I didn't sleep quite so well as usual last night, and my head aches.

I'll lie down and try to get a nap." "Do, dear, and I hope it will relieve the poor head.

As you are a healthy little body, I presume the pain has been brought on merely by loss of sleep and crying.

I think Edward must not leave you for so long a time again.

Would you like mamma to stay with you, darling ?" she asked, with a motherly caress.
Zoe declined the offer; she would be more likely to sleep if quite alone; and Elsie withdrew after seeing her comfortably established upon the bed.
"Strange," she said to herself as she passed on through the upper hall and down the broad staircase into the lower one, "it can hardly be that Edward's absence alone can distress her so greatly.