to and fro in pleasant
converse. Methinks it is worth all that hath gone before to find
such a haven of peace and rest at last."

Anthony looked as though he needed rest, as indeed was the case;
for he had toiled hard amongst the sick, and when Clarke fell ill,
had devoted himself to him day and night, with Radley for his
helper. But Radley had had a touch of the sickness himself, and had
been unable to do much, so that the bulk of the nursing and the
anxiety had fallen upon Dalaber.

"But he is better now--Master Clarke, I mean?" spoke Magdalen, with
anxious eyes.

"Verily yes; he is well-nigh himself again, only he hath the air of
one who is worn down with illness. He looks bent and white and
frail--he toiled so strenuously amongst the sick; and before that
he was studying almost night and day.

"But come below into the garden where he is; he will speak for
himself. I would that you should see the lilies there. They will
rejoice your heart."

It was a quaint old garden into which Anthony led them, full of the
scent of herbs and spices, rosemary, thyme, and sweetbrier. The
trim order of modern gardening was then unknown, and therefore not
missed; close-shaven turf was only to be found in the bowling
alleys, and lawns were not; but there was a wilderness beauty that
was full of charm in such a place as this, and the sisters looked
about them with eager eyes, rejoicing in the beauty before them,
and inhaling the pure freshness of the air after the heavy and
somewhat pestilential atmosphere in which they had lived.

Clarke was lying at ease on a bearskin against the turf wall of the
bowling alley, a book beside him, which he was not then reading.
His eyes lighted at sight of the sisters, and he would have risen,
but that they forestalled him, and sat beside him on the soft skin,
looking at him with friendly solicitude.

He would not talk of himself, but had a hundred things to tell them
of the place to which they had come. He inquired how Dr. Langton
had borne the journey, and hoped he might visit him later in the
day; and as they talked, they were joined by their host himself.
And presently he asked Magdalen to come with him and see his hives
of bees, for she was somewhat of a naturalist, and was eager to
study the habits and habitations of all living things.

"We are very grateful to you, fair sir," she said, "for this act of
kindness and hospitality to our dear father. I doubt not that he
will recover healt