ge it all seemed, and she felt so shaken up by her
ride that she was awkward in handling the child, and as she bent her
head over it, it lifted its hand and gave her such a box on the ear
that her head rang with it.

The old dame cried out and almost let the babe fall, she was so
thunderstruck.

"What is the matter?" asked the woman from the bed. Then she slipped
her hand under her pillow and drew out a box of salve. "Here! Rub the
child's eyes with a bit of this," she said, "but be sure you do not
get any of it on your own eyes, or it will be a bad thing for
you,--scarce could be a worse."

The nurse took a bit of the salve on her forefinger and rubbed the
baby's eyes with it, and then the mother bade her go and wash off any
particle of salve that might be left on her finger.

All day Dame Pridgett waited on the mother and child, and when night
came she was shown into a room next to theirs where she was to sleep.

The following day the dame was again kept busy with the mother and
child. She washed the baby and rubbed the salve on its eyelids as
before, and again the mother warned her not to let the least particle
of salve touch her own eyes, or it would be the worse for her.

Food was set out for the nurse in a small room beyond her own. She did
not know whence it came, nor who prepared it, but she was hungry and
ate heartily of it, though it had a strange taste she did not like.
The two ragged children came in and ate with her. They did not speak,
but stared at her from under their matted hair. The little man she did
not see again for some time.

So day followed day, and it was always the same thing over and over
for Dame Pridgett, and every day after she had washed the child she
rubbed salve on its eyelids. Soon its eyes, that had at first been
dull, grew so bright and strong they sparkled like jewels. Dame
Pridgett thought it must be a very fine salve. She would have liked to
try some of it on her own eyes, for her sight was somewhat dim, but
the mother watched her so closely that she never had a chance to use
it.

Now, every day, after Dame Pridgett had washed the baby, she left the
basin on a chair beside her while she rubbed the salve on the child's
eyes. One day she managed to upset the basin with her elbow as though
by accident, though really by design. She gave a cry and bent over to
pick up the basin, and as she did so, unseen by her mistress, she
rubbed her right eye with the finger that still had