'I had to nurse my father often in such attacks,' Gladys answered, with her quiet, dignified calm. 'If there is anything more I can do, pray tell me, and I will follow your instructions faithfully.' 'There is not much we can do in such a case. I never heard anything so foolhardy as to go off, as you say he did yesterday, driving through the open country for hours on a March day. I don't think a man who takes such liberties with himself can expect to escape the penalty, Mr. Graham.' 'Well, well, it doesn't matter. If my hour's come, it's come, I suppose, and that's the end of it,' he retorted irritably. 'How long will I last?' 'Years, perhaps, with care--after this attack is conquered,' replied the doctor; and the old man answered with a grim, sardonic smile. 'We'll see whether you or I am right,' he replied. 'You needn't stay any longer just now.' Gladys took the candle, and herself showed the doctor to the outer door. 'Will he really recover, do you think?' she asked, when they were out of hearing. 'He may, but only with care. The lungs are much congested, and his reserve of strength is small. What relation is he to you, may I ask? Your grandfather?' 'No; my uncle?' 'And do you live here always?' 'Yes, this is my home,' Gladys answered, and she could scarcely forbear a smile at the expression on the young doctor's face. 'Indeed! and you are contented? You seem so,' he said, lingering at the door a moment longer than he need have done. 'Oh yes; I have a great deal to be thankful for,' she answered. 'You will come again to-morrow early, will you not?' 'Certainly. Good-morning. Take care of yourself. You do not look as if your reserve of strength were very great either.' 'Oh, I am very strong, I assure you,' Gladys answered, with a smile; and as she looked into his open, honest face, she could not help thinking what a pleasant face it was. Then she went back to keep her vigil by the sick-bed, and to exercise her woman's prerogative to ease and minister to pain. There was so little any one could do now, however, to help Abel Graham, the issue of his case being in the hand of God. In obedience to the request of Gladys, Walter went back to bed, and she sat on by the fire, thoroughly awake, and watchful to be of the slightest use to her uncle. He did not talk much, but he appeared to watch Gladys, and to be full of thoughts concerning her. 'Do you remember that night I came, after your father died?' he asked once. 'Yes,' she answered in a low voice. 'I remember it well.' 'You felt bitter and hard against me, did you not?' 'If I did, Uncle Abel, it has long passed,' she answered. 'There is no good to be got recalling what is past.' 'Perhaps not; but, my girl, when a man comes to his dying bed it is the past he harks back on, trying to get some comfort out of it for the future he dreads, and failing always.' 'It is not your dying bed, Uncle Abel, I hope; you are not so old yet,' she said cheerfully.