He was curious to know what it was in him that Ray had seen. But there was nothing to be seen, except, perhaps, a sort of hunted look about the eyes and a kind of pinched drawing of the nostrils. He did not look at all like a sick man. "You're all wrong," he repeated stubbornly. "And besides, my wife's got something else to do." Ray only answered quietly: "How much are you coughing, Jimmie?" Wardwell looked around sharply, in a turn of sudden worry. But in a moment he laughed out: "What the deuce are you doing? Second story work, along with your other little activities? Of course I--I cough a little. But that's just the smoking and the irritation. Confound you, you'd be coughing bricks if you'd been sitting at a machine for six weeks without being able to knock out a good line!" "I suppose so. But, Jimmie, you'll have to give up this other idea. You don't look well. You'd never stand cold and wet and long waiting. You know the dog's life of a reporter. One good cold would do for you." "But, I tell you--" "Jimmie, be sensible for once. Go home and let that good little girl of yours get a good look at you. If she doesn't tell you to pack off out of the city for a while, I'll admit that I'm wrong." Wardwell stayed a while, arguing mulishly, but Jim Ray did not move from his position. He would not agree to help Jimmie to a job because the latter was not able to work. At home, he found Augusta tearfully trying to coax and lift her mother back into bed. As he stood in the sitting room he could hear the girl pleading: "Please, please, mamma dear, can't you help just one little step! I can't lift any more--Just one little step!" Then he heard the sagging of the bed under the heavy body and he knew that Augusta had accomplished her task. Now he remembered what Doctor Gardner had told him, that this phase of Mrs. Wilding's malady would come--not long before the end. She would rouse herself out of the torpor into which she had settled. Some vague, unformed fear would probably stir her, and she would have to be watched. If it was coming now Augusta must not be left to do this alone. He would have to find a good strong nurse. He must see Gardner about it right away. That he had no money did not occur to him now. In the face of Augusta's need he did not think of that fact. Augusta came out suddenly and walked straight into Jimmie's arms where he stood in the middle of the room. "Oh, Jimmie," she said, resting tiredly against him, "I needed you so! Where have you been?" "Oh, just around." "She had crawled under the bed, Jimmie," said Augusta choking, "just like some poor wild thing, and when she looked out at me, _Oh!_ Why, why does she seem to fear me, to almost _hate_ me sometimes?"