CHAP. VII.—-OLD NANCE.

OON I had little time indeed for study, and a

visit to Mr. Hurst became a rare pleasure, for
poor old Nance, who had been ailing all the winter,
failed entirely, and was obliged at last to take to
her bed. She had been grumbling for some time
past; but then she always grumbled ; so I had paid
little heed to it, and was smitten with shame when
I perceived at last that she must have becn really
suffering. The day when she failed to get up,
after going to bed immediately after tea the night
before, I attended to the animals, and tidied up the
house, and then went to ask Sally to come down.
In the course of the afternoon, Sally came and
stayed to tea, and talked much and loudly, noisily
cheering her grandmother up; but she went away
without even washing the tea-things she had used.
While she still sat there, I went out to turn the
cows in, and I was moodily leaning against the gate-
post, when Tommy’s voice accosted me.