e little one, "so sweet to go and live with Jesus, and be free from sin
forever!"

Adelaide made no reply, and for a moment her bitter sobbing was the only
sound that broke the stillness of the room.

"Don't cry so, dear auntie," Elsie said faintly. "I am very happy--only
I want to see my father." She added something incoherently, and Adelaide
perceived, with excessive alarm, that her mind was again beginning to
wander.

She hastily summoned a servant and despatched a message to the physician,
urging him to come immediately, as there was an alarming change in his
patient.

Never in all her life had Adelaide suffered such anxiety and distress as
during the next half-hour, which she and the faithful Chloe spent by the
bedside, watching the restless tossings of the little sufferer, whose
fever and delirium seemed to increase every moment. Jim had not been able
to find the doctor, and Mrs. Travilla was staying away longer than she
had intended.

But at length she came, and, though evidently grieved and concerned at
the change in Elsie, her quiet, collected manner calmed and soothed
Adelaide.

"Oh, Mrs. Travilla," she whispered, "do you think she will die?"

"We will not give up hope yet, my dear," replied the old lady, trying to
speak cheerfully; "but my greatest comfort, just at present, is the sure
knowledge that she is prepared for any event. No one can doubt that she
is a lamb of the Saviour's fold, and if he is about to gather her into
his bosom--" She paused, overcome by emotion, then added in a tremulous
tone, "It will be a sad thing to _us_, no doubt, but to her--dear little
one--a blessed, _blessed_ change."

"I cannot bear the thought," sobbed Adelaide, "but I have scarcely any
hope now, because--" and then she told Mrs. Travilla what they had been
doing in her absence.

"Don't let that discourage you, my dear," replied her friend soothingly.
"I have no faith in presentiments, and while there is life there is
hope."

Dr. Barton, the physician, came in at that moment, looked at his young
patient, felt her pulse, and shook his head sorrowfully.

Adelaide watched his face with the deepest anxiety.

He passed his hand over Elsie's beautiful curls.

"It seems a sad pity," he remarked in a low tone to her aunt, "but they
will have to be sacrificed; they must be cut off immediately, and her
head shaved."

Adelaide shuddered and trembled. "Is there any hope, doctor?" she
faltered almost under her breath