floor senseless. We called a doctor immediately, but he failed to
restore him."

"O, call another doctor!" said Rosa, imploringly; and Floracita almost
shrieked, "Tell me where to _go_ for a doctor."

"We have already summoned one on the way," said young Blumenthal, "but
I will go to hasten him";--and, half blinded by his tears, he hurried
into the street.

The doctor came in two minutes, and yet it seemed an age. Meanwhile
the wretched girls were chafing their father's cold hands, and holding
sal-volatile to his nose, while Madame Guirlande and Tulipa were
preparing hot water and hot cloths. When the physician arrived, they
watched his countenance anxiously, while he felt the pulse and laid
his hand upon the heart. After a while he shook his head and said,
"Nothing can be done. He is dead."

Rosabella fell forward, fainting, on the body. Floracita uttered
shriek upon shriek, while Madame Guirlande and Tulipa vainly tried to
pacify her. The doctor at last persuaded her to swallow some valerian,
and Tulipa carried her in her arms and laid her on the bed. Madame
Guirlande led Rosa away, and the two sisters lay beside each other, on
the same pillows where they had dreamed such happy dreams the night
before. Floracita, stunned by the blow that had fallen on her so
suddenly, and rendered drowsy by the anodyne she had taken, soon fell
into an uneasy slumber, broken by occasional starts and stifled sobs.
Rosabella wept silently, but now and then a shudder passed over her,
that showed how hard she was struggling with grief. After a short
time, Flora woke up bewildered. A lamp was burning in the farther part