the ashes. David watched her as she moved about the dark cabin, lighted only by the fitful flames of the fireplace, to perform those gracious, homely tasks, and would have helped her, but he could not.

At last the woman and her brood came streaming in, and Cassandra and the doctor were glad to escape into the outer air. He tried to make the mother understand his directions as to the care of her husband, but her passive “Yas, suh” did not reassure him that his wishes would be carried out, and his hopes for the man’s recovery grew less as he realized the conditions of the home. After riding a short distance, he turned to Cassandra.

“Won’t you go back and make her understand that he is to be left absolutely alone? Scare her into making the children keep away