Minnie, with deep sighs, went to the bedside to look at Joshua and to bid him a silent goodnight--Mrs. Marvel regarding her jealously the while--and then crept out of the room in tears. The girls being gone, Mrs. Marvel felt more contented. She sat down by her son's bedside, and, with that lightness of touch which nothing but a mother's pure love or that of a wife can impart, smoothed the bed-coverings, and brushed the hair from Joshua's eyes. At about eleven o'clock the handle of the door was gently turned, and Mr. Marvel entered. He had no boots on, and she had not heard him come up from the kitchen. Clasping his wife's hand, he leaned over the bed to catch a glimpse of Joshua's face. "He is better to-night, George," she said; "he is getting along nicely. The doctor said to-day that he will soon be sensible." George Marvel nodded, and put his lips to his wife's cheek. "You must be very tired, Maggie." She replied by a bright smile. "Shall I sit up for an hour while you lie down?" "Yes, father," knowing it would please him. "Have you had supper?" A nod. "And your beer?" Another nod. "And your pipe?" "Yes; Ellen got every thing ready nicely. She is like you were when you were a girl, Maggie." "Better than me, father." "That's not possible, wife." Ah! how her heart fluttered as he said the word! She trembled in his arms like a girl. "Now lie down; I'll wake you in an hour." She had but to close her eyes--being satisfied that her darling son was in good hands--and she was asleep. George Marvel watched for an hour, and perhaps a little longer, and then touched his wife, who was instantly awake. Alone again, Mrs. Marvel resumed her loving vigil. Not a sound was to be heard except the occasional prattle of Joshua, now of Dan and the birds, now of "father" and "mother," now of Ellen, now of Minnie and her shell. Mrs. Marvel had already learned, through those unconscious confessions, that her son's heart was as tender and as good as it had been before he had started in life for himself. A few minutes after the church-clock had struck two, Mrs. Marvel fancied she heard a soft breathing, outside the bedroom-door. She listened intently, thinking she must have been deceived; but no--the soft breathing, as of some one asleep, came distinctly to her ears. She went to the door and opened it, and, lying at the foot of the stairs in the narrow passage, she discovered Minnie, in her night-dress, fast asleep. The girl had evidently kept awake until Ellen and Sarah were asleep, and had then stolen down stairs, and had sat outside the door of the sick-room until she had been overpowered by fatigue. Mrs. Marvel stooped over the sleeping girl and whispered,-- "Minnie!" The sound of her name, chiming in with some dreaming fancy, brought a happy smile to the girl's lips, and she answered,-- "Yes, Joshua!" A look of pain passed into Mrs. Marvel's face; she knelt by Minnie's side, and gently raising the girl's head, she whispered again,--