and
hungry.

Bertie came down late on the following Saturday, and brought a note from
Rachel Trant to Katherine, accepting her offer of quarters at Sandbourne
with grateful readiness. Katherine was always pleased with her letters;
they expressed so much in a few words; a spirit of affectionate
gratitude breathed through their quiet diction.

Katherine was very glad to receive it, for Bertie's accounts of their
_protegee_ made her uneasy. She had at first refused to move, saying it
was really of no use spending money upon her, and seemed to be sinking
back into the lethargic condition from which Katherine had woke her.

Her kind protectress therefore set off early on Monday to tell Mrs.
Norris she was coming, and to make her room look pretty and cheerful. By
her orders the boatman's son was despatched to meet their expected
tenant on her arrival. Miss Payne having arranged a picnic for that day,
at which Katherine's company could not be dispensed with.

When they returned it was already evening; still Katherine could not
refrain from visiting her friend. "She will be so strange and lonely
with people she has never seen before," she said to Bertie. "As soon as
tea is over I shall go and see her."

"It will be rather late, yet it will be a great kindness. I will go with
you, and wait for you among the rocks on the beach."

Miss Payne expressed her opinion that it was unwise to set beggars on
horseback, but offered no further opposition.

The sun had not quite sunk as Katherine and her companion walked
leisurely by the road which skirted the beach toward the boatman's
dwelling.

"I wish we could find some occupation that could so fill Rachel Trant's
mind as to prevent these dreadful fits of depression," began Katherine.

"She had plenty of work, and seemed successful in her performance of
it," he returned; "but it does not seem to have kept her from a
recurrence of these morbid moods. Loneliness does not appear to suit
her."

"Sitting from morning till night, unremittingly at work, in silence,
alone with memories which must be very sad, is not the best method of
recovering cheerfulness, and unfortunately, Rachel is too much above her
station to make many friends in it. She wants movement as well as work,"
remarked Katherine.

"As you consider her so good a dressmaker, it might be well to establish
her on a larger scale, and give her some of the older girls from our
Home as apprentices. Looking after and tea