"I declare, I didn't know it could look so pretty.

But then, what's the use ?" she sighed, dropping the little glass into the bedclothes, and rolling her head on the pillow fretfully.
A little later, when Milly, Mrs.Snow's daughter, came in, the mirror still lay among the bedclothes it had been carefully hidden from sight.
"Why, mother--the curtain is up!" cried Milly, dividing her amazed stare between the window and the pink in her mother's hair.
"Well, what if it is ?" snapped the sick woman.

"I needn't stay in the dark all my life, if I am sick, need I ?" "Why, n-no, of course not," rejoined Milly, in hasty conciliation, as she reached for the medicine bottle.

"It's only--well, you know very well that I've tried to get you to have a lighter room for ages and you wouldn't." There was no reply to this.

Mrs.Snow was picking at the lace on her nightgown.