r
afternoons in the little summer-house, as had been her custom since she
had come to Rose Cottage. For bad though the mist was in the town, it was
worse on the downs, and the excessive rawness and chilliness of the
atmosphere had laid poor Mrs. Murray low with a very bad attack of
rheumatism.

As a rule, Eleanor slept soundly from the moment she laid her head on the
pillow until she was roused in the morning, but a few nights ago she had
been wakened by hearing Mrs. Murray moving about her room. Her first
inclination had been to turn round and fall asleep again, but fearing
that Mrs. Murray was ill, she had got rather reluctantly out of bed, put
on her dressing-gown, and after tapping at Mrs. Murray's door, a useless
proceeding, as the poor lady was far too deaf to hear her, had opened it
and gone in. She had found Mrs. Murray sitting in her armchair, with her
face twisted with pain, rubbing lotion into her rheumatic knee. The
candles, which were burning low, showed that she had been awake for some
hours.

When she perceived that she had wakened Eleanor, her distress was great,
and she begged of her to go back to bed at once.

"My dear," she said, as she poured a fresh supply of embrocation into the
hollow of her hand and set to work again, "I never disturb any one in the
night if I can help it. Oh dear, how selfish it is of me to keep you out
of your bed like this!" This last protest was uttered when Eleanor,
taking the bottle from her hand, knelt down on the floor and began to
rub the swollen knee.

For the sight of the deaf old lady sitting up in pain and alone, during
the night had roused a sudden wave of pity in Eleanor's rather hard
heart. A swift feeling of compunction smote her as she reflected how
little thought she had taken of Mrs. Murray since she had come to live in
her house. All her kindness had been accepted as a matter of course, and
when Eleanor found that in return for that kindness no claim of any sort
was made upon her, she had been conscious of a feeling of relief. She
remembered how she had thought that her time would be far too fully
occupied in taking advantage of all the lessons she was going to get to
have any over to spend in providing companionship for Mrs. Murray.

For over half an hour Eleanor knelt and rubbed gently and steadily, first
with one hand and then with the other, and though Mrs. Murray entreated
her over and over again to go back to bed, Eleanor paid no heed to her.

"T