ket-day, and if we can get thirty shillings on them without
the mantle--'

'Yes, if you can, my dear,' said her mother; 'I'm sure I should be very
glad for you to have it, but you see--'

And Mrs. King sighed.

Ellen passed by Paul on the landing, and saw him with his face flushed
with pain and fever, trying to smile at her. She remembered how her
unkind words had brought trouble on him, and how her mother had begun by
telling her that they must give up their own wishes if they were to nurse
him.

Ellen went to Elbury on the market-day, and by the help of Betsey
Hardman, she got great credit for her bargaining. She brought home
thirty shillings, and ten shillings' worth of soap for the shop, where
that article was running low; but she did not bring home the cloak,
though Betsey had told her a silk cloak over a shawl looked so mean! and
she feared all the servants at the Grange would think the same!

'They always were good children to me,' said Mrs. King to Mr. Cope, 'but
somehow, since Paul has been here, I think they are better than ever!
There's poor Alfred, though his cough has been so bad of late, has been
so thoughtful and so good; he says he's quite ashamed to find how patient
Paul is under so much sharper pain than he ever had, and he's ready to
send anything to Paul that he fancies will do him good--quite carried out
of himself, you see; and there's Harold, so much steadier; I've hardly
had to find fault with him since that poor boy made off--he's sure to
come in in time, and takes care not to disturb his brother, and helps his
sister and me all he can.'

Mr. Cope was not at all surprised that the work of mercy was blessed to
all the little household, nor that it drew out all the better side of
their dispositions.

There was no positive change, nor sudden resolution, to alter Harold; but
he had been a good deal startled by Dick's wickedness, and in him had
lost a tempter. Besides, he considered Paul as his own friend, received
for his sake, and therefore felt himself bound to do all he could for
him, and though he was no nurse, he could do much to set his mother and
Ellen free to attend to their patients. And Paul's illness, though so
much less dangerous, frightened and subdued Harold much more than the
quiet gradual pining away of Alfred, to which he was used. The severe
pain, the raging fever, and the ramblings in talk, were much more fearful
things to witness than the low cough, the wearing sore,