ite of all the good things you send me, I am
so weary and fit for nothing I feel as though I should never sit up
again.'

'Oh, we shall have you up before long,' he returned cheerfully. 'You
are only rather slow about it. You are not troubling about your work or
anything else, I hope, because the rent is paid, and there is plenty in
the cupboard for Phoebe and Kitty.'

'I know you have paid the rent, and I shall never be grateful enough to
you, doctor; for what should I have done, with this long illness making
me behindhand with everything? I am afraid Miss Garston puts her hand in
her pocket sometimes. I hope the Lord will bless you both for your
goodness to two helpless women. Ay, and he will bless you, doctor!'

'I am sure I hope so,' he returned, in a good-humoured tone, shaking her
hand. 'There! mind what your nurse says, and keep yourself easy: you will
find Phoebe a different person when you see her next.'

I was afraid Phoebe would find her sister much changed when they met.
Miss Locke had greatly aged since her illness; her hair was much grayer,
and her face was sunken, and I doubted whether she would ever be the same
woman again. Mr. Hamilton and I had already discussed the sisters'
future.

'I am afraid they will be terribly pinched,' he said once. 'Miss Locke
is suffering now from years of overwork. She will never be able to work
as hard as she has done. And she has to provide for that child Kitty, as
well as for poor Phoebe.'

'We must think what is to be done,' I replied. 'Miss Locke is a very good
manager: she is careful and thrifty. A little will go a long way with
her.'

Mr. Hamilton said no more on the subject just then, but a few days
afterwards he told me that he intended to buy the cottage. He had a good
deal of house-property in Heathfield, and a cottage more or less did not
matter to him.

'They shall live in it rent-free, and I will take care of the repairs.
There will be no need for Miss Locke to work so hard then. She is a good
woman, and I thoroughly respect her. Of course I know she is a favourite
of yours, Miss Garston, but you must not think that influences me.'

'As though I should imagine such a thing!' I returned, in quite an
affronted tone. But Mr. Hamilton only laughed.

'You are such an insignificant person, you see,' he went on
mischievously. 'You are of so little use to your generation. People do
not benefit by your example, or defer to your opinion. There is no St.
Urs