"I am not so sure," said the doctor, with a trembling lip. "Yet when they do come, sooner than we expected in one we love, they are hard to bear. Faith in God alone sustains us in such a trial. To live a good life, a life without reproach, upon which lies no shame, a life in which we have endeavoured to fulfil our human duties--surely that must count!" "Otherwise," said Carew, "the sinner would rank with the just." "The sinner is the more to be pitied," said Doctor Louis; and then, after a pause, "Gabriel, you have been away from us for nearly three months, and are more likely to detect changes in persons and things than those who are hourly familiar with them. Do you observe anything?" "In what--in whom?" asked Carew, in a hesitating tone. "In the dear mother," said Doctor Louis. "Is she thinner, paler, than when you saw her last?" "Yes," replied Carew, deeming frankness the best course; "she looks as if she had passed through a sickness." "She has not been really ill--that is, she has attended regularly to her duties and has not complained. But she is drooping; I am filled with fears for her." "She looks better within these few minutes," said Carew. "Her eyes are brighter, her cheeks have more colour in them." "She has her dear Lauretta by her side," said Doctor Louis, his eyes fixed upon her beloved face. "It is the delight of the reunion that has excited her." "It may be," said Carew, "that Lauretta's absence has affected her. They have never been separated before. How often has Lauretta said during her travels, 'There is only one thing wanting--the presence of my dear mother and father!' Now that they are together again, the dear mother will grow stronger." It was not so, however; the good woman drooped daily, and daily grew weaker. The remembrance of that brief time at the end of which Lauretta'a mother passed from earth to heaven, never faded from the minds of those nearest and dearest to her. Her illness lasted for not longer than two weeks after Lauretta's return. "She was only waiting for her child," sighed Doctor Louis.