a word to father, aunt.'

'Very well. But she stopped us and began telling us that she had been
turned out of these doors, and would have the law on your father. She
was furious; talked of Netta and Howel, and your mother, and Paris, and
the wedding, all in the same breath, and would not let us go on until we
had heard all. Neither of us spoke to her, but she stood at the horse's
head and frightened me to death.'

When they all went into the hall, they found that Mr Prothero was not
there. Gladys came in and said he was with her mistress, but had not
mentioned Mrs Jenkins.

'I am afraid she has made my mistress worse, sir,' she said to Owen.
'She has been very faint ever since she left,'

In truth she had made her worse, and when Dr Richards came to see her
that afternoon, she was quite delirious. He shook his head, and declared
that she had brain fever, and that the utmost quiet and freedom from all
excitement were necessary for her. Poor Mr Prothero was beside himself,
and the whole household was in great consternation. Serious illness had
never visited either the farm or the vicarage before, and none of the
Prothero family knew what it was. Not so Gladys, however. She did not
wait to be directed or ordered, but took her post as nurse by her dear
mistress's bedside. To her the doctor gave his directions, to her Mr
Prothero turned for information, to her Owen came for comfort; and even
Mrs Jonathan, who had scarcely ever spoken to her before, looked to her
as the only hope in this time of uncertainty.

'I have seen all kind of fevers,' she would say to one and another as
they questioned her, 'worse than this, and with God's grace the dear
mistress will recover. I am not afraid to sit up alone with her, oh, no!
It is better not to have too many in the room at once. Do not be uneasy,
master, the delirium is not very bad. Yes, Mr Owen, you can do better
than any one else, because you are calmer. No, ma'am, it is not an
infectious fever--you need not be afraid,' and so from one to another at
intervals she went, giving hope and comfort.

During all that night and several successive ones, Gladys sat up with
her beloved mistress. It was she who listened to her disturbed,
delirious talk about Netta, and tried to console her; she who read the
Bible to her, and prayed with and for her during the intervals of
reason, and she who gave her all her medicines and nourishment.

Poor Mr Prothero could do nothing but wander from