ice, and had been
meek and obedient to the Squire. Knowing the country well, and being
used to its habits, he had lived, and been charitable too, on the
proceeds of his living, which had never reached two hundred a year.
But the new comer was a close-fisted man, with higher ideas of
personal comfort, who found it necessary to make every penny go as
far as possible, who made up in preaching for what he could not
give away in charity; who established an afternoon service, and who
had rebuked the Squire for saying that the doing so was trash and
nonsense. Since that the Squire had never been inside the church,
except on the occasion of Christmas-day. For this, indeed, the state
of his health gave ample excuse; but he had positively refused to see
the vicar, though that gentleman had assiduously called, and had at
last desired the servant to tell the clergyman not to come again
unless he were sent for. Kate's task was, therefore, difficult, both
as regarded the temporal and spiritual wants of her grandfather.

When the reading was finished, the old man dozed in his chair for
half an hour. He would not go up to bed before the enjoyment of that
luxury. He was daily implored to do so, because that sleep in the
chair interfered so fatally with his chance of sleeping in bed. But
sleep in his chair he would and did. Then he woke, and after a fit
of coughing, was induced, with much ill-humour, to go up to his room.
Kate had never seen him so weak. He was hardly able, even with her
assistance and that of the old servant, to get up the broad stairs.
But there was still some power left to him for violence of language
after he got to his room, and he rated Kate and the old woman loudly,
because his slippers were not in the proper place. "Grandfather,"
said Kate, "would you like me to stay in the room with you to-night?"
He rated her again for this proposition, and then, with assistance
from the nurse, he was gotten into bed and was left alone.

After that Kate went to her own room and wrote her letters. The first
she wrote was to her aunt Greenow. That was easily enough written. To
Mrs Greenow it was not necessary that she should say anything about
money. She simply stated her belief that her grandfather's last day
was near at hand, and begged her aunt to come and pay a last visit to
the old man. "It will be a great comfort to me in my distress," she
said; "and it will be a satisfaction to you to have seen your father
again." She kn