ist's daughter! or you might even say, a
music-master's daughter!"

"Old Mr Goodwin has aged very much lately," remarked Mrs Hunt. "I met
him this morning, looking so tired, that I made him come in and rest a
little. He had been giving a lesson to Mrs Palmer's children out at
Pynes."

"How kind and thoughtful of you, dear Mrs Hunt," said Miss Gibbins.
"That's very far for him to walk. I wonder he doesn't give it up. I
suppose, though, he can't afford to do that."

"I don't think he has ever been the same man since Prissy's marriage,"
said Mrs Hunt, "though he plays the organ more beautifully than ever."

With her spectacles perched upon her nose, her hands crossed comfortably
on her lap, and a most beaming smile on her face, Mrs Hunt looked the
picture of contented idleness, while her guests stitched away busily,
with flying fingers, and heads bent over their work. She had done about
half an inch of the pattern on her strip, and now, her needle being
unthreaded, made no attempt to continue it.

"Delia's coming in presently," she remarked placidly, meeting Miss
Gibbins' sharp glance as it rested on her idle hands; "she will take my
work a little while--ah, here she is," as the door opened.

A girl of about sixteen came towards them, stopping to speak to the
ladies as she passed them on her way up the room. She was short for her
age, and rather squarely built, holding herself very upright, and
walking with calmness and decision.

Everything about Delia Hunt seemed to express determination, from her
firm chin to her dark curly hair, which would always look rough,
although it was brushed back from her forehead and fastened up securely
in a knot at the back of her head. Nothing could make it lie flat and
smooth, however, and in spite of all Delia's efforts, it curled and
twisted itself defiantly wherever it had a chance. Perhaps, by doing
so, it helped to soften a face which would have been a little hard
without the good-tempered expression which generally filled the bright
brown eyes.

"That sort of marriage never answers," said Mrs Winn, as Delia reached
her mother's side. "Just see what unhappiness it caused. It was a
bitter blow to Mr and Mrs Forrest; it made poor old Mr Goodwin
miserable, and separated him from his only child; and as to Prissy
herself--well, the poor thing didn't live to find out her mistake, and
left her little daughter to feel the consequences of it."

"Poor little motherless darl