That night, when John Jr. came up to his room, he appeared somewhat moody and cross, barely speaking to Mabel, and then walking up and down the room with the heavy tread which always indicated a storm within.  He had that day been to Frankfort, hearing that Nellie was really coming home very soon—­very possibly she was now on her way.  Of course she would visit Mabel, when she heard she was sick, and of course he must meet her face to face, must stand with her at the bedside of his wife and that wife Mabel.  In his heart he did not accuse the latter of feigning her illness, but he wished she would get well faster, so that Nellie need not feel obliged to visit her.  She could at least make an effort—­a great deal depended upon that—­and she had now been confined to her room three or four weeks.

Thus he reflected as he walked, and at last his thoughts formed themselves into words.  Stopping short at the foot of the bed, he said abruptly and without looking her in the face, “How do you feel tonight?”

The stifled cough which Mabel tried to suppress because it was offensive to him, brought a scowl to his forehead, and in imagination he anticipated her answer, “I do not think I am any better.”

“And I don’t believe you try to be,” sprang to his lips, but its utterance was prevented by a glance at her face, which by the flickering lamplight looked whiter than ever.

“Nellie is coming home in a few weeks,” he said at length, with his usual precipitancy.

’Twas the first time Mabel had heard that name since the night when her mother-in-law had rang it in her ears, and now she started so quickly, that the offending cough could not be forced back, and the coughing fit which followed was so violent that John Jr., as he held the bowl to her quivering lips, saw that what she had raised was streaked with blood.  But he was unused to sickness, and he gave it no farther thought, resuming the conversation as soon as she became quiet.

“To be plain, Meb,” said he, “I want you to hurry and get well before Nellie comes—­for if you are sick she’ll feel in duty bound to visit you, and I’d rather face a loaded cannon than her.”

Mabel was too much exhausted to answer immediately, and she lay so long with her eyes closed that John Jr., growing impatient, said, “Are you asleep, Meb?”

“No, no,” said she, at the same time requesting him to take the vacant chair by her side, as she wished to talk with him.

John Jr. hated to be talked to, particularly by her, for he felt that she had much cause to reproach him; but she did not, and as she proceeded, his heart melted toward her in a manner which he had never thought possible.  Very gently she spoke of her approaching end as sure.

“You ask me to make haste and be well,” said she, “but it cannot be.  I shall never go out into the bright sunshine again, never join you in the parlor below, and before the cold winds of winter are blowing, I shall be dead.  I hope I shall live until Nellie comes, for I must see her, I must make it right between her and you.  I must tell her to forgive you for marrying me when you loved only her; and she will listen—­she won’t refuse me, and when I am gone you’ll be happy together.”