\"e; if you look so pale as this, i must rouge you up a little. takecare of yourself, child, or you\"ll be wanting the doctor ne\"

but he could not settle to anything that evening. he was continuallygoing backwards and forwards, on laborious tiptoe, to see if his wifewas still asleep. margaret\"s heart ached at his restlessness--his trying tostifle and strangle the hideous fear that was looming out of the darkplaces of his heart.

he came back at last, somewhat forted.

\"she\"s awake now, margaret. she quite smiled as she saw me standingby her. just her old smile. and she says she feels refreshed, and readyfor tea. where\"s the note for her? she wants to see it. i\"ll read it to herwhile you make tea.\"

the note proved to be a formal invitation from mrs. thornton, to mr.,mrs., and miss hale to dinner, on the twenty-first instant. margaret wassurprised to find an acceptance contemplated, after all she had learnt ofsad probabilities during the day. but so it was. the idea of herhusband\"s and daughter\"s going to this dinner had quite captivated mrs.

hale\"s fancy, even before margaret had heard the contents of the note. it

was an event to diversify the monotony of the invalid\"s life; and sheclung to the idea of their going, with even fretful pertinacity whenmargaret objected.

\"nay, margaret? if she wishes it, i\"m sure we\"ll both go willingly. shenever would wish it unless she felt herself really stronger--really betterthan we thought she was, eh, margaret?\" said mr. hale, anxiously, asshe prepared to write the note of acceptance, the next day.

\"eh! margaret?\" questioned he, with a nervous motion of his hands. itseemed cruel to refuse him the fort he crāved for. and besides, hispassionate refusal to admit the existence of fear, almost inspiredmargaret herself with hope.

\"i do think she is better since last night,\" said she. \"her eyes lookbrighter, and her plexion clearer.\"

\"god bless you,\" said her father, earnestly. \"but is it true? yesterday wasso sultry every one felt ill. it was a most unlucky day for mr. donaldsonto see her on.\"

so he went away to his day\"s duties, now increased by the preparationof some lectures he had promised to deliver to the working people at aneighbouring lyceum. he had chosen ecclesiastical architecture as hissubject, rather more in accordance with his own taste and knowledgethan as falling in with the character of the place or the desire forparticular kinds of information among those to whom he was to lecture.

and the institution itself, being in debt, was only too glad to get a gratiscourse from an educated and acplished man like mr. hale, let thesubject be what it might.

\"well, mother,\" asked mr. thornton that night, \"who hāve accepted yourinvitations for the twenty-first?\"

\"fanny, where are the notes? the slicksons accept, collingbrooksaccept, stephenses accept, browns decline. hales--father and daughtere,--mother too great an invalid--macphersons e, and mr.

horsfall, and mr. young. i was thinking of asking the porters, as thebrowns can\"t e.\"

\"very good. do you know, i\"m really afraid mrs. hale is very far fromwell, from what dr. donaldson says.\"

\"it\"s strange of them to accept a dinner-invitation if she\"s very ill,\" saidfanny.

\"i didn\"t say very ill,\" said her brother, rather sharply. \"i only said very farfrom well. they may not know it either.\" and then he suddenlyremembered that, from what dr. donaldson had told him, margaret, atany rate, must be aware of the exact state of the case.

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