-din, mammy, dear, and I'll wait on you."

In spite of her gay tone, there was an anxious look in the child's eyes
as she looked at her mother lying on the mattress, covered with an old
shawl that had once been beautiful and costly, but was now only a faded
rag.

The sick woman tried to swallow a mouthful of rice, then she looked at
her daughter with a wan smile.

"It doesn't go down very well," she murmured.

"You must force yourself," said Perrine; "the second will go down
better, and the third better still."

"I cannot; no, I cannot, dear!"

"Oh, mama!"

The mother sank back on her mattress, gasping. But weak though she was,
she thought of her little girl and smiled.

"The rice is delicious, dear," she said; "you eat it. As you do the work
you must feed well. You must be very strong to be able to nurse me, so
eat, darling, eat."

Keeping back her tears, Perrine made an effort to eat her dinner. Her
mother continued to talk to her. Little by little she stopped crying and
all the rice disappeared.

"Why don't you try to eat, mother?" she asked. "I forced myself."

"But I'm ill, dear."

"I think I ought to go and fetch a doctor. We are in Paris now and there
are good doctors here."

"Good doctors will not put themselves out unless they are paid."

"We'll pay."

"With what, my child?"

"With our money. You have seven francs in your pocket and a florin which
we could change here. I've got 17 sous. Feel in your pocket."

The black dress, as worn as Perrine's skirt but not so dusty, for it had
been brushed, was lying on the bed, and served for a cover. They found
the seven francs and an Austrian coin.

"How much does that make in all?" asked Perrine; "I don't understand
French money."

"I know very little more than you," replied her mother.

Counting the florin at two francs, they found they had nine francs and
eighty-five centimes.

"You see we have more than what is needed for a doctor," insisted
Perrine.

"He won't cure me with words; we shall have to buy medicine."

"I have an idea. You can imagine that all the time I was walking beside
Palikare I did not waste my time just talking to him, although he likes
that. I was also thinking of both of us, but mostly of you, mama,
because you are sick. And I was thinking of our arrival at Maraucourt.
Everybody has laughed at our wagon as we came along, and I am afraid if
we go to Maraucourt with it we shall not get much of a welcome. If our
relati