eyes to the story as
it fell from her father's lips, and she found it hard to meet her hero
without betraying something of the feeling which his noble conduct had
awakened in her heart.

His frequent visits were both a joy and a pain to her, though why she felt
glad to hear his step, yet dreaded to meet his glance, she could not have
explained.

Gussie was able now to meet Mr. Traverse without that feeling of
mortification which she experienced after she had read his love-letter
before her guests. His manner to her was as kind and respectful as ever,
and she hoped he had almost forgotten the circumstance. How often that
thoughtless act had been regretted no one knew but herself. There was no
chance of adding his name to her list of admirers, for he kept her at a
distance, even when his manner was most kind. She often wondered if his
_city girl_, as she styled her, had yet relented, or if he had given up all
hope of winning her. How he must have cared for her to write such a letter!

If she had learned the true facts of the case, and found out that the
letter was really Dexie's, as she at first supposed, she would have put
aside the fact that her conduct was none the less reprehensible, and would
have used all her arts to win him to her side. As it was, she was more
willing to sit by her father's side during the time Mr. Traverse was
present than at any other time during the day.

One evening when Mr. Traverse was sitting by Mr. Sherwood's bedside, Gussie
also being in the room, one of those sudden attacks that always came on
without a moment's warning seized upon Mr. Sherwood, and Mr. Traverse was
so alarmed that for a moment he lost his presence of mind; but Gussie's
shrill screams, as she rushed out of the room, aroused him. Something
should be done for the sufferer, he knew not what, and reaching for the
bell-cord that hung over the head of the bed he gave it a hasty pull, and
as he did so Dexie was beside him.

She took in the situation at a glance, her rapid mo