aid Clam with her former wide-awake smile, "I guess
what 'll please him 'll please you, won't it?"

"Go down stairs, and come to me after breakfast," said her
mistress. "I'll let you make some new dresses for yourself the
first thing. And look here, --" said she pulling a bright-
coloured silk handkerchief out of a drawer, -- "put that into a
turban before you come up and let me see what you're up to."

Clam departed without an answer; but when she made her
appearance again, the orange and crimson folds were twisted
about her head in a style that convinced Elizabeth her new
waiting-maid's capacity was equal to all the new demands she
would be likely to make upon it.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Never his worldly lot, or worldly state torments him:
Less he would like, if less his God had sent him.
FLETCHER.

Winthrop had taken no little charge upon himself in the charge
of his little sister. In many ways. He had a scanty purse, and
it better bore the demands of one than of two; but that was
only a single item. Winnie was not a charge upon his purse
alone, but upon his heart and his head and his time. The
demands were all met, to the full.

As much as it was possible, in the nature of Winthrop's
business, his sister had him with her; and when he could not
be there, his influence and power. It was trying enough for
the poor child to be left alone as much as she was, for she
could not always find solace in Mrs. Nettley, and sometimes
could not endure her presence. Against this evil Winthrop
provided as far as he might by giving Winnie little jobs to do
for him while he was gone, and by setting her about what
courses of self-improvement her delicate system of mind and
body was able to bear. He managed it so that all was for him;
not more the patching and knitting and bits of writing which
were strictly in his line, than the pages of history, the sums
in arithmetic, and the little lesson of Latin, which were for
Winnie's own self. He knew that affection, in every one of
them, would steady the nerves and fortify the will to go
patiently on to the end. And the variety of occupation he left
her was so great that without tiring herself in any one thing,
Winnie generally found the lonely hours of her day pretty well
filled up. Mrs. Nettley was a great help, when Winnie was in
the mood for her company; that was not always.

His little sister's bodily and mental health was another care
upon Winthrop's mind, and on his time. Di