"I am glad there is no engagement.

Will you promise there shall not be for one year at least ?" "Yes, I will, I do," Alice said at last.
A second "God bless my darling," came from the mother's lips, and drawing her treasure nearer to her, she continued: "You have made me very happy, and by and by you'll be so glad.

You may leave me now, for I am tired and sick." It was long ere Alice forgot the expression of her mother's face or the sound of her voice, so full of love and tenderness, as she bade her good-night on that last evening they ever spent together alone.

The indisposition of which Mrs.Johnson had been complaining for several days, proved to be no light matter, and when next morning Dr.Rogers was summoned to her bedside, he decided it to be a fever which was then prevailing to some extent in the neighboring towns.
That afternoon it was told at Terrace Hill that Mrs.Johnson was very sick, and half an hour later the Richards carriage, containing the doctor and his Sister Anna, wound down the hill, and passing through the park, turned in the direction of the cottage, where they found Mrs.
Johnson even worse than they had anticipated.

The sight of distress aroused Anna at once, and forgetting her own feebleness she kindly offered to stay until night if she could be of any service.