perfect, whether tending to recovery or the precursor of dissolution.
For he knew of no will that Mr. Frederick had made, and he knew that
since the discovery of Mr. Laurence's marriage the squire had destroyed
the last will of his own making, and that he had not even drawn out a
rough scheme of his further intentions. The entailed estates were of
course inalienable--those must pass to his son and his son's son--but
there were houses and lands besides over which he had the power of
settlement. Bessie listened, but found it very hard to give her mind to
these considerations, and said so.

"My uncle Laurence is the person to talk to," she suggested.

"Probably he will arrive before the day is over, but you are to be
thought of, you are to be provided for, Miss Fairfax."

"Oh, I don't care for myself at all," said Bessie.

"The more need, then, that some one else should care for you," replied
Mr. John Short.

Inquirers daily besieged Abbotsmead for news of the squire. Mr.
Laurence Fairfax came over, and Mr. John Short stayed on, expecting his
opportunity, while slowly the old man recovered up to a certain point.
But his constitution was permanently weakened and his speech indistinct.
Jonquil, Macky, and Mrs. Betts were his nurses, and the first person
that he was understood to ask for was Elizabeth. Bessie was so glad of
his recollection that she went to him with a bright face--the first
bright face that had come about his bed yet--and he was evidently
pleased. She took up one of his hands and stroked and kissed it, and
knelt down to bring herself nearer to him, all with that affectionate
kindness that his life had missed ever since his sister Dorothy died.

"You are better, grandpapa; you will soon be up and out of doors again,"
said she cheerfully.

He gave her no answer, but lay composed with his eyes resting upon her.
It was doubtful whether the cause of his illness had recurred to his
weakened memory, for he had not attempted to speak of it. She went on to
tell him what friends and neighbors had been to ask after his
health--Mr. Chiverton, Sir Edward Lucas, Mr. Oliver Smith--and what
letters to the same purport she had received from Lady Latimer, Lady
Angleby, Mr. Cecil Burleigh, and others, to which she had replied. He
acknowledged each item of her information with a glance, but he made no
return inquiries.

Mr. Chiverton had called that day, and the form in which he carried
intelligence home to his wife was