She blamed herself for not having noticed that the child had been growing thin and pale during the last few weeks, and she recalled, now that it was too late, several times when she had thought that Elsli looked over-heated and tired, but she had done nothing about it, thinking it only a passing matter.

She sent at once for the physician.

He gave little hope of the child's recovery.

He said she had evidently been "running down" for some time, and she must have been eating too little and doing too much, and, besides, he suspected some mental depression and anxiety.

All this, acting on a frame naturally delicate and weakened by the hardships of her early years, had more than counteracted the gain that Elsli had certainly made during the first months of her life at Rosemount.
Clarissa then told Mrs.Stanhope the story which the little girl had related to her, and their tears fell fast over the simple tale of pity and self-sacrifice.