chapter, they all went to
their rooms.

The History of Little Bernard Low

[Illustration: Bessy was very sorry to leave her young friends]

The rest of Mrs. Goodriche's visit passed off very quietly and very
pleasantly. Bessy became from day to day more manageable, and Lucy and
Emily began to love her very much.

Mrs. Goodriche was inquiring everywhere for a house close by, and there
was none which seemed as if it could be made to suit her. She and Bessy
returned home therefore at the end of a fortnight, and Bessy was very
sorry to leave her young friends.

It was four or five days after Mrs. Goodriche had left them before Mr.
Fairchild proposed that they should read that famous book which Henry
talked so much about.

"But where shall we go to read it?" he asked.

"Oh! to the hut in the wood, papa, if you please," answered Lucy; and
in less than an hour everybody was ready to set out: and when everybody
was seated as they had been the time before, the book was opened, and
Lucy waited to read only till Henry and Emily had seen the picture at
the beginning. I will tell you what the picture was when we come to the
place of it in the story.

The History of Little Bernard Low

_THE STORY IN HENRY'S BOOK_

"Mr. Low was a clergyman, and had a good living in that part of this
country where the hills of Wales extend towards the plains of England,
forming sweet valleys, often covered with woods, and rendered fruitful
and beautiful by rills which have their sources in the distant hills.

"Mr. Low never had but one brother; this brother had been a wild boy,
and had run away many years before, and never had been heard of since.

"The name of the valley in which Mr. Low's living was situated was
Rookdale; his own house stood alone amongst woods and waterfalls, but
there was a village nearer to the mouth of the valley, and in that
village, besides some farmers and many cottagers, lived another
clergyman of the name of Evans. He was a worthy humble man, and came
from the very wildest parts of Wales. He was a needy man, and was
forced to work hard to get a decent living for himself, his sister,
Miss Grizzy Evans, and an orphan nephew, Stephen Poppleton. Mr. Low
gave him fifty pounds a year to help him in the care of his parish,
which spread far and wide over the high grounds which surrounded
Rookdale; and he added something to his gains by teaching the children
of the farmers in the parish, and by taking in two