fe.

She motioned for me to bend down, for she was almost past speech; then
raising both hands she tried to push back my hat. I flung it aside, and
she passed her hands over my hair again and again, and drew her thin
fingers, from whose touch I did not shrink now, through the curling
rings about my forehead and temples; then her lips moved, and Tony
stooped to listen.

"She says hers 'more purtier,'" said the poor little brother, half
choking.

"Yes, Matty," I said, "much prettier. You had the prettiest hair I ever
saw." Then, as a sudden inspiration flashed upon me, "I am going to
that barber to buy back your hair, Matty; and Tony shall have it for
his own to keep all his life."

Her face brightened, and a smile, the first, the only smile I ever saw
upon it, lightened it and almost transfigured it; then she turned her
eyes from me, and looked around the little store till they rested upon
a beautiful pink azalea which stood at a little distance,--beautiful in
itself, but not for the purpose for which Matty wanted it.

Taking one hand from my hair, while the fingers of the other still
lingered among my curls, she pointed to the plant, and looked wistfully
at Johnny. The good German was not usually quick of comprehension; but
he understood the mute appeal now, and he asked in a voice even more
husky than his usual guttural tones,--

"Vat you vants, Maddy? Some dem vlowers?"

She nodded assent, and the florist hastily cut a cluster, and put it in
her hand. With fast-failing strength she tried to place it in my hair;
but the effort was too much; and Milly, who stood behind me, assisted
her to arrange the blossoms as she would have them. A look of intense
satisfaction passed over the pallid face, as though to her untutored
taste this glaring adornment was all that could be desired; then the
hands fell, and the lips moved.

Both Tony and I tried to hear; but the only word I could hear was,
"suffer."

"Do you suffer so, poor little Matty?" I asked, for the doctor had
assured us that she did not.

She shook her head feebly, and I heard the word "children."

"What children? Do you mean you want to see my little sisters, Matty?"
I asked.

"No, miss," interposed Tony. "I knows what she means. It is a teks was
hung up in the Sunday-school room right forninst where she sat, an' she
used to sit starin' at it like she hadn't nothin' else to think on; an'
the lady what run the class teached it to her one day, 'cause it