asure
she had indicated. There were people, she had heard, who undertook the
care of inebriates.

'You know that we are by no means penniless,' sobbed Alice. 'We can
very well bear the expense. But will you assist us to find a suitable
place?'

He promised to proceed at once in the matter.

'And when she is cured,' said Miss Madden, 'she shall come and live
with me. And when baby is about two years old we will do what we have
been purposing for a long time. We will open a school for young
children, either here or at Weston. That will afford my poor sister
occupation. Indeed, we shall both be better for the exertion of such an
undertaking--don't you think so?'

'It would be a wise thing, I have no doubt whatever.'

The large house was to be abandoned, and as much of the furniture as
seemed needful transported to a smaller dwelling in another part of
Clevedon. For Alice resolved to stay here in spite of painful
associations. She loved the place, and looked forward with quiet joy to
the life that was prepared for her. Widdowson's books would go back to
London; not to the Hampstead lodgings, however. Fearful of solitude, he
proposed to his friend Newdick that they should live together, he, as a
man of substance, bearing the larger share of the expense. And this
plan also came into execution.

* * *

Three months went by, and on a day of summer, when the wooded hills and
green lanes and rich meadows of Clevedon looked their best, when the
Channel was still and blue, and the Welsh mountains loomed through a
sunny haze, Rhoda Nunn came over from the Mendips to see Miss Madden.
It could not be a gladsome meeting, but Rhoda was bright and natural,
and her talk as inspiriting as ever. She took the baby in her arms, and
walked about with it for a long time in the garden, often murmuring,
'Poor little child! Dear little child!' There had been doubt whether it
would live, but the summer seemed to be fortifying its health. Alice,
it was plain, had found her vocation; she looked better than at any
time since Rhoda had known her. Her complexion was losing its muddiness
and spottiness; her step had become light and brisk.

'And where is your sister?' inquired Miss Nunn.

'Staying with friends at present. She will be back before long, I hope.
And as soon as baby can walk we are going to think very seriously about
the school. You remember?'

'The school? You will really make the attempt?'

'It will be so good for us both. W