had a sweet, childish voice, and talked in a way that was quite
fascinating. By and by, as she told how the storm came on suddenly, of
the dread feelings she had as she saw the waves rise higher and higher,
and how she lost hope when the little vessel with an awful crash was
swept upon the great rock, I could fancy myself again out on the angry
sea.

In a little while my father left us, and then I wished I were again
back in my room, for I knew not how to talk. She, too, seemed ill at
ease.

"I'm sorry you and your brother are not better friends," she said,
after we had been silent a few seconds.

I was surprised at this, and wondered who could have have been talking
to her.

"Have you seen Wilfred?" I asked.

"Oh, yes, I have seen him twice. He came yesterday, and again to-day.
Your mother was here, too."

"I am glad they have been to see you," I replied, "but I did not know
that Wilfred and I were not friendly."

She looked at me, I thought, suspiciously, as though she doubted my
words, but did not speak.

Had my mother and Wilfred, I wondered, been saying evil things about
me. I hoped not, and yet it might be. Certainly, their conduct
towards me had been strange. I would not talk of this, however, and so
asked her if she liked my sisters.

"Very much," she replied. "They have been with me every day; and the
first two days when I was ill they were with me nearly all the time. I
think, I see them coming now."

As she spoke Katherine and Elizabeth entered the room. They were
bright, buxom maidens, well-grown and healthy. The latter, though two
years younger was quite as well grown as the stranger who had come to
live amongst us. Yet there was a difference. Ruth Morton possessed a
dignity and a grace which were foreign to both my sisters. Children
they all were, pretty they all were, yet the beauty of Ruth Morton was
of a different nature. She had been cast in another mould, and thus
presented a contrast to my sisters.

I was a great favourite both with Katherine and Elizabeth; but I did
not stay with them. Stiff and weak as I was I found my way back to my
room, where, throwing myself on the bed, I tried to rest.

I knew nothing whatever of the arrangements that had been made about
Ruth staying with us, except that Mr. Inch, the old servant, was to
remain, that the crew had been sent back to Penwingle, and that the
steward was taking care of the Morton estate. I took no interest in
the m