grope for the nearest chair. Then trying to rise and
walk, without having sufficiently recovered, she had
to sit down again; but after a little while she was able
to get upon her feet; and, keeping her hand against
the wall, moved successfully to the door of her own
room. Here she wavered; might have gone down,
had she not been stimulated by the thought of how
much depended upon her;--she made a final great
effort, and floundered across the room to her bureau,
where she kept some simple restoratives. They
served her need, or her faith in them did; and she re-
turned to her work.

She went down the stairs, keeping a still tremulous
hand upon the rail; but she smiled brightly when
Alice looked up from below, where the woodwork was
again being tormented with superfluous attentions.

" Alice, don't!" her mother said, commiseratingly.
"You did all that this morning and it looks lovely.
What's the use of wearing yourself out on it? You
ought to be lying down, so's to look fresh for to-
night."

"Hadn't you better lie down yourself?" the
daughter returned. "Are you ill, mama?"

"Certainly not. What in the world makes you
think so?

-348-