He did not say how sick, and Maude felt no alarm, but waited patiently until Jerrie should appear.

For Maude, on her brass bedstead with its silken hangings, and every possible luxury around her, there were hired nurses and a mother's care, with many kind inquiries, while it would seem as if every hand in town was stretched out to Jerrie, who was a general favorite.

Flowers and fruit and delicacies of every kind were sent to the cottage, carriage after carriage stopped before the door, offer after offer of assistance was made to Mrs.Crawford, while Nina and Marian Raymond were there constantly; and Billy went to Springfield for a chair in which to wheel his sister to the cottage, for she could not yet mount into the dog-cart; and Tom and Dick whittled on until the cross and the grave-stone were finished, and, with a sickly smile, Tom said to Dick: 'Would you cut Jerrie's name upon it ?' 'No; oh, no!' Dick answered, with a gasp.

'She may be better to-morrow.' When, after a few days, the crisis was past, and Jerrie's strong constitution triumphed over the disease which had grappled with it, the whole town wore a holiday air as the people said to each other gladly: 'Jerrie is better; Jerrie will live!' Her recovery was rapid, and within a week after the fever left her and she awoke to perfect consciousness, she was able to sit up a part of every day, and had walked across the floor and read a letter from Harold to his grandmother, full of solicitude for herself and enthusiasm for his trip over the wild mountains and across the vast plains to the lovely little city of Tacoma, built upon a cliff and looking seaward over the sound.
'Dear Harold,' Jerrie whispered.

'I shall be so glad when he comes home.
Nothing can be done till then, and I am so bewildered when I try to think.' In her weak state, everything seemed unreal to Jerrie, except the fact that she had found her mother--and such a mother!--and many times each day she thanked her God who had brought her this unspeakable joy, and asked that she might do right when the time came to act.