Astra shook her head. "It cannot be; it would excite her too much. Her disease is of the heart; and joy kills as surely as sorrow. When I moved her here,--being imperatively forced to do so, because I could not afford to stay where we were,--I determined that, let come what would, she should not be stirred again, until she is a great deal better or--worse. Thank you for the kind thought, but indeed she is best off here, for the present,--now that I have the means of making her tolerably comfortable." In the last sentence, there was some trace of Astra's old self; and, glad to have gained thus much, Bergan followed her to Mrs. Lyte's bedside. If he still cherished any belief in the feasibility of removing her, it vanished with the first sight of her face. He wondered what could have led Astra to think her better. Even to his inexperienced eyes, the struggling breath, the beaded forehead, the ashy pallor, indicated but too plainly that the thread of her life was wellnigh spun. Yet she was less changed, in some respects, than Astra. Her smile had the old sweetness; her face--when the excitement caused by his unexpected visit was calmed a little, and she could breathe easier--had the old expression of gentle resignation. It lighted up, too, at sight of him;--as he had reminded Astra, she had come to regard him with a half-motherly affection, during his residence in her house. "It is very good of you to come to us," she said, gratefully; "it seems a great while since I have seen any friendly face." "If I had only known that you were in Savalla, I should have come much sooner," answered Bergan. "And if I had known that you were here," she responded, "I should certainly have sent for you. It is strange, Astra, that we never happened to hear of him." Astra's face flushed a little. "We are not in the way of hearing news," she replied, evasively. "But now that he is here, to sit with you a few minutes, I will run out and get that prescription filled, which the doctor left this morning." Bergan rose instantly. "Let me go, rather," said he. "N-o, no," said Mrs. Lyte, "it will do her good to have a little run. Besides, I want to talk with you." Bergan sat down again, and Cathie nestled to his side. Nix, too, came and lay down at his feet, quite in the old Berganton fashion. "I am very glad to see you," continued Mrs. Lyte, when Astra had left the room, "but I am afraid it is largely a selfish gladness. I am so certain that you will see what can be done for my children after I am gone." Bergan opened his lips to speak, but she lifted her hand with a deprecating gesture, and went on:-- "Let me say what I want to say; I shall be so much easier in my mind. Do you know how we came to leave Berganton?" "I do not; I only heard of it when I went back there, in the Fall."