The lamp was burning dimly on the bureau, and so Anna failed to see the frightful expression of Adah's face, as she performed her accustomed duties, brushing Anna's hair, and letting her hands linger caressingly amid the locks she might never touch again.
It did strike Anna that something was the matter; for when Adah spoke to her, the voice was husky and unnatural.

Still, she paid no attention until the chapter was read as usual and "Our Father" said; then, as Adah lingered a moment, still kneeling by the bed, she laid her soft hand on the young head, and asked, kindly, "if it ached." "No, not my head, not my head," and Adah continued impetuously; "Anna, tell me, have I pleased you ?--do you like me?
would you, could you love me if I were your equal--love me as I do you ?" Anna noticed that the "Miss" was dropped from her name, that her maid was treating her more familiarly than she had ever done before; and for an instant a flush showed on her cheek, for pride was Anna's besetting sin, the one from which she daily prayed to be delivered.

There was an inward struggle, a momentary conflict, such as every Christian warrior has felt at times, and then the flush was gone from the white cheek, and her hand still lay on Adah's head, as she replied: "I do not understand why you question me thus, but I will answer just the same.

I do like you very much, and you have always seemed to me much like an equal.

I could hardly do without you now." "And Willie?
If I should die, or anything happen to me, would you care for Willie ?" There was something very earnest in Adah's tone as she pleaded for her boy, and had Anna been at all suspicious, she must have guessed there was something wrong.