Before night, a trained nurse from a nursing institution at Oxford was installed at the Mill House, and took possession of the sick-room. And during the anxious days which followed, the miller's wife approached very near the valley of the shadow of death, so that those who loved her went in fear and trembling, and stole about the house with noiseless footsteps and hushed voices.
But at length, a day arrived when the patient was pronounced to have taken a turn for the better. And after that, she continued to progress favourably until, one never-to-be-forgotten morning, the doctor pronounced her life out of danger.
"We shall be allowed to see her soon now, father, shan't we?" Rose inquired eagerly, after she had heard the good news from her father's lips.
"I hope so, my dear," he answered. "It will not be long before she will be asking for you, if I'm not mistaken. But she's been too ill to notice anything or any one. You won't forget to thank God for His goodness in sparing your mother's precious life, will you, Rosie?"
"No, indeed, father," she responded, earnestly. "We prayed—Bob, and Mavis, and I—that God would make dear mother well again, and you see He is going to do it. I felt so—so helpless and despairing, and there was only God who could do anything, and so—and so—"
"And so you were driven to Him for help and consolation? Ah, that's the way with many folks! They forget Him when things go smooth, but they're glad to turn to Him when their path in life is rough. But His love never fails. You found Him a true Friend, eh, my Rose?"
"Yes, father, I did. Mavis said I should; she said I must remember that Jesus Himself said, 'Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid,' and that I must trust in Him. And I tried not to be afraid. I couldn't do anything but pray; and after a while I began to feel that God really did hear my prayers, and I don't believe He'll ever seem quite so far off again."
Mr. Grey had guessed rightly in thinking his wife would soon desire to see her children, for the day following the one on which the doctor had pronounced her life out of danger, she asked for them, and they were allowed into the sick-room long enough for each to kiss her and be assured, in a weak whisper from her own lips, that she was really better.
The next day, they saw her again for a longer time, but she did not inquire for Mavis, a fact which hurt the little girl, though she did not say so, and strengthened her previous impression that her aunt did not like her.
Before very long, Rose was allowed in and out of the sick-room as she pleased, and was several times left in charge of the invalid. She proved herself to be so helpful and reliable that, on one occasion, the nurse complimented her upon those points, and she subsequently sought her cousin in unusually high spirits.