“The impudent thing!” exclaimed Mrs. Livingstone, ignorant of her son’s return, and as a matter of course attributing the whole to Mabel. Darting up the stairs, she advanced toward the chamber and pushing open the door stood face to face with John Jr., who, with hands crammed in his pockets and legs crossed, was leaning against the mantel, waiting and ready for whatever might occur. “John Livingstone!” she gasped in her surprise. “That’s my name,” he returned, quietly enjoying her look of amazement. “What do you mean?” she continued. “Mean what I say,” was his provoking answer. “What have you been about?” was her next question, to which he replied, “Your eyesight is not deficient—you can see for yourself.” Gaining no satisfaction from him, Mrs. Livingstone now turned upon Mabel, abusing her until John Jr. sternly commanded her to desist, bidding her “confine her remarks to himself, and let his wife alone, as she was not in the least to blame.” “Your wife!” repeated Mrs. Livingstone—“very affectionate you’ve grown, all at once. Perhaps you’ve forgotten that you married her to spite Nellie, who you then believed was the bride of Mr. Wilbur, but you surely remember how you fainted when you accidentally learned your mistake.” A cry from Mabel, who fell back, fainting, among the pillows, prevented Mrs. Livingstone from any further remarks, and satisfied with the result of her visit, she walked away, while John Jr., springing to the bedside, bore his young wife to the open window, hoping the cool night air would revive her. But she lay so pale and motionless in his arms, her head resting so heavily upon his shoulder, that with a terrible foreboding he laid her back upon the bed, and rushing to the door, shouted loudly, “Help—somebody—come quick—Mabel is dead, I know she is.” ’Lena heard the cry and hastened to the rescue, starting back when she saw the marble whiteness of Mabel’s face. “I didn’t kill her, ’Lena. God knows I didn’t. Poor little Meb,” said John Jr., quailing beneath ’Lena’s rebuking glance, and bending anxiously over the slight form which looked so much like death. But Mabel was not dead. ’Lena knew it by the faint fluttering of her heart, and an application of the usual remedies sufficed, at last, to restore her to consciousness. With a long-drawn sigh her eyes unclosed, and looking earnestly in ’Lena’s face, she said, “Was it a dream, ’Lena? Tell me, was it all a dream?”—then, as she observed her husband, she added, shudderingly, “No, no, not a dream. I remember it all now. And I wish I was dead.” Again ’Lena’s rebuking glance went over to John Jr., who, advancing nearer to Mabel, gently laid his hand upon her white brow, saying, softly, “Poor, poor Meb.” There was genuine pity in the tones of his voice, and while the hot tears gushed forth, the sick girl murmured, “Forgive me, John, I couldn’t help it. I didn’t know it, and now, if you say so, I’ll go away, alone—where you’ll never see me again.”