"I am sure you ought to sleep. Let me give you a verse for you to sleep on: I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.'" Mrs. Burke gave a little impatient snort. Rowena added— "I am going to send Phillips to watch by you whilst I go and see how Vale is. Do try to sleep, dear. Are you warm now?" "I have been badly scared and shaken," said Mrs. Burke, trying to speak indifferently; "but I shall be myself to-morrow." Rowena bent down and kissed her, then slipped out of the room. She found that Vale was recovering, but she wrote a note to the doctor, for she did not like the look of Mrs. Burke, and she asked him to come over early the next morning. When the next day arrived, Mrs. Burke was tossing on her bed in agony, and before very long, she was in the throes of rheumatic fever. It was so severe that she had to be wrapped in cotton wool from head to foot, and two nurses were brought in by the doctor to attend to her. Rowena spent most of her time in the sick-room. All the Christmas festivities had to be postponed. At one time the doctor thought his patient would not pull through. He told Rowena that her heart would not bear the strain of the attack. But she rallied wonderfully, and her constant cry through both her conscious and unconscious times was that Rowena should be close to her. "Keep death away from me, if you can," she whispered once. "Pray. You will be heard. I sha'n't." Rowena never left off praying that her life might be spared. On Christmas Day she lay very weak, but perfectly conscious. "What a Christmas you are having, poor child!" she murmured, looking up into Rowena's face with a flicker of a smile. "Have my sister's young people arrived?" "No," said Rowena; "I put them off. The doctor said I had better do so." "That's a pity; but it would be dull for them. Does the doctor think I'm on the mend?" "Oh, yes—decidedly." "It's going to be a long business, eh?" "I am afraid so." "How is the General? I thought of him when I was in the river. I made sure my summons had come. 'Soul, this night—' You know how it goes on. But it didn't come." "No," said Rowena softly; "God wanted you here." "I shall be no good to anyone. I wonder why I was given a fresh lease of life?" "To live to His glory," said Rowena quickly. She said no more, for she knew that Mrs. Burke must be kept absolutely quiet and not excited in any way. The sick woman moved her head restlessly on her pillow. "If He would only put me out of pain. I can't think, when red-hot wires are pulling me in every direction!" It was long before she was able to leave her bed. Rowena was horrified to see how twisted and swollen her joints were, and she spoke to the doctor about it. He looked grave. "My dear Miss Arbuthnot, I'm afraid she will never be the same woman again. For a long time she has overtaxed her strength, and lived too fast for health; and now this rheumatism has come to stay, and her heart is much affected by it."