CHAPTER XIX.
IT was late in the afternoon when Mrs.Voss came out of the deep sleep into which the quieting draught administered by Doctor Hillhouse had thrown her.

She awoke from a dream so vivid that she believed it real.
"Oh, Archie, my precious boy!" she exclaimed, starting up and reaching out her hands, a glad light beaming on her countenance.
While her hands were still outstretched the light began to fade, and then died out as suddenly as when a curtain falls.

The boy who stood before her in such clear presence had vanished.

Her eyes swept about the room, but he was not there.

A deadly pallor on her face, a groan on her lips, she fell back shuddering upon the pillow from which she had risen.
Mr.Voss, who was sitting at the bedside, put his arm under her, and lifting her head, drew it against his breast, holding it there tightly, but not speaking.