art
of hearts he disliked Lucy Robarts in that she had brought it.
He could not cause the jars and the pots to be replaced in the
pony-carriage, as he would have done had the position of his wife
been different. In her state it would have been barbarous to refuse
them, and barbarous also to have created the _fracas_ of a refusal;
but each parcel that was introduced was an additional weight laid on
the sore withers of his pride, till the total burden became almost
intolerable. All this his wife saw and recognized even in her
illness, and did make some slight ineffectual efforts to give him
ease; but Lucy in her new power was ruthless, and the chicken to
make the chicken-broth was taken out of the basket under his very
nose. But Lucy did not remain long. She had made up her mind what
it behoved her to do herself, and she was soon ready to return to
Framley. "I shall be back again, Mr. Crawley," she said, "probably
this evening, and I shall stay with her till she is better." "Nurses
don't want rooms," she went on to say, when Mr. Crawley muttered
something as to there being no bed-chamber. "I shall make up some
sort of a litter near her; you'll see that I shall be very snug." And
then she got into the pony-chaise, and drove herself home.

CHAPTER XXXV

The Story of King Cophetua

Lucy as she drove herself home had much as to which it was necessary
that she should arouse her thoughts. That she would go back and nurse
Mrs. Crawley through her fever she was resolved. She was free agent
enough to take so much on herself, and to feel sure that she could
carry it through. But how was she to redeem her promise about the
children? Twenty plans ran through her mind, as to farm-houses in
which they might be placed, or cottages which might be hired for
them; but all these entailed the want of money; and at the present
moment, were not all the inhabitants of the parsonage pledged to a
dire economy? This use of the pony-carriage would have been illicit
under any circumstances less pressing than the present, for it had
been decided that the carriage, and even poor Puck himself, should
be sold. She had, however, given her promise about the children, and
though her own stock of money was very low, that promise should be
redeemed.

When she reached the parsonage she was of course full of her schemes,
but she found that another subject of interest had come up in her
absence, which prevented her from obtaining the undivided att