“I sha’n’t say a word, father,” Maria responded, quickly.

“Well, I thought maybe—­if they turned out all right, I might have something to leave you, but—­they didn’t.  There’s never any counting on those things, and I wasn’t on the inside of the market.  I thought they were all right.  I meant it for the best.”

Maria stroked the gray head, as her mother might have done.  “Of course you did, father,” said she.  “Now, don’t you worry one bit more about it.  You get that tonic.  You don’t look just right, and you need something to give you an appetite; and don’t you ever have another thought as far as I am concerned.  I have always wanted to teach, or do something to make myself independent.”

“You may marry somebody who will look out for you after father has gone,” half whimpered Harry.  His disease and his distress were making him fairly childish, now he realized a supporting love beside him.

Maria quivered a little.  “I shall never marry, father,” she said.

Harry laughed a little, even in the midst of his distress.  “Well, dear, we won’t worry about that now,” he said; “only, if you ever do marry, I hope you will marry a good, honest man who can take care of you.”

“I never shall marry,” Maria said again.  There was an odd inflection in her voice which her father did not understand.  Her cheeks burned hot against his, but it was not due to the modesty of young girlhood, which flees even that which it secretly desires.  Maria was reflecting upon her horrible deception, how every day and every minute of her life she was deceiving her father, but she dared not tell him.  She dared less now than ever, in the light of her sudden conviction concerning his ill-health.  Maria had been accustomed so long to seeing her father look tired and old that the true significance of it had not struck her.  She had not reflected that her father was not in reality an old man—­but scarcely past middle age—­and that there must be some disease to account for his appearance.  Now she knew; but along with the knowledge came the conviction that he must not know that she had it, that it would only add to his distress.  She kissed him, and took up the evening paper which had fallen from his knees to the floor.

“Suppose I read to you, father?” she said.

Harry looked gratefully at her.  “But you have to learn your lesson.”

“Oh, I can finish that in school to-morrow.  I don’t feel like working any more to-night, and I do feel like reading the paper.”

“Won’t it tire you, dear?”

“Tire me?  Now, father, what do you take me for?” Maria settled herself in a chair.  Harry leaned back his head contentedly; he had always like to be read to, and lately reading to himself had hurt his eyes.  “Now, what shall I read, father?” she said.

Poor Harry, remembering his own futile investments, asked for the stock-list, and Maria read it very intelligently for a young girl who knew nothing about stocks.