, she frequently talked away her
sorrows; and, thinking she would be better if she opened her heart,
she recommenced, after wiping away a few natural tears: "You see, sir,
Helen--I mean her ladyship--said she would make it up by-and-bye to
me, and so she ought, poor dear thing; for I sacrificed both myself
and her cousin Rose for her advancement; and really I cannot tell how
the money goes with those great folk. Only think," proceeded the old
lady, bringing her face close to Mr. Stokes, and whispering--"only
think, she says she never has five pounds she can call her own. Now,
as I told Rose, this is very odd, because my lord is so very rich
since the death of his brother, ten times as rich as he was at first,
and yet Rose says they are poor now to what they used to be--is
not that very strange? She says it is because of the increased
expenditure, and that I don't understand; but it's very hard, very
hard in my old days. If she can't live upon thirty thousand a-year,
I wonder how she expects her poor old grandmother to live upon thirty
pounds, for that's all my certainty; and the little farm, I must say,
would have gone to destruction, but for Edward Lynne--he does every
thing for it, poor fellow. She never sends me a paper now, with
her presentations, and dresses, and fine parties, printed in it at
full-length; she's ashamed of her birth, that's it; though sure
you and your lady, sir, noticed them both like equals, and I never
even asked to go near her, though his lordship invited me more than
once--and he even came to see Rose, as you know, ay, and a good ten
mile out of his way it was to come--a good ten mile--and kissed her
baby, and said he wished he had one like it, which they say Helen
never will have. Oh, it was a pity that first one of her ladyship did
not live! It is so cruel of her not to let me see the papers with an
account of her fine doings, all in print--very cruel--I who loved her
so, and took care of her--I never could find out from Rose whether
or no she thought her happy. Ah, Rose is a good girl! not, however,"
added the old lady, again wiping away her tears--"not, however, to be
compared to her ladyship; and I would not say what I have done to any
one in the world but you, sir, who have known them all their lives."

So talked old Mrs. Myles, and so she continued to talk at intervals,
during the next five years, growing weaker in mind and body, until at
last she took to her bed. "I could die happy," s