hausting to strength and
patience; but the shadow rested on her still. It deepened even as her
eye came back from its wanderings, and fell on the dusty path she was
treading.

Amid all the cares and anxieties of the summer--and what with the
illness of the children and their narrow means they had not been few nor
light--there had come and gone and come again a vague fear as to the
welfare of her sister, Christie. Christie's first letter--the only one
she had as yet received from her--did not alarm her much. She, poor
child, had said so little that was discouraging about her own situation,
and had spoken so hopefully of being out of the hospital soon, that they
had never dreamed that anything very serious was the matter with her.
Of course, the fact of her having to go to the hospital at all gave them
pain, but still it seemed the best thing she could have done in her
circumstances, and they never doubted but all would soon be well.

As the weeks passed on with no further tidings, Effie grew anxious at
times, and wondered much that her sister did not write, but it never
came into her mind that she was silent because that by writing she could
only give them pain. They all thought she must be better--that possibly
she had gone to the sea-side with the family, and that, in the bustle of
departure, either she had not written, or her letter had been mislaid
and never been sent.

But somehow, as Effie walked along that afternoon, the vague fear that
had so often haunted her came back with a freshness that startled her.
She could not put it from her, as she might have tried to do had she
been speaking to any one of it. The remembrance that it was the night
of the mail, and that, if no letter came, she must endure another week
of waiting, made her heart sicken with impatient longing. And yet, what
could she do but wait and hope?

"And I must wait cheerfully too," she said to herself, as she drew near
home and heard the voices of the children. "And after all, I need not
fear for Christie. I do believe it will be well with her, whatever
happens. Surely I can trust her in a Father's hands."

"How long you have been, Effie!" cried her little sister, Kate, as she
made her appearance. "Mrs Nesbitt is here, and Nellie and I have made
tea ready, and you'll need to hasten, for Mrs Nesbitt canna bide long;
it is dark so soon now."

Effie's face brightened, as it always did at the sight of a friend, and
she greeted Mrs Nes