I stood erect to show him how brave I could be.
Then he took me in his arms.
"My dearest little Laura," he said, "two angels have been with us during the night--the angel of life and the angel of death.

You have had a little brother, but he only lived one hour.

Now he is dead, and mamma is very dangerously ill.

Tho doctors say that unless she has most perfect rest she will not get better--there must not be a sound in the house." A little brother! At first my child's mind was so filled with wonder I could not realize what it meant.

How often I had longed for brothers and sisters! Now I had had one, and he was dead before I could see him.
"I should like to see my little brother, papa--if I may," I said.
He paused thoughtfully for a few minutes, then answered: "I am quite sure you may, Laura; I will take you." We went, without making even the faintest sound, to the pretty rooms that had been set aside as nurseries.