Even Tom, her brother, who was only a year or two younger than herself, appeared touched by the strange silence that seemed to have settled down upon the house.
"Why don't you talk, Elsie?" he said at last in an impatient tone.
"Daddy must be kept quiet," she said, "and I don't want Bobby to shout and scream, as he does sometimes when he is at play."
More than an hour passed before Mrs. Winn came downstairs.
And then Tom began instantly, "What is the matter with daddy, mother?—Here is Elsie looking as miserable as ever she can be."
"No; I have only been keeping the children quiet!"
Her mother put an arm round both of them, and kissed them both in turn. "You must both help me to bear this," she whispered; "daddy is very ill, and—"
"Have you told him about Elsie's scholarship?" said Tom, who was very proud of his sister's success, though he might tease and quarrel with her sometimes.
"No, dear; he cannot listen to anything like that just now," said his mother.
Tom looked disappointed. "I believe if you were to tell him, mother, it would just rouse him up and put new life into him," said the boy.