the past two years. He could only say, "I am sorry that I
gave your mother ; I loved her very truly. I  that she did not
suffer much before"--

"No," said Florida, "it was a peaceful end; but finally it was very
sudden. She had not been well for many years, with that sort of
decline; I used sometimes to feel troubled about her before we came to
Venice; but I was very young. I never was really alarmed till that day
I went to you."

"I remember," said Ferris contritely.

"She had fainted, and I thought we ought to see a doctor; but
afterwards, because I thought that I ought not to do so without
speaking to her, I did not go to the doctor; and that day we made up
our minds to get home as soon as we could; and she seemed so much
better, for a while; and then, everything seemed to happen at once.
When we did start home, she could not go any farther than Switzerland,
and in the fall we went back to Italy. We went to Sorrento, where the
climate seemed to do her good. But she was growing frailer, the whole
time. She died in March. I