So passed away the first days of Alice's widowhood. By and by things subsided into their natural
and tranquil course. But, as if the young creature was always to be in some heavy trouble, her ewe-
lamb began to be ailing, pining, and sickly. The child's mysterious illness turned out to be some
affection of the spine, likely to affect health but not to shorten life--at least, so the doctors said. But
the long, dreary suffering of one whom a mother loves as Alice loved her only ...