A TEKEIBLE DISASTER 49 warm climate, but as it is, no change could be made for the better.”

“ Thank you, doctor ; I wanted to know the exact truth and be able to make my arrangements accordingly. I was quite convinced that my condition was hopeless, but I thought it right to consult a physician, and to know how much time I could reckon on. Can you tell me that ? ” That is always difficult, Mrs. Hilliard. It may be three months hence ; it might be more speedily—a vessel might give way in the lungs suddenly. On the other hand, you might live six months. Of course I cannot say how rapid the progress of the disease has been.”

It may not be a week, doctor. I am not at all afraid of hearing your sentence—indeed I can see it in your eyes.”

“ It may be within a week ”—the doctor bowed his head gravely,—“ it may be at any time.”

“ Thank you ! ” she said quietly ; “ I was sure it could not be long. I have been teaching, but three weeks ago I had to give up my last pupil. My breath is so short that the slightest exertion brings on a fit of coughing.” On her return home she said to Gregory : ‘‘ My dear boy, you must have seen—you cannot have helped seeing—that my time is not long here. I have seen an English doctor to-day, and he says the end may come at any moment.”

“ Oh, Mother, Mother ! ” the lad cried, throwing himself on his knees and burying his face in her lap, don’t say so ! ” The news, indeed, did not come as a surprise to him. He had for months noticed the steady change in her: how her face had fallen away, how her hands seemed nerveless, her flesh transparent, and her eyes grew larger and larger. Many times he had walked far up among the hills, and when beyond the reach of human eye, thrown himself down and cried unrestrainedly until his strength seemed utterly exhausted, and yet the verdict now given seemed to come as a sudden blow.

“ You must not break down, dear,” she said quietly. “ For