EPILOGUE.

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Nurse Deanwalked through the Pest House, adjoining the great hospital, with the independent mien of the woman who is confident that her skirt clears the ground. Her keen, light-colored eyes took in at a glance the condition of every patient, the occupation of every nurse.

There had been a smallpox epidemic in Chicago, and three of the nurses in —— Hospital had taken the disease, two of them lightly, one very heavily; but all were now convalescent. The two had gone home to their friends torecruit, but the third lay in an invalid chair in a darkened room, looking as if the desire of life had left her. Nurse Dean came in with a cheery smile, put on just outside the door, and proceeded to bathe the girl's eyes with warm water.

"When are you coming out to help me, Mary? I'm sure the light wouldn't hurt you now. I'm having too much night work, those other nurses being gone. I thought you might begin to ease me a little with the smallpox patients through the day."

"I don't know as I care to go on with the business," replied Mary, sometime called Mason.

"Nonsense! You're low-spirited just now because you're not quite better, but wait till you're on your feet and going around the wards again. There's nothing like work of this sort to make a person forget herself."

Nurse Dean's strong but gentle hands began to rub with oil the patient's neck and shoulders.

"I wish I could forget myself and everybody else too. I wish I had died of the smallpox. There aint anybody that cares whether I live or die."

"Hush! Mary, you forget Dr. Flaker."

"Aint it just him I'm thinkin' about? He came in to see me to-day for the first time. He hates smallpox, and he smelt so of iodoform he nearly made me sick. About all he had to say was that it was very foolish of me to meddle with the clothes of them patients, and he could hardly believe I was so crazy's not to be vaccinated when the other nurses were. Just as if it wasn't him that admired my lovely arms. Look at them now!"

"They won't be so bad whenall these scales are off. There! Doesn't that feel better?"

"It feels all right enough, but you know I'll be a sight to be seen the rest of my days. I was glad the room was dark, so's Flaker couldn't get a good look at me. He'll know soon enough—and hate the sight of me. He was always so proud of my 'pearance."

"But I'm sure he likes you for something else too, Mary."

"I don't care whether he does or not, he's got to marry me just the same. I aint goin' to be left again," and the girl tried to make a blazing diamond ring keep in place upon her thin finger.

"You love him very much?"

"Don't know as I do—no more than lots of other fellows; but I won't have any more chances now. I didn't ask to be born into this world, and somebody in it owes me a living."

"See here, Mary!" said thenurse, in a suddenly energetic tone that made the girl look up at her with startled eyes. "You know, as well as I do, that you can't make that man marry you. Why not give him back his ring of your own free will?"

"Why should I? You think I aint in love?"

"Love? You don't know what the word means in any but its very lowest sense. Suppose you stop loving men, and take to loving women and children; you'll find them much more grateful, I can tell you."

Mary closed her eyes, but there were no eyelashes to keep the tears from trickling out upon the scarred face.

"My dear child!" said Nurse Dean, in a voice hardly recognizable, it was so sympathetic, "you've been fighting for yourself ever since you can remember, and you haven't made much of it, have you?"

The girl's lips shaped an inaudible "No."

"Wouldn't it be a good idea, then, to try a little fighting for other people?"

"I haven't any folks."

"Your 'folks' are whoever you can help in any way. What have you done yet to deserve a foothold on this earth? Instead of seeing how much you can get out of everybody, turn round and see how much you can do for them."

There was a long silence. When Nurse Dean thought her charge was falling asleep, she placed a shawl carefully over her, but Mary, without opening her eyes, drew something from her left hand to her right.

"You can give him back his ring," she said.

Nurse Dean closed the door softly behind her, and then paused for a moment to wipe animpertinent tear from her cold gray eye.

"I shouldn't be at all surprised if the smallpox were just The Making of Mary."

THE "UNKNOWN" LIBRARYOFCHOICE ORIGINAL FICTION.The volumes are long and narrow, just the right shape to slip into the pocket, and are bound in flexible cloth and ornamented with a chaste design. The type is large and the margin generous.Price, per volume, 50 cents.1. Mademoiselle Ixe. By Lanoe Falconer.2. The Story of Eleanor Lambert. By Magdalen Brooke.3. A Mystery of the Campagna, and A Shadow on the Wave. By Von Degen.4. The Friend of Death. Adapted from the Spanish by Mary J. Serrano.5. Philippa; or, Under a Cloud. By Ella.6. The Hôtel D'Angleterre, and Other Stories. By Lanoe Falconer.7. Amaryllis. By Georgios Drosines.8. Some Emotions and a Moral. By John Oliver Hobbes.9. European Relations. By Talmage Dalin.10. John Sherman, and Dhoya. By Ganconagh.11. Through the Red-Litten Windows, and The Old River House. By Theodor Hertz-Garten.12. Back from the Dead. A Story of the Stage. By Saqui Smith.13. In Tent and Bungalow. By "An Idle Exile."14. The Sinner's Comedy. By John Oliver Hobbes.15. The Wee Widow's Cruise in Quiet Waters. By "An Idle Exile."16. A New England Cactus, and Other Tales. By Frank Pope Humphrey.17. Green Tea. A Love Story. By V. Schallenberger.18. A Splendid Cousin. By Mrs. Andrew Dean.19. Gentleman Upcott's Daughter. By Tom Cobbleigh.20. At the Threshold. By Laura Dearborn.21. Her Heart was True. By "An Idle Exile."22. The Last King of Yewle. By P. L. McDermott.23. A Study in Temptations. By John Oliver Hobbes.24. The Palimpsest. By Gilbert Augustin Thierry.25. Squire Hellman, and Other Stories. By Juhani Aho.26. A Father of Six. By N. E. Potapeèko.27. The Two Countesses. By Marie Ebner von Eschenbach.28. God's Will, and Other Stories. By Ilse Frapan. Translated by Helen A. MacDonald.29. Her Provincial Cousin. By Edith Elmer Wood.30. My Two Wives. By One of their Husbands.31. Young Sam and Sabina. By Tom Cobbleigh.32. Chaperoned. By Albert Ulmann.33. Wanted, a Copyist. By W. N. Brearley.34. A Bundle of Life. By John Oliver Hobbes.35. The Lone Inn. By Fergus Hume.36. "Go Forth and Find." By Thomas H. Brainerd.37. The Beautiful Soul. By Florence Marryat.38. Dr. Endicott's Experiment. By Adeline Sergeant.THE CASSELL PUBLISHING CO.,31 East 17th Street (Union Square),NEW YORK.W. C. HUDSON'SInteresting Books.Jack Gordon, Knight-Errant, Gotham, 1883.12mo, Cloth, 75 cents; Paper, 50 cents."A capital piece of work."—Pittsburg Dispatch.On the Rack.12mo, Cloth, 75 cents; Paper, 50 cents."A story of unusual power."—Boston Post.The Diamond Button.A Tale from the Diary of a Lawyer and the Note-book of a Reporter.12mo, Cloth, 75 cents; Paper, 50 cents."A pronounced success."—Albany Express.The Dugdale Millions.12mo, Cloth, 75 cents; Paper, 50 cents."The plot is ingeniously cast and most skillfully worked out, and the strong interest of the reader is not allowed to flag for a moment."—Boston Home Journal.The Man with a Thumb.12mo, Cloth, 75 cents; Paper, 50 cents."Holds the attention to the last page."—Cleveland Plaindealer.Vivier.12mo, Cloth, 75 cents; Paper, 50 cents."The story contains not a single dull page."—Ohio State Journal.Should She Have Left Him?12mo, Cloth, 75 cents; Paper, 50 cents."No one can go to sleep over one of Mr. Hudson's stories, for the author supplies incidents, generally unexpected, too, and in more rapid succession than any other living author."—Godey's Magazine.THE CASSELL PUBLISHING CO.,31 East 17th Street (Union Square),NEW YORK.W. CLARK RUSSELL'SPOPULAR SEA STORIES.THE EMIGRANT SHIP.1 Vol., 12mo, Extra Cloth, $1.00.Paper Binding, 50 Cents."No better sea story has been written."—Phila. Bulletin."It is a bright, interesting story."—N. Y. World.LIST, YE LANDSMEN!1 Vol., 12mo, Extra Cloth, $1.00.Paper Binding, 50 Cents."A stirring romance."—Rochester Herald."Next to a genuine sea voyage."—Boston Journal.ROMANCE OF A TRANSPORT.1 Vol., 12mo, Cloth, $1.00."One of his best."—Brooklyn Citizen."Who has ever begun one of Clark Russell's tales and neglected to finish it?"—Phila. Item.THE CASSELL PUBLISHING CO.,31 East 17th Street (Union Square),NEW YORK.

The volumes are long and narrow, just the right shape to slip into the pocket, and are bound in flexible cloth and ornamented with a chaste design. The type is large and the margin generous.

1. Mademoiselle Ixe. By Lanoe Falconer.

2. The Story of Eleanor Lambert. By Magdalen Brooke.

3. A Mystery of the Campagna, and A Shadow on the Wave. By Von Degen.

4. The Friend of Death. Adapted from the Spanish by Mary J. Serrano.

5. Philippa; or, Under a Cloud. By Ella.

6. The Hôtel D'Angleterre, and Other Stories. By Lanoe Falconer.

7. Amaryllis. By Georgios Drosines.

8. Some Emotions and a Moral. By John Oliver Hobbes.

9. European Relations. By Talmage Dalin.

10. John Sherman, and Dhoya. By Ganconagh.

11. Through the Red-Litten Windows, and The Old River House. By Theodor Hertz-Garten.

12. Back from the Dead. A Story of the Stage. By Saqui Smith.

13. In Tent and Bungalow. By "An Idle Exile."

14. The Sinner's Comedy. By John Oliver Hobbes.

15. The Wee Widow's Cruise in Quiet Waters. By "An Idle Exile."

16. A New England Cactus, and Other Tales. By Frank Pope Humphrey.

17. Green Tea. A Love Story. By V. Schallenberger.

18. A Splendid Cousin. By Mrs. Andrew Dean.

19. Gentleman Upcott's Daughter. By Tom Cobbleigh.

20. At the Threshold. By Laura Dearborn.

21. Her Heart was True. By "An Idle Exile."

22. The Last King of Yewle. By P. L. McDermott.

23. A Study in Temptations. By John Oliver Hobbes.

24. The Palimpsest. By Gilbert Augustin Thierry.

25. Squire Hellman, and Other Stories. By Juhani Aho.

26. A Father of Six. By N. E. Potapeèko.

27. The Two Countesses. By Marie Ebner von Eschenbach.

28. God's Will, and Other Stories. By Ilse Frapan. Translated by Helen A. MacDonald.

29. Her Provincial Cousin. By Edith Elmer Wood.

30. My Two Wives. By One of their Husbands.

31. Young Sam and Sabina. By Tom Cobbleigh.

32. Chaperoned. By Albert Ulmann.

33. Wanted, a Copyist. By W. N. Brearley.

34. A Bundle of Life. By John Oliver Hobbes.

35. The Lone Inn. By Fergus Hume.

36. "Go Forth and Find." By Thomas H. Brainerd.

37. The Beautiful Soul. By Florence Marryat.

38. Dr. Endicott's Experiment. By Adeline Sergeant.