So attentive was my landlady that she was a ministering angel. Yet I
lay on that sofa plotting how to get her out of the room. The plan that
seemed the simplest was to pretend sleep, but it was not easily carried
out. Not getting any answer from me, she would approach on tiptoe and
lean over the sofa, listening to hear me breathe. Convinced that I was
still living, she and Sarah Ann began a conversation in whispers, of
which I or the deceased husband was the subject. The husband had slept
a good deal, too, and it wasn't a healthy sign.

"It isn't a good sign," whispered my landlady, "though them as know no
better might think it is. It shows he's getting weaker. When they takes
to sleeping in the day-time, it's only because they don't have the
strength to keep awake."

"Oh, missus!" Sarah Ann would say.

"Better face facts, Sarah Ann," replied my landlady.

In the end I had generally to sit up and confess that I heard what they
were saying. My landlady evidently thought this another bad sign.

I discovered that my landlady held receptions in another room, where
visitors came who referred to me as her "trial." When she thought me
distinctly worse, she put on her bonnet and went out to disseminate the
sad news. It was on one of these occasions that Sarah Ann, who had been
left in charge of the children, came to me with a serious request.

"Them children," she said, "want awful to see you, and I sort of
promised to bring 'em in, if so you didn't mind."

"But, Sarah Ann, they have seen me often, and, though I'm a good deal
better, I don't feel equal to speaking to them."

Sarah Ann smiled pityingly when I said I felt better, but she assured me
the children only wanted to look at me. I refused her petition, but, on
my ultimatum being announced to them, they set up such a roar that, to
quiet them, I called them in.

They came one at a time. Sophia, the eldest, came first. She looked at
me very solemnly, and then said bravely that If I liked she would kiss
me. As she had a piece of flannel tied round her face, and was swollen
in the left cheek, I declined this honor, and she went off much
relieved. Next came Tommy, who sent up a shriek as his eyes fell on me,
and had to be carried off by Sarah Ann. Johnny was bolder and franker,
but addressed all his remarks to Sarah Ann. First, he wanted to know if
he could touch me, and, being told he could, he felt my face all over.
Then, he wanted to see the "spouter." The "spout