er
heart, and only gentler feelings were left.

As she lay tired out, thinking over the past, and the future, a curious,
long cry broke the stillness of the night.

"The owl," she said to herself. "I do wish he'd go away from here.
He always frightens me with his miserable noise." She snuggled more
closely into her pillow, and drew the bedclothes up over her ear.
"I'll try to go to sleep, then I shan't hear him."

But, in spite of her efforts, the cry reached her again and again.
"It can't be the owl," she said at last, sitting up in bed, the better to
listen. "It sounds more like a person! Who can it be?"

Again the cry came, "Mo--na! Mo--o--na!"

"Why, it's somebody calling me. It must be granny! Oh, dear!
Whatever can be the matter, to make her call like that."

Shaking all over with fear, she scrambled out of bed, and groped her way
to the door. As she opened it the cry reached her again.

"Mo--na!" This time there could be no doubt about it. It came from her
grandmother's room.

"I'm coming!" she called loudly. "All right, granny, I'm coming."
She ran across the landing, guided by the lights shining through the
chinks in her grandmother's door.

"What's the matter?--are you feeling bad, granny? Do you want something?"

"Yes, I'm feeling very bad. I'm ill, I'm very ill--oh, dear, oh dear,
what shall I do? Oh, I've no one to come and do anything for me.
Oh, dear, oh what can I do?" Granny's groans were dreadful. Mona felt
frightened and helpless. She had not the least idea what to do or say.
What did grown-ups do at times like this? she wondered. She did not know
where, or how, her grandmother suffered, and if she had she would not have
known how to act.

"Do you want me to fetch the doctor? I'll go and put on my clothes.
I won't be more than a minute or two, then I'll come back again----"

"No--no, I can't be left alone all the time, I might die--here, alone;
oh dear, oh dear, what a plight to be left in! Not a living creature to
come to me--but a child! Oh, how bad I do feel!"

"But I must do something, or call somebody," cried Mona desperately.
She had never seen serious illness before, and she was frightened.
Poor old Mrs. Barnes had always been a bad patient, and difficult to
manage, even when her ailments were only trifling; now that she really
felt ill, she had lost all control.

"Granny," said Mona, growing desperate. "I must get someone to come and
help us, you must hav