WEALTH WITHOUT WINGS. 171

 

After receiving the thanks of Claire and his as-
surances that he needed nothing further from their
- kindness, the men retired, and Edward then made
every effort in his power to calm down the feelings
of his wife, who continued weeping. ‘This was no
easy task, particularly as he was unable long to hide
the many evidences of serious illness from which he
was suffering. Against his remonstrance, 80 soon as
she saw how it was with him, Mrs. Claire sent off
the domestic for their family physician; who on
learning the causes which led to the condition in
which he found his patient, hesitated not to say. that
he must, as he valued his life, give up the night
tasks he had imposed upon himself.

‘Other men,” said Claire, in answer to this, “‘ de-
vote quite as many hours to business.”

‘¢ All men are not alike in constitution,” returned
the physician. ‘And even the strongest do not
make overdrafts upon the system, without finding,
sooner or later, a deficit in their health-account.
As for you, nature has not given you the physical
ability for great endurance. You cannot overtask
yourself without a derangement of machinery.’

How reluctantly, and with what a feeling of weak-
ness, Claire acquiesced in this decision, the reader
may imagine.

The morning found him something better, but not
well enough to sit up. Mrs. Claire had, by this
time, recovered in a measure her calmness and con-
fidence. She had thought much, during the sleep-
less hours of the preceding night, and though the
future was far from opening clearly to her straining
vision, her mind rested in a well-assured confidence