CHAPTER IV.
HE SERVES AN APPRENTICESHIP.

ILLIE’S mother grew better, and Willie’s

sister grew bigger; and the strange nurse

went away, and Willie and his mother and Tibby,
with a little occasional assistance from the doctor,
managed the baby amongst them. Considering
that she had been yet only a short time at school,
she behaved wonderfully well. She never cried
except she was in some trouble, and even then you
could seldom have seen a tear on her face. She did
all that was required of her, grew longer and broader
and heavier, and was very fond of a lighted candle.
The only fault she had was that she wouldn’t give
Willie quite so many smiles as he wanted. As
to the view she took of affairs, she seemed for a long
time to be on the whole very well satisfied with life
and its gifts. But when at last its troubles began
to overtake her, she did not approve of them at all.
The first thing she objected to was being weaned,
which she evidently considered a very cruel and
unnecessaty experience. But her father said it