Still hope; your dear father may be spared to us;" and she put her arms caressingly around her.
"Hope!" echoed Florence; "I have ceased to hope that he will recover.
I know that he cannot; and in a few hours I shall be alone in the world.

Alone, alone!" she repeated the words, as if fully to realize the misery in store for her.

"O God! why hast thou not taken me before?
Take me now; oh, in mercy, take me with him!" In vain Mary strove to soothe and console her; she remained perfectly still, her face hid in her arms, and replied not to her anxious questionings.

A long silence ensued, and Mary wept.

A feeling of desolation began to creep over her; a second time she was to be thrown on the wide, cold world.