Amanda tried to make light of this, but every hour she felt worse and worse.  Her hoarseness, instead of diminishing, increased, and her cough grew more and more troublesome.  Finally, she was compelled to go to bed, and have the physician called in.—­“Is there any danger?” asked Mrs. Beaufort, with an anxious and troubled countenance, as the physician, after prescribing among other things a stimulating application to the throat externally, was about leaving the house.

“Is your daughter subject to these fits of hoarseness, ma’am?” he asked.

“Yes, sir, whenever she takes cold.”

“And does that frequent irritating cough always attend the recurrence of hoarseness?”

“Always.”

“Then, madam, it is but right that you should know, that such results, following a slight cold, indicate a very great tendency to pulmonary or bronchial affections.  The predisposition existing, very great care should be taken to prevent all exciting causes.  With care, your daughter may retain her health until she passes over the most critical portion in the life of every one with such a constitution as hers—­that is, from twenty years of age until thirty or thirty-five.  Without great care and prudence during that time, her constitution may be shattered so as to set all remedial efforts at defiance.”

“But, doctor, how is she now?” was Mrs. Beaufort’s anxious inquiry.

“Not dangerous, madam, but still in a condition requiring care and skill to prevent unfavourable consequences.”

“Then do your best for her, doctor.”

“You can rely on me for that, Mrs. Beaufort.  Good morning.”

With a heavy heart the mother returned to the sick chamber of her daughter, and sat down by the bedside, thoughtfully, for a few moments, while she held Amanda’s hand, that was hot with fever.  Then recollecting herself, she left the room to prepare the stimulating application which had been ordered.

It is remarkable how the whole system will sympathize with one diseased part.  The cold which Amanda had taken concentrated its active effects upon her respiratory organs; but it was felt also in every member, prostrating the whole body, and giving a sensation of general suffering.  Her head ached violently, and a burning fever diffused itself over the entire surface of her body.

How sadly was she proving the truth of her mother’s warning, when she said to her, in the language of divine authority, “The way of transgressors is hard.”

She had violated a law of health, and in that violation, as in the violation of every physical or moral law, the penalty of transgression followed too surely.

It was a week before Amanda was able to go about again, and then her pale cheeks, and debilitated frame indicated but too plainly the sad consequences of a single imprudent act.

A few weeks after she had become restored apparently to her usual health, as Amanda was dressing one morning to go out, her mother said—­