he should disturb their slumbers. At last with a vague presentiment
that all was not right, he raised the latch and entered, but instantly
started back in astonishment at the scene before him. On the little
trundlebed lay Frank, cold and dead, and near him in the same long
dreamless sleep was his mother, while between them, with one arm
thrown lovingly across her brother's neck, and her cheek pressed
against his, lay Mary--her eyelids moist with the tears which, though
sleeping she still shed. On the other side of Frank and nestled so
closely to him that her warm breath lifted the brown curls from his
brow, was Ella. But there were no tear stains on her face, for she
did not yet know how bereaved she was.

For a moment Billy stood irresolute, and then as Mary moved uneasily
in her slumbers, he advanced a step or two towards her. The noise
aroused her, and instantly remembering and comprehending the whole,
she threw herself with a bitter cry into Billy's extended arms, as if
he alone were all the protector she now had in the wide, wide world.
Ere long Ella too awoke, and the noisy outburst which followed the
knowledge of her loss, made Mary still the agony of her own heart in
order to soothe the more violent grief of her excitable sister.

There was a stir in the cradle, and with a faint cry the baby Alice
awoke and stretched her hands towards Mary who, with all a mother's
care took the child upon her lap and fed her from the milk which was
still standing in the broken pitcher. With a baby's playfulness Alice
dipped her small fingers into the milk, and shaking them in her
sister's face, laughed aloud as the white drops fell upon her hair.
This was too much for poor Mary, and folding the child closer to her
bosom she sobbed passionately.