rope still in her hand. She had evidently been
listening to the singing, for she crept away, but in the distance I could
hear her humming 'Ye banks and braes' in a sweet childish treble that was
very harmonious and true.

CHAPTER XI

ONE OF GOD'S HEROINES

No. I was quite right when I told poor Phoebe that her sad case was not
without alleviation. I was still more sure of the truth of my words when
I saw with what care Miss Locke had prepared the invalid's meal, and how
gently she helped to place her in a proper position. There was evidently
no want of love between the sisters; only on one side the love was more
self-sacrificing and unselfish than the other. It needed only a look at
Susan Locke's spare form and thin, careworn face to tell me that she was
wearing herself out in her sister's service. Phoebe looked in her face
and broke into a harsh laugh, to poor Susan's great alarm.

'What do you think Miss Garston has been saying, Susan? That we must be a
comfort to each other. Fancy my being a comfort to you! You poor thing,
when I am the plague and burden of your life,' And she laughed again, in
a way that was scarcely mirthful.

'Nay, Phoebe, you have no need to say such things,' returned her sister
sadly; but she was probably used to this sort of speeches. 'I am bound to
take care of you and Kitty, who are all I have left in the world. It is
not that I find it hard, but that you might make it easier by looking a
little cheered sometimes.'

Phoebe took this gentle rebuke somewhat scornfully.

'Cheered! The woman actually says cheered, when I am already on the
border-land of the place of torment. Was I not as good as dead and buried
three years ago? And did not father always tell us that hell begins in
this world for the wicked?'

'Ay, that was father's notion; and I was never clever enough to argue
with him. But you are not wicked, my woman, only a bit tiresome and
perverse and wanting in faith.' And Miss Locke, who was used to these
wild moods, patted her sister's shoulder, and bade her drink her tea
before it got cold, in a sensible matter-of-fact way, that was not
without its influence on the wayward creature; for she did not refuse
the comforting draught.

I took my leave soon after this, after promising to repeat my visit on
the next evening. Phoebe bade me good-bye rather coldly, but I took no
notice of her contrary mood. Miss Locke followed me out of the room, and
asked me anxiously what I t