nd."

"But he does go to sleep,--and then he scratches his nose to show
that he's awake. I shouldn't have said it, only she is always hinting
at uncle Christopher. Uncle Christopher certainly does go to sleep
when Mr. Boyce preaches, and he hasn't studied any scientific little
movements during his slumbers to make the people believe that he's
all alive. I gave him a hint one day, and he got so angry with me!"

"I shouldn't have thought he could have been angry with you. It seems
to me from what you say that you may do whatever you please with
him."

"He is very good to me. If you knew it all,--if you could understand
how good he has been! I'll try and tell you one day. It is not what
he has done that makes me love him so,--but what he has thoroughly
understood, and what, so understanding, he has not done, and what he
has not said. It is a case of sympathy. If ever there was a gentleman
uncle Christopher is one. And I used to dislike him so, at one time!"

"And why?"

"Chiefly because he would make me wear brown frocks when I wanted to
have them pink or green. And he kept me for six months from having
them long, and up to this day he scolds me if there is half an inch
on the ground for him to tread upon."

"I shouldn't mind that if I were you."

"I don't,--not now. But it used to be serious when I was a young
girl. And we thought, Bell and I, that he was cross to mamma. He and
mamma didn't agree at first, you know, as they do now. It is quite
true that he did dislike mamma when we first came here."

"I can't think how anybody could ever dislike Mrs. Dale."

"But he did. And then he wanted to make up a marriage between Bell
and my cousin Bernard. But neither of them cared a bit for the other,
and then he used to scold them,--and then,--and then,--and then-- Oh,
he was so good to me! Here's Gregory at last. Gregory, we've been
waiting this hour and a half."

"It ain't ten minutes since Hopkins let me come with the barrows,
miss."

"Then Hopkins is a traitor. Never mind. You'd better begin now,--up
there at the steps. It'll be quite dark in a few minutes. Here's Mrs
Giles with her broom. Come, Mrs. Giles; we shall have to pass the
night here if you don't make haste. Are you cold, Grace?"

"No; I'm not cold. I'm thinking what they're doing now in the church
at Hogglestock."

"The Hogglestock church is not pretty;--like this?"

"Oh, no. It is a very plain brick building, with something like a
pigeon-house f