But the little being had her life in its veins, and slowly he felt
himself drawn earthward by this new claim upon his love and
sympathy.

A strange feeling came over him as the nurse took the little child,
and laid upon the bed the robes its mother had prepared for it.

It was too much, and the heart-stricken man left the room, and
locking himself in his library, where he had spent so many happy
hours with his lost one, gave full vent to the deep anguish of his
soul. He heard the kind physician's steps as he left, and no more.
For hours he sat bowed in grief, and silent, while sorrow's bitter
waters surged over him.

No more would her sweet smile light his home; no more her voice call
his name in those tender tones, that had so often been music to his
ears; no more could they walk or sit in the moonlight and converse.
Was it really true? Had Alice gone, or was it not all a troubled
dream?

Noon came, and his brow became more fevered. But there was no soft
hand to soothe the pain away. Night came, and still he sat and
mourned; and then the sound of voices reached his ears. He roused
himself to meet the friends and relations of his dear departed one,
and then all seemed vague, indefinite and dreamlike.

The funeral rites, the burial, the falling earth upon the coffin
lid; these all passed before him, then like one in a stupor he went
back to his home, and took up the broken threads of life again, and
learned to live and smile for his bright-eyed, beautiful Dawn. May