The Argosy — page 63: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

50 Stephante. was miserably weak physici!ly. There cou!d be no mistake as to that, Mrs. Denham came hurrying in. “Tt is the fever again, Mrs. Denham,” said the poor child. ‘ People who have fought against it so long are often struck down in this way ; and,” with a strange, despairing sob, ‘‘I never knew one of them to get better.” It was a great shock to Mrs. Denham. And that one night at the curate’s bedside taught her a secret the existence of which she had never before suspected. “Don’t send me away,” said Steenie ; ‘‘ please don’t send me away, Mrs. Denham. I have worked for other people, and waited on them, and—— Oh, don’t send me away from “zm.” Her passionate, yet half-unconscious emphasis on the last word told the whole story. And so she stayed in the rectory while Kenneth Dart lay there, going down alone to the very gates of death, and every | watcher at his side thought each hour would be his last. But the gates were not to swing backward this time. Mrs. Denham said it was because he was faithfully watched and tended; because a desperate, clinging girlish hand held him back; and its owner having earned a gift from ‘Heaven, prayed so submissively yet so yearningly for this one life, that it was given in answer. At any rate, Kenneth Dart was snatched, as it were, from the grave. It was Steenie who had saved him, Mrs. Denham declared, when he strove to thank her. “T am not worthy to touch the hem of her garment,” he said. “ God help me.’ No one knew but himself how dear the girl had grown to his un- restful heart during his sufferings. There were a hundred incidents which had drawn them together, and had brought hope tohissoul. It was a strangely humbled and altered man who sat in the Rector’s -chair ten weeks after he had fallen prostrate at Steenie’s feet in the midst of his confession. He was beginning to learn a new lesson, and it was Steenie Bright who had taught him its rudiments. It was quite ten weeks before Mrs. Denham would hear of her favourite going back to her old place, behind the counter of the Little Shop ; but at the end of that time Steenie was resolute, and made her small preparations to go. “ Tibby wants me, I know,” she said, with a quiet smile. ‘‘ And the shop needs attention. And as to puss, why, I have not seen poor puss for ages.” | Accordingly, she went upstairs to the library, where Kenneth was sitting alone by the fire, to bid him good-bye. She stopped to talk to him for a little while, standing on the opposite side of the hearth, and replying to his remarks in her pretty, modest way. She was glad he was better ; he would be quite strong now, and happier, she- hoped. ‘This last, in her soft, trustful voice, half timidly. And then he thanked Gomilcbooks com