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daughter walked up to Brookfall expressly to see and admire Miss Delia's treasure, but when they arrived Dolly reported of her as being in a beautiful sleep-and sleep was salvation to her now; and when Rachel suggested that it would perhaps be only the better opportunity, Miss Flora cautiously objected on the score that the door creaked so it could not be opened wide enough to enter without waking her; Brookfall Cottage was very old, and all the doors creaked and the floors too.

Thus was lost the last chance of discovering the cruel treachery which had brought Sir Laurence Warleigh's little wildling into the hands of these good Samaritans. It was a kind Providence perhaps that left her there.

On the journey home to Prior's Bank, Rachel Withers caught cold, and on her arrival she was laid up with an attack of inflammation on the lungs. She had never been ill in her life before, and made but a very bad patient; thanks to God and a good constitution, however, she won safely through, though some delicacy and susceptibility were left behind. Dr. Beane would have had her seek a warmer climate for the winter, and her godmamma would have gladly assented, but she rebelled against the proposal and prevailed; it sounded so very invalidish,

and besides she wished to be near John and Katherine and the bairns.

All was well in that household: John stoutening fast into rectorial dignity, and Katherine keeping steady matronly pace with him; while the children, as their nurse declared, were the most rantorian trio ever she was plagued with. Health and good spirits were cheap amongst the boys, and Sacharissa Tulip was just beginning to toddle; but being naturally fat, and much over-weighted with sash behind, she came down flump at every other step; she fell soft though, which was a comfort, and took her jolts in very good part, only chuckling and staring with big, amazed blue eyes at each recurrence of the bump, as if it were quite a novel catastrophe.

When Rachel began to go out again it was December; the sky was grey with mists, the woods and gardens were all blown and winterly desolate.

"What changes in Hurtledale since last year at this time!" thought she, the first Sunday she went to church after her recovery. The little grave by Helena's was green, and Annis's name was there on a new memorial stone below her mother's. During his brief reign Oliver Warleigh had had the cedar which his brother planted on his wife's grave cut

VOL. II.

26

down, much against John's and Katherine's wishes, and the stone placed against the wall instead. And there Rachel, unsuspicious of how near she had been to a discovery of the fraud, read the lie it affirmed before the world.

Young Mr. Bond had returned to England a month or two before, but Sir Laurence, to everybody's relief, had been prevailed on to adhere to his original intentions, and continue his travels. In a letter to Katherine which Rachel read, he spoke in a tone half pathetic, half sarcastic of Oliver's disappointment, and seemed in no way inclined to resent the temporary usurpation of his name and

estate.

Of his daughter he said very little, and that little blamed no one but himself—he ought not to have left her. And so in Hurtledale it was all overall the distress, and mourning, and expectation, and save in his heart, Helena and her baby were as if they had never been!

END OF PART THE SECOND.

115

PART THIRD.

AMONGST GOOD SAMARITANS.

CHAPTER THE FIRST.

AT CLAYMIRE.

Blessed are the merciful.

I.

ANNIS, or Alice as she was now called, and as we must also call her, so long as she remains Miss Delia Ferrand's treasure, did not make a public appearance downstairs until Mrs. Sara Grandage and her goddaughter had been gone home to Hurtledale a month. It was then very cold weather, and she was such a fragile mite to behold that the cautious old ladies would not hear of her putting her little head out of doors, though she gazed wistfully from the windows during many an hour in the day, and longed to feel her feet on the green grass once

more.

Her recollections had come back to her but very imperfectly, and Mr. Wilson warned Miss Delia against any attempts to stimulate her mind for perhaps years to come; good food, kind usage, and much play were all she was fit to profit by now. The lesson-books that had been bought in readiness for a beginning were therefore laid on the shelf; a cargo of toys was obtained in their stead, and Alice found herself established in a state of permanent holiday.

It must be allowed that at this season she affected the kitchen and Dolly's society in preference to any other at Brookfall, which gave Miss Delia her first acute distress on her protégée's account. That Alice should love Dolly who had nursed her like a mother was quite right and proper, but she must learn to love her more; so the kind old lady would set the child in her lap day by day, and tell her stories of children who were remarkable for early piety and genius, but who all came to premature endings; in the hope of winning her heart and her interest through these pretty parables. Alice listened always with wide-eyed composure; but one day when she had attended in spirit the touching scene of a little angel-girl's death, she said,

"I don't want to be good, auntie Dee."

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