attendant Sister to ask her, when reason returned, whether she did
not wish any relative to be sent for. Lotty was frightened, but, as
long as she was told that there was still hope of recovery, declined
to mention any name. The stubborn independence which had supported
her through these long years asserted itself again, as a reaction
after her fruitless appeal; at moments she felt that she could die
with her lips closed, and let what might happen to her child. But
when she at length read upon the faces of those about her that her
fate hung in the balance, and when she saw the face of little Ida,
come there she knew not how, looking upon her from the bedside, then
her purpose yielded, and in a whisper she told her father's address,
and begged that he might be apprised of her state.

Abraham Woodstock arrived at the hospital, but to no purpose. Lotty
had lost her consciousness. He waited for some hours; there was no
return of sensibility. When it had been long dark, and he had
withdrawn from the ward for a little, he was all at once hastily
summoned back. He stood by the bedside, his hands behind his back,
his face set in a hard gaze upon the pale features on the pillow.
Opposite to him stood the medical man, and a screen placed around
the bed shut them off from the rest of the ward. All at once Lotty's
eyes opened. It seemed as though she recognised her father, for a
look of surprise came to her countenance. Then there was a gasping
for breath, a struggle, and the eyes saw no more, for all their
staring.

Mr. Woodstock left the hospital. At the first public-house he
reached he entered and drank a glass of whisky. The barman had
forgotten the piece of lemon, and was rewarded with an oath
considerably stronger than the occasion seemed to warrant. Arrived