She drew a quick breath, and her face paled.

"I will not cry," she said,--"I will not fret. I promise you,
Dad!"

She came close up to him as she spoke. He took her gently in his
arms and kissed her.

"That's a brave girl!" And holding her by the hand he drew her
towards the open window--"Look out there! See how the stars shine!
Always the same, no matter what happens to us poor folk down
here,--they twinkle as merrily over our graves as over our
gardens,--and yet if we're to believe what we're taught nowadays,
they're all worlds more or less like our own, full of living
creatures that suffer and die like ourselves. It's a queer plan of
the Almighty, to keep on making wonderful and beautiful things
just to destroy them! There seems no sense in it!"

He sat down again in his chair, and she, obeying his gesture,
brought a low stool to his feet and settled herself upon it,
leaning against his knee. Her face was upturned to his and the
flickering light of the tall candles quivering over it showed the
wistful tender watchfulness of its expression--a look which seemed
to trouble him, for he avoided her eyes.

"You want to know what the London doctor said," he began. "Well,
child, you'll not be any the better for knowing, but it's as I
thought. I've got my death-warrant. Slowton was not sure about
me,--but this man, ill as he is himself, has had too much