Mrs.Carr had been steadily growing feebler all summer; but the change had seemed to Mercy to be more mental than physical, and she had been in a measure blinded to her mother's real condition.

With the increase of childishness and loss of memory had come an increased gentleness and love of quiet, which partially disguised the loss of strength.

She would sit in her chair from morning till night, looking out of the window or watching the movements of those around her, with an expression of perfect placidity on her face.

When she was spoken to, she smiled, but did not often speak.

The smile was meaningless and yet infinitely pathetic: it was an infant's smile on an aged face; the infant's heart and infant's brain had come back.