[72 Turnaside Cottage.
of these fits of violence, that my mother caught the
cold which she had neither strength nor spirit left
to rally from—it turned to congestion of the lungs,
and in less than a fortnight she was dead.

“T do not think my sister’s mind was any longer
capable of receiving a strong impression. She only

”

 

said, when I led her in to see the

Mr. Hurst stopped abruptly. When he went on,
he left that sentence still unfinished.

“Rinaldi was my great help and comfort then,
He insisted on coming to sit with me, and by his
help I arranged my plans for the future. I gave
up teaching at the school, for my sister’s abhorrence
of strangers was so great that two or three attempts
which I made to introduce an attendant failed
utterly, and I saw that my first care must now be
to attend on her. The debts were all paid off be-
fore this, and our expenses were less now that there
were but us two, so that it needed little more than
we possessed to enable us to live. I sought such
work as I could do at home—writing, copying; and
Rinaldi obtained for me a little translating. But I
had much time still on my hands, which I chiefly
employed in study. An idea, which occurred to me
at this time, caused me to work and save to the
utmost. It was to get a piano for my sister. She
had been fond of music when my father taught it