atured.

Alfred lay in fear of her step, ten times harder than Harold's in his
most boisterous mood, coming clamp clamp! up the stairs; and her shrill
voice--the same tone in which she bawled to her deaf mother, and hallooed
to her girls when they were hanging out the clothes in the high
wind--coming pitying him--ay, and perhaps her whole weight lumbering down
on the couch beside him, shaking every joint in his body! His mother's
ways, learnt in the Selby nursery, had made him more tender, and more
easily fretted by such things, than most cottage lads, who would have
been used to them, and never have thought of not liking to have every
neighbour who chose running up into the room, and talking without regard
to subject or tone.

He listened in a fright to the latch of the door, and the coming in.
Betsey's voice came up, through every chink of the boards, whatever she
did herself; and he could hear every word of her greeting, as she said
how it was such a fine day, she said to Mother she would take a holiday,
and come and see Cousin King and the poor lad: it must be mighty dull for
him, moped up there.

Stump! stump! Was she coming? His mother was answering something too
soft for him to hear.

'What, is he asleep?'

'O Mother, must you speak the truth?'

'Bless me! I should have thought a little cheerful company was good for
him. Do you leave him quite alone? Well--' and there was a frightful
noise of the foot of the heaviest chair on the floor. 'I'll sit down and
wait a bit! Is he so very fractious, then?'

What was his mother saying? Alfred clenched his fist, and grinned anger
at Betsey with closed teeth. There was the tiresome old word, 'Low--ay,
so's my mother; but you should rise his spirits with company, you see;
that's why I came over; as soon as ever I heard that there wasn't no hope
of him, says I to Mother--'

What? What was that she had heard? There was his mother, probably
trying to restrain her voice, for it came up now just loud enough to make
it most distressing to try to catch the words, which sounded like
something pitying. 'Ay, ay--just like his poor father; when they be
decliny, it will come out one ways or another; and says I to Mother, I'll
go over and cheer poor Cousin King up a bit, for you see, after all, if
he'd lived, he'd be nothing but a burden, crippled up like that; and a
lingering job is always bad for poor folks.'

Alfred leant upon his elbow, his eyes full stretched