Oh, if I could only die!" Gifford walked back, distressed and shocked; he was not old enough yet to know that the desire of death is part of youth, and it seemed as though he too had incurred a great responsibility.

"What a brute I was to say it!" he said to himself.

"I feel as though I had struck a woman.

And it made her wish she was dead,--good heavens! How cruel I was! Yet if it was true, it must have been right to tell her; I suppose it was my brutal way!" Lois went at once to Mrs.Forsythe's bedside, eager to hear of some improvement, but the invalid only shook her head wearily.
"No, no better," she said; "still breathing, that's all.

But you must not grieve; it only distresses me." Lois knelt down, and softly kissed her hand.
"My only trouble," Mrs.Forsythe continued, "is about my boy.