This letter, so calm, so cheerful in its tone, had a quieting effect on Maddy, who read it twice, and then placing it in her bosom, started for the cottage, meeting on the way with Flora who was seeking for her in great alarm. Uncle Joseph had had a fit, she said, and fallen upon the floor, cutting his forehead badly against the sharp point of the stove. Hurrying on Maddy found that what Flora had said was true, and sent immediately for the physician, who came at once, but shook his head doubtfully as he examined his patient. There were all the symptoms of a fever, he said, bidding Maddy prepare for the worst. Nothing in the form of trouble could particularly affect Maddy now, and perhaps it was wisely ordered that Uncle Joseph’s illness should take her thoughts from herself. From the very first he refused to take his medicines from any one save her or Jessie, who with her mother’s permission stayed altogether at the cottage, and who, as Guy’s sister, was a great comfort to Maddy. As the fever increased, and Uncle Joseph grew more and more delirious his cries for Sarah were heartrending, making Jessie weep bitterly as she said to Maddy: “If I knew where this Sarah was I’d go miles on foot to find her and bring her to him.” Something like this Jessie said to her mother when she went for a day to Aikenside, asking her in conclusion if she thought Sarah would go. “Perhaps,” and Agnes brushed abstractedly her long, flowing hair, winding it around her jeweled fingers, and then letting the soft curls fall across her snowy arms. “Where do you suppose she is?” was Jessie’s next question, but if Agnes knew, she did not answer, except by reminding her little daughter that it was past her bedtime. The next morning Agnes’ eyes were very red, as if she had been wakeful the entire night, while her white face fully warranted the headache she professed to have. “Jessie,” she said, as they sat together at their breakfast, “I am going to Honedale to-day, going to see Maddy, and shall leave you here, as I do not care to have us both absent.”