miss charlotte grey was spending the day with her cousins. two of august's weeks had slipped away, and the air was fresh and pleasant. it seemed to the grey girls as if it were always refreshing weather when "cousin peace" came.

all unpleasant tasks were laid aside; the blinds in the cosey upstairs sitting-room were closed, with the slats turned to admit the breeze and the droning sound of the bees humming in the old garden. this old garden was left to its own sweet will, and by august it was a thoroughly sweet will; its varied-shaped beds were lush with a profusion of honey-laden blossoms, whose fragrance permeated everywhere.

every taint of annoyance seemed banished from the little grey house when cousin peace came to spend the day. mrs. grey was hemming delicately cool linen to be divided into family collars, and feather-stitched. wythie was putting new sleeves into prue's cherished white[99] gown, roberta was making fresh, clean-looking, green-and-white gingham into an apron, and prue was shelling peas, the juicy sweetness of their pods adding to the pleasant summer smells around them. miss charlotte was knitting—she was usually knitting—little fleecy white things to wrap babies in, and bright mittens for little hands.

"i have a new magazine here which mrs. silsby sent down yesterday by frances, charlotte," said mrs. grey, "but i thought we would keep it for those lazy hours after dinner, then one of the girls must read to us."

"that sounds attractive," said cousin peace. "will sylvester join us?"

"oh, charlotte, no," cried mrs. grey. "sylvester is absolutely swallowed up in his invention; he has no eyes, nor ears, nor thoughts to spare from it. rob is the only one who sees him lately, and that is because she helps him. he expects to finish the machine in a few months, but in the meantime he is so concentrated on it, and seems so excited that i can only long for its completion, and his relief from this strain, whatever the result of the work may be."

"i thought the last time i saw him that he was not looking well," said miss charlotte.

[100]

the girls were accustomed to her speaking as though she saw the people and things around her; to her delicately keen perceptions there was really little difference between blindness and sight.

"i am anxious," said mrs. grey. "dear charlotte, only suppose he were to be really ill!"

"we won't suppose it," said cousin peace, cheerily.

mrs. grey shook her head. "come to the commissary department, adjutant wythie," she said, with a pathetic smile. "we mustn't forget that cousin peace, as well as more turbulent people, must be fed." wythie followed her mother, and prue, hastily emptying her last pods, ran after them, the peas dancing up to the edge of the pan as she ran.

"cousin peace, i'm glad to get you to myself for a few minutes; you know everything, you have ideas in your finger-tips," said rob, laying her bright head on miss charlotte's knee. "what shall i do to earn money? i'm only sixteen, and untrained. i've read—thank goodness, patergrey and mardy took care to give me the best books and a liking for them, and i really do know lots of things other girls don't know, but they know lots of things i don't—school[101]book things, you see. now, what is there that sort of a young person could do to make her fortune and her family's?"

miss charlotte shook her head. "you ought to have special training in something, and, above all, you ought to be older before you begin, rob dear," she said. "is there any new reason for haste, any fresh pressure?"

"there may be. mardy heard that some of her investments might pay less this winter, and you know how she has to struggle at best to keep us warmed and clad and fed," said rob. "i must help her. if i don't find a way some day to make up to that brave, dear, blessed soul for all her hard times, then i'm not the girl i hope i am. it makes me just wild to be useless! i'll get luxury for her old age if i have to go about with a hand-organ and a monkey! and if i can't grind the organ, i'll be the monkey," added rob, turning her face up to laugh in miss charlotte's face, with one of her sudden flashes of fun.

miss charlotte bent to kiss rob, her favorite—if she had one—among the three young cousins of whom she was very fond.

"you might not get her positive luxury by that desperate measure, dearie," she said. "but[102] you are far from useless. i can no more imagine the little grey house without you than without its foundations. don't be anxious nor impatient, robin; you'll find your place when the time comes, and, in the meantime, you don't realize what a sunny bit of courage you are, nor how these grey people lean on you. i have a strong foreboding, roberta, that you are going to have your young hands filled very soon, and your work cut out for you—it may be a work that will demand all your strength."

roberta sat erect, startled. wythie and she had always felt that cousin peace had a gift of foreknowledge almost like second sight; she was so keenly alive to her atmosphere that she felt its changes to a degree that had to blunter folk the effect of prophecy. something kept rob now from asking her cousin's meaning. she straightened her young shoulders, and said, instead: "i hope when the time comes i shall not fail them."

and miss charlotte, understanding that by "them" she meant her family, said, with entire conviction: "i am certain, my dear, that you never will."

after dinner "battalion b" came whistling down the road, and stepped, one after the other, over the gate of the little grey house. they[103] had come to get the girls to go rowing with them, but finding miss charlotte there they gave up the plan very willingly, for the tall rutherford boys had long since succumbed to the charm of the sweet blind woman.

"prue, run up and get the magazine i left in the sitting-room," said mrs. grey.

"we'll make basil and bruce read aloud," cried rob. "they're too big to be idle, and far too big to be generally useful."

prue, obediently, left the room. as she reached the hall she heard a groan from her father's room, and heard him gasp: "mary, rob—oh, come!"

she rushed back to the dining-room, where cousin peace sat serenely in the breezy window, while wythie and rob put away the dinner dishes, and the rutherfords were tormenting them. how beautiful it looked, how peaceful, to the frightened girl standing speechless in the doorway, with that hoarse moan of pain echoing in her ears, unheard by the others! wythie looked up and saw prue's face. the saucer she held fell to the floor in fragments. "prue—what?" she gasped.

everyone sprang up, and mrs. grey seized prue's arm, in mute appeal.

[104]

"papa's sick or hurt; he's groaning and trying to call," prue managed to say.

miss charlotte, wythie, rob, and the boys pushed prue aside, starting for the room across the hall, but mrs. grey's love outstripped them. she it was who first reached her husband's side, and knelt in terror beside his arm-chair, where he half sat, half lay, his face ashen, his breath short. his right hand pressed his chest, the left arm hung at his side, the pulse in the wrist hardly perceptible to his wife's fingers.

"what is it, dear? can you tell me?" asked mrs. grey. wythie and miss charlotte were bathing his temples, while rob, on her knees at the other side of his chair, had loosened his collar.

for answer mr. grey pressed his hand closer to his breast, moving it slightly, but his lips barely moved.

"bartlemy, run, run for the doctor!" cried mrs. grey. "stay, basil and bruce—i may need you."

"is it death, mardy?" whispered rob, feeling the cold of her father's body through his clothing.

"i don't know, rob," mrs. grey's white lips answered, with an effort; in her heart she thought it was.

[105]

"if there were only something to do!" moaned oswyth, feeling her helplessness unbearable.

it seemed to them all that an eternity had passed since they had entered that room—in reality it was scarcely two minutes. suddenly mr. grey's limbs relaxed, he moved, closed his eyes, and as his wife held to his lips the water prue handed her, said: "the pain has gone; i can breathe."

"here's the doctor," cried prue, and a long sigh of relief went around the tense room. "he has driven over without a hat, and brought bart with him."

dr. fairbairn entered, bringing with him the feeling that now all must be right, which always attended that great man. a great man he was, since he easily footed up his seventy-four inches of height, huge in proportion, and with a heart and brain big out of proportion even to his immense bulk. he was one of those men without worldly ambition, yet afire with zeal, who are sometimes found ennobling the profession in small communities. past sixty, dr. fairbairn had seen sylvester grey born, and still regarded the girls as his babies. now he entered the troubled group, kindly, sympathetic, business-like, strong to comfort and to save.

[106]

"what are you up to, now, sylvester man?" he said, walking straight to his patient with a brief nod for the others.

"i don't know, doctor; it's all over now, anyway; i'm sorry they bothered you," said mr. grey.

"don't be foolish, boy," said dr. fairbairn. "how were you taken?"

"fearful pain just over the heart, in the chest, and all down the left arm. then i felt suffocating, and the agony got unbearable; i really thought i was dying." and mr. grey gave a little apologetic laugh.

"yes. been working hard, thinking hard?" asked the doctor.

"the machine is almost done, doc. i have to work hard, and it takes all my thought. you can't realize—it means comfort, luxury maybe, for mary and the children," said mr. grey, speaking rapidly and pulling himself erect.

"i didn't ask you all that. i see: concentration, nervous excitement, close application," muttered dr. fairbairn. "go over there and lie down and let me hear your heart through this thing." the doctor led mr. grey to his lounge, and placed his stethoscope to his chest.

in a few moments he wound the tubes to[107]gether and pocketed it again. "now, look here, sylvester grey, is there any use in my giving you orders, or are you going to do precisely as you please anyway?" he said.

"i'll mind you if i can, doctor, but you know my health is nothing in comparison to what i have in hand. after a few months i'll take as good care of myself as you like," said poor mr. grey.

"that shows the uselessness of injunctions," said the doctor. "but now is the time to take care, not later. avoid over-exertion and excitement; work moderately, don't over-do, and work calmly, then you may stave off similar attacks."

"and if i don't do this?" suggested his patient.

"you are certain to suffer this way again," said dr. fairbairn.

"is there danger?" asked mr. grey.

"there is grave danger; it is your duty to avoid it," said the doctor.

mr. grey turned his face to the wall. "it is my duty to finish the machine and provide for my family," he murmured. "my life would be well spent if it purchased them peace."

"there is little peace to be had in the loss of the one we love best, sylvester," said miss char[108]lotte, who alone had caught his words, seating herself on the couch and beginning to stroke the weary head of him who had been her favorite playmate.

mrs. grey and her daughters, who had stood silently, breathlessly, listening to this conversation, now followed the doctor to the door.

"tell me, dr. fairbairn," said mrs. grey.

"angina pectoris, mary, my dear, if that sheds any light on your darkness," said the big man, smiling down upon her, and, as she shook her head, he added: "it is an affection of the heart often found where there is no organic disease. it is dangerous in repeated attacks, and is not infrequently quickly fatal." dr. fairbairn did not approve of professional deception unless it was necessary.

"and so sylvester is in danger?" mrs. grey almost whispered.

"yes, mary; over-work, over-excitement increases his danger," replied the doctor. "but no one can tell more than that. we are all in danger; we know of his—that's the main difference. try to make him go more slowly."

"thank you, dr. fairbairn," said mrs. grey.

"now, don't begin bearing a sorrow that has not come," said the doctor. "that was never[109] your way. i'll send you the remedies you must use another time. be of good courage, mary; but there's no need of telling you that, you plucky little heroine." and with a tight clasp of the hand mrs. grey mutely held out to him, and a pat on each girl's white cheek, the big doctor was gone.

mrs. grey closed the door behind him and held out her arms. her three children sprang into them, and the mother held them close in a convulsive embrace.

"we'll take care of him, mardy," whispered rob, with something clutching her throat.

mrs. grey pushed open the dining-room door and drew the girls after her into the room where the rutherford boys had retreated to await the verdict. mrs. grey sank into the chair nearest her and laid her head on her arms above the table with a girlish movement of abandonment. basil, grave and kindly, bent over her and put his arm across her shoulder as if to ward off grief. bruce stroked the fine brown hair of the bowed head with awkward gentleness, and bartlemy hovered helplessly in the background, making no secret of the tears on his brown cheeks.

the girls knelt beside her, prue's head in her mother's lap. "don't, mardy darling," said[110] wythie at last; it seemed so horribly unnatural for their brave mother to break down.

"see, bruce, what you must do if you become a doctor," said mrs. grey, raising her head and trying to speak cheerfully. "you will have to tell people alarming truths, and go away knowing you have left behind you stricken hearts, for which you have just changed the whole face of creation."

"i would rather remember the comfort i may be able to bring," said bruce. "is it so bad?"

"unless mr. grey will give himself the care which we are sure he will not feel that he can afford to give, he is in mortal danger; he is almost certain to have more of these attacks—angina pectoris, it is—and they are—are likely—oh, my dears, just be patient with me a few moments! i will be brave later, but i must be a coward for a few moments, please dears!" and once more the head bent under its burden upon the folded arms.

miss charlotte came into the room, calm and smiling, and went directly to mrs. grey. taking her hand in one of hers, and running the fingers of her other hand through prue's golden hair, she said, brightly: "mary, dear, sylvester is sleeping beautifully; he will waken refreshed.[111] i know precisely what the doctor told you; i have seen angina pectoris before, and i recognized it. but we are not going to be cast down—only very careful. dearest children, you are so frightened, aren't you? remember, you must cheer your mother. wythie and rob, go make us your very best coffee. and prudy-girl, dry your eyes, and cut us bread very thin, and butter it. and perhaps 'battalion b' won't mind helping the girls with the fire—i'm sure it's nearly out. now, mary," she added, as the young people disappeared, and mrs. grey rose and threw herself on her cousin's breast, "courage, dear! only your old courage re-enforced. there is danger, but we are going to be confident of escape. go bathe your dear face, and then come back for your coffee, and when sylvester wakens he will find the cheery mary winslow, who has tided him over so many hard spots. i think i hear kiku mewing; perhaps we shut him in the sitting-room. will you see when you go up?"

"charlotte, charlotte," cried mrs. grey, holding the blind woman fast for a moment before she obeyed. "in all the world there never was another such a comforting, sustaining, heaven-sent creature as you are!"

[112]

miss charlotte listened to her cousin's footfall on the stairs with a tender smile of satisfaction; she well knew the value of homely tasks in a dark hour, and that their resumption made tragedy seem impossible.

but left to herself cousin peace's smile faded; she dropped wearily into the chair mrs. grey had vacated, and, leaning her head on her hand, allowed the tears to gather and drop into her lap. the hope that she must maintain in others it was hard for her to feel. her cousin was so frail, his life so far removed from the lives and interests of other men that it was easy to imagine it ended. he was certain to continue to work with the same feverish, excited eagerness until his patent was completed, and the doctor had said——

"here is the bread, cousin peace, and the coffee is nearly ready," said prue, entering, much more cheerful than she had gone out.

miss charlotte started up, with her own bright smile. "and i, for one, am quite ready to drink it!" she cried.

mrs. grey came back, smiling also, kiku on her shoulder. "he was shut up, peaceful, dear," she said, "and complaining bitterly of being forgotten through dinner-time."

[113]

rob brought in the steaming coffee-pot, followed by a procession of three tall boys, each carrying something, ending with wythie bearing the cream.

mr. grey pushed open the door just wide enough to admit his head. "do i smell coffee?" he cried. "and would you have defrauded me?"

"you are to have hot milk, sylvester," said miss charlotte.

"oh, how do you feel, patergrey?" cried rob, springing to his side.

"i'll have nothing of the sort; i'll have a cup of this fragrant brew," declared mr. grey. "i feel all right, rob, my son, only a trifle lame. i am sure the doctor exaggerated the case, though i confess i wouldn't have thought anything an exaggeration of it while it lasted. this bread and butter tastes uncommonly good! rob, my son, can i borrow you after this repast is over? i need your help on a special bit of work for an hour."

"oh, come now, mr. grey!" protested bruce rutherford, involuntarily.

"'vester, i implore of you, not to-night!" cried his wife, in such distress that, as the girls added their voices to the chorus of frightened protest, mr. grey looked from one to the other,[114] and visibly weakened. but miss charlotte clinched matters.

"you have no moral right to disregard dr. fairbairn, and the warning you have had, sylvester grey," she cried. "besides, you are to take me home, and i am going to keep you to tea. i want to see you quite alone, but wythie and rob shall come for you, and bring you home in triumph."

"well, one man against so many of the earth's rulers," mr. grey began. "boys, won't you stand by me?"

"no, sir; not if you want to work to-day," said basil; while bruce added: "i'm beginning to think they rule the earth because they're better fit to do so. no, sir; we're on their side."

"you're beginning to cater to their love of flattery, you young humbug," said mr. grey. "well, if i must yield, i might as well yield gracefully."

and later miss charlotte bore him away, leaving more hope behind her in the little grey house than had seemed possible three hours earlier.