re, I see."

_Madame_ (in a faint whisper).--"Ah, my dear Madam, my dear kind friend,
I may say now I am going to leave you."

_The great Voice._--"I am proud to be your friend always, Madame, but
it's all nonsense talking of leaving us. Why you look as well and
rosy----"

_Madame_ (a little hysterical).--"Fever, dear Mrs. E., all fever; my
poor frame cannot support this long."

_The Voice._--"Fever, is it? Let me count your pulse. Very good pulse,
rather weak I should say. Take a glass of port wine and you will be all
right."

_Madame._--"Dear friend, your robust frame knows not what it is to
suffer. Ah, the agonies I endure, the insupportable suffering!"

_Schillie_ (a little softer).--"Rheumatism, I dare say; I have it
sometimes in my knees, and it is very aggravating."

_Madame._--"Alas, alas, would that it were; but I must not lose my
precious moments, I must try to speak while I am able."

_Schillie._--"Don't hurry, don't hurry, dear Madame. I have nothing to
do at present, I can wait as long as you like."

_Madame._--"Dear Mrs. E., thanks, but it is I, it is my time that is so
short."

_Schillie._--"Oh, come, come, that's all nonsense. I see no symptoms of
dying about you. Indeed you look better than I have seen you for ages."

_Madame._--"It's all deception. My time has come, dear friend, and to
you I wish to confide my last wishes."

_Schillie._--"But I never can keep a secret. Don't confide anything to
me."

_Madame._--"They are not secrets. I only wish to confide my beloved
little ones to your care after I am gone."

_Schillie._--"But I hate children, Madame. June will take care of them."

_Madame._--"Ah, I know she will; but she is so fond, so tender a Mother,
she sees no faults in them. There is my darling Sybil, she is certainly,
if a human being can be, faultless."

_Schillie._--"She is a very good soul in her way, Madame, but shockingly
untidy."

_Madame._--"But her lovely smile, her sweet engaging manners. My Serena
is something like her, but, being so much with Gertrude, she is a little
less ladylike in manners than I could wish. Could you, dear Mrs. E.,
just hint to her when I am gone----"

_Schillie._--"Oh, good lack! no, Madame, I can hint nothing. I'll tell
her you thought her unladylike if you wish; but I think both she and
Gatty are first-rate Girls. They are afraid of nothing, and your
pattern, Sybil, jumps at a spider."

_Madame._--"Dear angel! I must go on. My lovely Z