"Oh! _beg_ him to come home soon, _very_ soon; tell him I want to see him once more.

Oh, Aunt Adelaide, he _will_ kiss me when I am dying, won't he?
Oh, say you think he will." "I am _sure_ of it, darling," replied Adelaide soothingly, as she bent down and kissed the little feverish cheek; "but we are not going to let you die yet." "But will you ask papa?
will you _beg_ him to come ?" pleaded the little voice still more eagerly.
"I will, I _have_, darling," replied the aunt; "and I doubt not that he will start for home immediately on receiving my letter." Day after day the fever raged in Elsie's veins, and when at length it was subdued, it left her very weak indeed; but the doctor pronounced her free from disease, and said she only needed good nursing and nutritious diet to restore her to health; and Mrs.Travilla and Chloe, who had watched day and night by her couch with intense anxiety, wept for joy and thankfulness that their precious one was yet spared to them.
But alas! their hopes faded again, as day after day the little girl lay on her bed, weak and languid, making no progress toward recovery, but rather losing strength.
The doctor shook his head with a disappointed air, and drawing Adelaide aside, said, "I cannot understand it, Miss Dinsmore; has she any mental trouble?
She seems to me like one who has some weight of care or sorrow pressing upon her, and sapping the very springs of life.

She appears to have no desire to recover; she needs something to rouse her, and revive her love of life.

_Is_ there anything on her mind?
If so, it must be removed, or she will certainly die." "She is very anxious to see her father," said Adelaide, weeping.

"Oh, _how_ I wish he would come! I cannot imagine what keeps him.