"A sudden sound may start the hemorrhage again,--the slightest shock is
sure to." After that, not for worlds would she have moved a finger.

The day passed and another night drew on. One of the physicians was
constantly in attendance, for the hemorrhage returned at intervals. Just
as the rose-tinted dawn looked shyly through the windows, her father
spoke, and Evadne bent her head to catch the faint tone of the voice
which sounded so far away.

"Vad, darling, I have made an awful mistake! I thought everything a
sham. I know better now. Make it the business of your life, little Vad,
to find Jesus Christ."

Again the red stream stained his lips, and Dr. Danvers came swiftly
forward, but Lenox Hildreth was forever beyond all need of human care.

* * * * *

A week passed, and day after day Evadne sat by her window, speaking no
word. Outdoors the fountain still sparkled in the sunshine and the birds
sang, but for her the foundations of life had been shaken to their
center. Her friends tried in vain to break up her unnatural calm.

"If you would only have a good cry, Evadne," Geoffrey Chittenden said
at last, "you would feel better, dear. That is what all girls do, you
know."

She turned upon him a pair of solemn eyes, out of which the merry
sparkle had faded. "Will crying give me back my father?"