“Ah, my brave little soldier!  Tell us your name.”

“Edna Earl.”

“Have you no relatives?” asked the lady, stooping to scrutinize her face.

“No, ma’am.”

“She is a very pretty child, Mrs. Murray, and if you can take care of her, even for a few weeks, until she is able to walk about, it will be a real charity.  I never saw so much fortitude displayed by one so young; but her fever is increasing, and she needs immediate attention.  Will it be convenient for you to carry her to your house at once?”

“Certainly, doctor; order the carriage driven up as close as possible.  I brought a small mattress, and think the ride will not be very painful.  What splendid eyes she has!  Poor little thing!  Of course you will come and prescribe for her, and I will see that she is carefully nursed until she is quite well again.  Here, Henry, you and Richard must lift this child, and put her on the mattress in the carriage.  Mind you do not stumble and hurt her.”

During the drive neither spoke, and Edna was in so much pain that she lay with her eyes closed.  As they entered a long avenue, the rattle of the wheels on the gravel aroused the child’s attention, and when the carriage stopped, and she was carried up a flight of broad marble steps, she saw that the house was very large and handsome.

“Bring her into the room next to mine,” said Mrs. Murray, leading the way.

Edna was soon undressed and placed within the snowy sheets of a heavily-carved bedstead, whose crimson canopy shed a ruby light down on the laced and ruffled pillows.  Mrs. Murray administered a dose of medicine given to her by Dr. Rodney, and after closing the blinds to exclude the light, she felt the girl’s pulse, found that she had fallen into a heavy sleep, and then, with a sigh, went down to take her breakfast.  It was several hours before Edna awoke, and when she opened her eyes, and looked around the elegantly furnished and beautiful room, she felt bewildered.  Mrs. Murray sat in a cushioned chair, near one of the windows, with a book in her hand, and Edna had an opportunity of studying her face.  It was fair, proud, and handsome, but wore an expression of habitual anxiety; and gray hairs showed themselves under the costly lace that bordered her morning head-dress, while lines of care marked her brow and mouth.  Children instinctively decipher the hieroglyphics which time carves on human faces, and, in reading the countenance of her hostess, Edna felt that she was a haughty, ambitious woman, with a kind but not very warm heart, who would be scrupulously attentive to the wants of a sick child, but would probably never dream of caressing or fondling such a charge.  Chancing to glance towards the bed as she turned a leaf, Mrs. Murray met the curious gaze fastened upon her, and, rising, approached the sufferer.

“How do you feel, Edna?  I believe that is your name.”

“Thank you, my head is better, but I am very thirsty.”  The lady of the house gave her some iced water in a silver goblet, and ordered a servant to bring up the refreshments she had directed prepared.  As she felt the girl’s pulse, Edna noticed how white and soft her hands were, and how dazzlingly the jewels flashed on her fingers, and she longed for the touch of those aristocratic hands on her hot brow, where the hair clustered so heavily.