to nurse,' replied the
woman; 'I am quite ashamed that you should have found us all so dirty,
but indeed I cannot help it. What with my husband being ill so long, and
the washing, which must be done, I don't know sometimes which way to
turn.'

'My aunt wants much to know how your husband is,' said Clara; 'she would
have come with us this morning, but she had an engagement.'

'The doctor thinks, miss, that my husband may get well, though he says
it may be many weeks yet before he will be able to walk. He has had a
weary time of it, and if it had not been for Miss Livesay's kindness,
and that of our good vicar and his wife, I think he could not have
lived; for he required more nourishment than I could obtain for him, if
I worked ever so hard.'

'I know how glad my aunt will be to hear this good news,' said Clara;
'and she has sent one of the night-shirts that we have made; I dare say
she will bring the other herself. And now let me try on the pinafore for
baby; I want to see whether it will fit.' Baby, however, stoutly
resisted this trial, using arms and legs with marvellous dexterity, and
almost twisting herself out of mother's arms; so the contest was given
up for fear of creating a noise, which would have disturbed the invalid:
while Clara's second suggestion, that baby should have some pudding,
appeared to give entire satisfaction, and produced perfect calm, under
which state of things the visitors rose to go, Mabel not having
exchanged a word either with mother or children the whole time, and
standing on the threshold of the door, waiting for her cousin, who was
shaking hands with Mrs. Simmons, and bestowing a parting kiss on the red
round cheeks of the now smiling baby.

The young people walked on a short distance in silence; each had their
own peculiar thoughts of the other. Mabel was the first to break calm.
Then she said: 'How you could kiss that dirty little thing and offer to
nurse it, I can't conceive, Clara; it quite sickens me to think of it,'
said Mabel, with something like a shudder. 'I wonder Aunt Mary sends us
to such places; it is work for Bridget to do, and not for us,' she
continued. 'I don't think my mamma would approve of my going.'

'Oh, you are mistaken there, I know,' said Clara; 'for I have often
heard aunt tell of the poor people your mamma and she used to visit,
before Aunt Ada married--yes, and for a long time after she was married,
until she was poorly, and then of course she was oblig