A sudden hope had come into her heart; her eyes danced with joy; but controlling herself she turned to Sadye, saying: "I have no right to ask this of you. It would put heavy burdens upon you, such as you have not been accustomed to, and it would be selfish of me to allow it." "Why?" said Sadye, low and earnestly. "She will be my mother as well as yours. She has a good nurse, and there is a good girl in the house. My duties cannot be excessive, and I certainly will do all I can to fill your exact place. This is my own thought, not Edward's. It is doing by you as I would be done by; as I know you would do by me if our places were reversed. I shall love to do it. Then I too love Jesus; and may I not make the little sacrifice this involves to let you go with the one of your choice to those heathen lands? Thus while at home may I not, indirectly at least, help on the Master's work abroad?" Daisy gave the generous and thoughtful girl a hearty kiss; then she said, tremulously: "We will think this over, and pray over it, and if God directs it, I will accept the sacrifice you offer, knowing you do it for the Master's sake, as well as for the love you have for Edward and myself. You were going with Edward, I believe, to see a patient. Why not come back here to tea, and spend the evening with us, and we will try and come to a decision. If we are to be married when you and Edward are, I shall have my hands full, and will need every moment of time between now and then." Edward and Sadye went off on their ride, while Ray and Daisy talked and prayed over the offer Edward and his companion had so unexpectedly made. "If I could only feel it was right to delegate my duty to another," Daisy said, "that would end the matter. But no one can care for a mother as a daughter can. I know Sadye would see that mother was comfortable in every way. That is not the chief trouble It is that mother will not see me, and I cannot bear to give her this pain; she has so little now to comfort her." "Why not talk it over with her, and see what she says about it?" Ray asked. "You know at the very outset she was willing you should go. She is able to understand all you say, even if she cannot speak, and a look or a nod will give us some idea of how she feels. I would not for a moment want you to go, if she seems unwilling to part with you." Daisy was silent for some little time. "Ray dear," she finally said, "now that you have suggested this I do believe that is what has troubled mother. When I told her how you had postponed your going for a while, I thought she tried to make me understand something, but what it was I could not tell. After my sickness I told her of your decision to go without me, and there has been a troubled look in her eyes ever since. It certainly, as you say, can do no harm to tell her of Sadye's proposition, and see how she feels."