mother watches over her babe. Gradually the life-current in the
veins of the sick woman became fuller and stronger. Gradually her
mind acquired the power of acting through the external senses. Ellen
perceived this. Now had come the ardently hoped-for time. With a
noiseless step, with a voice low and tender, with hands that did
their office almost caressingly, she anticipated and met every want
of the invalid.

As light began again to dawn upon the mind of Mrs. Linden, she could
not but notice the sweet-faced, gentle, assiduous stranger who had
become her nurse. Her first feeling was one of gratitude, blended
with affection. Never before had any one been so devoted to her;
never before had any one appeared to regard her with such a real
wish to do her good.

"What is your name, my dear?" she asked one day, in a feeble voice,
looking up into her face.

A warm flush came over the cheeks of Ellen; her eyes dropped to the
floor. She hesitated for several moments; then she replied in a low
voice--"Ellen."

Mrs. Linden looked at her earnestly, but said nothing in reply.

"Who is this nurse you have been so kind to procure for me?" Mrs.
Linden said to her friend, a few days subsequently. She had gained
much in a short time.

"She is a stranger to me. I never saw her before she came and said
that she had heard that there was a sick lady here who wished a