thing has come near her, and no rough word has ever been said to her.
And now you come and will take her life into your hand, and will crush
it. Strangers to her have been kind to her; but her own father--Mr
Frank, I am her nurse, and I love her, and I tend her, and I would do
anything for her that I could. Her mother's heart beats as hers beats;
and, if she suffers a pain, her mother trembles all over. If she is
happy, it is her mother that smiles and is glad. If she is growing
stronger, her mother is healthy: if she dwindles, her mother
languishes. If she dies--well, I don't know; it is not everyone can
lie down and die when they wish it. Come upstairs, Mr Frank, and see
your child. Seeing her will do good to your poor heart. Then go away,
in God's name, just this one night; tomorrow, if need be, you can do
anything--kill us all if you will, or show yourself a great, grand
man, whom God will bless for ever and ever. Come, Mr Frank, the look
of a sleeping child is sure to give peace.'

She led him upstairs; at first almost helping his steps, till they
came near the nursery door. She had wellnigh forgotten the existence
of little Edwin. It struck upon her with affright as the shaded light
fell over the other cot; but she skilfully threw that corner of the
room into darkness, and let the light fall on the sleeping Ailsie.
The child had thrown down the coverings, and her deformity, as she
lay with her back to them, was plainly visible through her slight
nightgown. Her little face, deprived of the lustre of her eyes, looked
wan and pinched, and had a pathetic expression in it, even as she
slept. The poor father looked and looked with hungry, wistful eyes,
into which the big tears came swelling up slowly and dropped heavily
down, as he stood trembling and shaking all over. Norah was angry
with herself for growing impatient of the length of time that long
lingering gaze lasted. She thought that she waited for full half an