It was with a feeling of shame that she gave her last message to him as he was about to leave her.

“Will you be kind enough to tell Dr. Brown how necessary it will be for papa to come home to a quiet house; and if mamma is not able to bear the sight of his arrival, will he see that she is not at home just at the time?  He will understand and can manage it, I am sure.”

Traverse looked at her in surprise.

“Mamma is apt to be hysterical, and papa will be too tired with the journey to bear any unusual excitement.  I dread the time of his arrival at the house more than I do the rest of the journey; but it must be managed quietly, somehow.  It would take so little to set him back when he is so weak.”

“It shall be managed quietly, Miss Dexie, so do not be anxious; I will see that your father has every chance,” and he turned away, wondering at the care and tact that could see and overrule the want of thought in others, when age and experience should have given others the self-control that was so wonderful to see in a girl of her years.

Mr. Sherwood bore the journey much better than they expected, and they carried him to the room which, by Dexie’s forethought, had been provided with everything that could add to his comfort.  The house was quiet and still, and a good hour’s rest fortified him for the visit that his wife must soon make to his room.

Mrs. Sherwood had been persuaded into taking a drive with the doctor’s wife about the time the train was expected, and she had been kept away long enough for Mr. Sherwood to rally from the fatigue of the journey.  Gussie, with the rest of the family, had witnessed his arrival from an upper window, and wept sorely at seeing her father carried into the house on a bed, remembering how well and strong he had walked out of it a few short weeks before.

When Mrs. Sherwood arrived, and found that her husband had been brought home in her absence, she felt very much hurt, and she entered the room subdued and quiet; but when she beheld the change that had taken place in her strong, robust husband since she had last seen him, nothing but the doctor’s presence prevented her from throwing herself across the bed.  She dropped to her knees by the bedside, with a wail of despair, and Gussie’s sobs were added to the moans that came from the lips of the kneeling wife.  Dexie bent over her sister, saying firmly: 

“You must either control yourself or leave the room.  Can’t you see how it distresses papa?”

Guy Traverse led the sobbing girl out of the room at last, and his kind words of comfort did much to help Gussie overcome her violent grief.  He was fast recovering from his own wounds, and he made himself very useful in spite of his one-armed condition—­for he still wore his broken arm in a sling.  Dexie was not blind to the excellent traits of character he had displayed during the trying weeks past, but when she endeavored to express her thanks he stopped her with a word.