duty as a nurse demanded that I send for a doctor at once, and I want
you to know that is what I did, though I have not been successful in
getting one. There is no doctor here, so I telegraphed; but the doctor
at Barton's Mills is away."

"Yes," said Helena mechanically.

"I just wanted you to understand," said Miss Harvey. "Will you come and
see Mrs. Thornton now?"

"Does she know," whispered Helena, as she followed the nurse down the
corridor of the car, "does she know that--how ill she is?"

"Yes," Miss Harvey answered simply. She stopped before a compartment
door, opened it softly, and, stepping aside, motioned Helena to enter.

A little cry rose to Helena's lips that she choked back somehow, and a
mist for a moment blinded her eyes--then she was kneeling beside the
brass bed, and was holding in both her own the hand that was stretched
out to her.

"Helena--dear--I am so glad you came," said Mrs. Thornton faintly. "I--I
am not going to get better, and there are some things I want to say to
you."

"Oh, but you are," returned Helena quickly, smiling bravely now. "You
mustn't say that."

Mrs. Thornton shook her head.