nearly thirty hours, to all that passed around me. It was afternoon when
I awoke, as if from a deep sleep, to find myself alone with Mrs. Austin
in my chamber.

Except from a sense of lassitude I experienced no unpleasant sensations,
and I found myself marveling at the causes that could have consigned me
in health to my bed and bed-gown, to my shadowed chamber and the
supervision of my faithful nurse, when the sound of suppressed yet
numerous footsteps in the hall below met my ear, and the consciousness
that something unusual was going on took possession of and quickened my
still lethargic faculties.

"What does all this mean, Mrs. Austin?" I asked at last, in a voice
feeble as an infant's, "and what are those steps below? Why am I so
weak, and what are you doing here? Answer me, I beseech you," and I
clasped my hands piteously.

"Eat your panada, Miriam, and ask no questions," she said, lifting a
bowl from above a spirit-lamp on the chimney-piece, and bearing it
toward me. "Here it is, nice and hot. The doctor said you were to take
it as soon as you awoke."

I received eagerly the nourishment of which I stood so greatly in need,
spiced and seasoned as it was with nutmegs and Madeira wine, and, as I
felt new strength return to me with the warmth that coursed through my
veins, the memory of all that had passed surged rapidly back, as a
suspended wave breaks on the strand, and with the shock I was restored
to perfect consciousness.

"I know what it all means now," I cried. "Mamma! mamma! Let me go to my