ake, and there was a roast fowl and hot apple-tart
for supper; and between tea and supper Mrs. Howard showed them many
curious things, pictures, and dolls dressed in the fashions of her
youth, and a number of other things which she kept in a Japan cabinet,
which always stood in the summer parlour while she lived in this house.

"It was not till after supper that she brought out the two Bibles and
the pocket-book and equipage. She then laid them before her on the
table, and she spoke to the two children:

"She began by saying that as they were going out of the country and she
was far in years, she might, perhaps, never see them again in this
world. She then spoke, in her own sweet warm way, of what our dear
Saviour has done for us, and when she had said as much as she thought
the children could bear, she presented each a Bible, having written
their names in them. She next took the other presents in her hands:

"'And these, my dears,' she said, 'I ask you to accept. I am sorry if
on former occasions I may have seemed harsh to you, but these little
gifts are to prove that I am truly sorry if ever I gave you pain; when
you look at them you will think of me, and know that nothing would ever
give me more delight than to hear that you were both walking in the
ways of holiness.'

"She then put the pocket-book into Jacky's hand, and the equipage into
Miss Polly's; but she hardly expected what followed. The two children
burst into tears; Jacky rubbed his eyes to hide his; but Miss Polly
sprang from her chair, and fell weeping into Mrs. Howard's arms.

"'We will, we will try to do better, ma'am,' she said; 'we will
indeed.'

"As the children walked home they said not one word to each other; and
a very few days afterwards the family left the country, Mr. Bennet not
having had even the decency to call and say good-bye to the old lady.

"Mrs. Howard was half-way between sixty and seventy when the Bennets
left the country, and was supposed by many to be older, for she had
dressed like an old woman for many years; her hair had long been gray,
and she had always been a weakly person, very small and very pale.

"She, however, continued to live in this house as many as seventeen
years after the Bennets were gone, and every year till the last had her
children's party; but a change was coming on her household--Crop had
died years before, and Betty afterwards always went to town in the
market-cart; but what was the loss of Crop to th