MRS. CHERITON'S trials had only begun. Eugene's croup was followed by congestion of the lungs, the attack assuming from the first alarming symptoms. He would not bear his mother out of his sight for a moment. Indeed the result of her injudicious fondness showed itself during these sad weeks in a manner which would have been a warning to any one. Though she deprived herself of sleep, and almost of food, in order to be always at hand to minister to his wants, he showed no gratitude. He exacted everything as a right, and, if there was the slightest opposition to his wishes, he screamed with passion, often exclaiming, "I hate you. Go away, bad mamma." He would not take medicine from her, shrieking, "You tell lies. You told me it was good and it wasn't. I'll let Miss Howard give it to me: she never tells lies." From Marion, too, he would submit to any treatment, even to the blisters upon his chest. "It will hurt you, Geenie," she said, "but if you don't have it on for a few minutes that dreadful pain will come back. Be a good boy, and I will tell you a nice story about Gypsy." "Will you bring Gypsy to see me?" "Yes, I will." In addition to Eugene's sickness, the doctor's services were in daily requisition for Mrs. Douglass, who had never risen from her bed since the night of her grandson's seizure. The agony of mind she had suffered on account of her daughter, followed so speedily by Eugene's dangerous illness, proved too much for a frame enfeebled by disease. Violent pain in the head was succeeded by nervous chills, until Dr. Danforth became alarmed for her life. Under these circumstances Marion proved her real friendship by spending as much time as possible with the patient sufferer, and thus was at hand when poor Juliette, driven to her wits' end by the insubordination of her darling, was unable to control him. As the young mother had not spoken of the events of that never-to-be-forgotten night, neither Mrs. Douglass nor Marion could account for the entire change in her manners and appearance. They supposed her fright at the sudden illness of her boy had for the time driven all other thoughts from her mind. Indeed, Mrs. Douglass, with many tears, thanked God that in his wonder-working providence he had taken any means to prevent a career of gayety which must have ended in her ruin. It would have been an immense relief to her could she have known that a card with the name "C. W. Alford" had been sent to her daughter the day following Eugene's attack, that the question written with pencil underneath his name, "When can I see you?" had been hastily answered with one word, "Never." Yes, her Father in heaven, more ready to grant our requests than we are to ask them, had indeed answered the Christian mother's prayers, though as yet she knew it not.