Lena held out her hand.
"Mamma," she exclaimed, "we must part."
"What! am I to be deserted by my children?"
"Alas! yes. We cannot live together. There is no sympathy between us. My love calls me far away."
Mrs. Vanhoosen became very angry. Her face flushed. She tried to speak, and failed.
Suddenly she uttered a cry. Something seemed to burst in her throat. She fell to the ground heavily.
A stream of blood rushed from her mouth.
In her anger she had broken a blood-vessel, and her life was in danger.
Lena, now greatly alarmed, knelt down and supported her parent's head.
A doctor was sent for, and he did all he could for the unhappy woman, but there was internal hemorrhage, and after lingering for three days, she died.