“Now don’t stir from there until I come back,” said the kind lady, and left the room.  In a little while she returned, with a small waiter in her hand, containing a goblet of wine sangaree and a biscuit.

“Take this, Mary.  It will do you good.”

The eyes which had not been unclosed since Mrs. Wykoff went out, were all wet as Mary Carson opened them.

“Oh, you are so kind!” There was gratitude in her voice.  Rising, she took the wine, and drank of it like one athirst.  Then taking it from her lips, she sat, as if noting her sensations.

“It seems to put life into me,” she said, with a pulse of cheerfulness in her tones.

“Now eat this biscuit,” and Mrs. Wykoff held the waiter near.

The wine drank and the biscuit eaten, a complete change in Miss Carson was visible.  The whiteness around her mouth gave place to a ruddier tint; her face no longer wore an exhausted air; the glassy lustre of her eyes was gone.

“I feel like myself again,” she said, as she left the sofa, and resumed her sewing chair.

“How is your side now?” asked Mrs. Wykoff.

“Easier.  I scarcely perceive the pain.”

“Hadn’t you better lie still a while longer?”

“No, ma’am.  I am all right now.  A weak spell came over me.  I didn’t sleep much last night, and that left me exhausted this morning, and without any appetite.”

“What kept you awake?”

“This dull pain in my side for a part of the time.  Then I coughed a good deal; and then I became wakeful and nervous.”

“Does this often occur, Mary?”

“Well—­yes, ma’am—­pretty often of late.”

“How often?”

“Two or three times a week.”

“Can you trace it to any cause?”

“Not certainly.”

“To cold?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Fatigue?”

“More that than anything else, I think.”

“And you didn’t eat any breakfast this morning?”

“I drank a cup of coffee.”

“But took no solid food?”

“I couldn’t have swallowed it, ma’am.”

“And it’s now twelve o’clock,” said Mrs. Wykoff; drawing out her watch.  “Mary!  Mary!  This will not do.  I don’t wonder you were faint just now.”

Miss Carson bent to her work and made no answer.  Mrs. Wykoff sat regarding her for some time with a look of human interest, and then went out.

A little before two o’clock there was a tap at the door, and the waiter came in, bearing a tray.  There was a nicely-cooked chop, toast, and some tea, with fruit and a custard.

“Mrs. Wykoff said, when she went out, that dinner would be late to-day, and that you were not well, and mustn’t be kept waiting,” remarked the servant, as he drew a small table towards the centre of the room, and covered it with a white napkin.

He came just in time.  The stimulating effect of the wine had subsided, and Miss Carson was beginning to grow faint again, for lack of food.