"But he will get the care--and your mother knows the whole state of the case." "Yes, she knows," said Marcella.

"I wish I did." And a sudden painful expression--of moral worry, remorse--passed across the girl's face.

Wharton knew that she had often been impatient of late with her father, and incredulous of his complaints.

He thought he understood.
"One can often be of more use to a sick person if one is not too well acquainted with what ails them," he said.

"Hope and cheerfulness are everything in a case like your father's.