nd full of feeling; and when the sun-bonnet brushed lightly against
him he was conscious that his arm trembled.

But Elizabeth was too much occupied with little Kit to notice Malcolm's
slight discomposure.

"Oh, I am so glad you told me," she said in her eager way. "I really
think I shall be able to help you. There is the dearest old woman in
the village, Mrs. Sullivan. She lives in a pretty cottage quite close
to 'The Plough,' and she was only telling me the other day that she
wished that she had another child to mother. Sometimes my sister and I
have a little East-end waif and stray down for a few weeks in the
summer," continued Elizabeth modestly--"some sick child, or
occasionally some over-burdened worker, and we always lodge them at
Mrs. Sullivan's. It is not much of a place, but we call it 'The
Providence House;' the cottage is really our own property, and Mrs.
Sullivan has it rent-free."

"Do you think that she would take care of Kit?"

"I am sure of it. But, Mr. Herrick, Kit must be our guest, please
remember that. Hush," peremptorily, "I will not hear a word to the
contrary. And there is something else I want to say. Would not Caleb
Martin like to come too? Kit would be strange without him, and there is
plenty of room for them both. Think what a month of this sweet country
air would mean to him after Todmorden's Lane. You must write to him at
once, and tell him to hurry Kit down."

"I think it would be better to go up and speak to him myself to-morrow
morning," returned Malcolm. He spoke rather reluctantly, but the
beaming look of approval that followed this speech rewarded him for the
little sacrifice.

"Now I call that kind," returned Elizabeth warmly. "Very few people
would take so much trouble for a shabby little cobbler and an ailing
child," she thought. "How pleased Dinah will be when she hears about
it."

"The kindness is on your part, Miss Templeton," returned Malcolm. But
he was much gratified by her manner. "If Kit and her father are to be
your guests there is little enough for me to do; when I spoke to you
just now I had quite decided to take lodgings for them at Rotherwood."

"Kit is my guest," replied Elizabeth obstinately. "Now, will you come
in, Mr. Herrick, and have luncheon with us?" But Malcolm declined this;
he would look in later in the day and pay his respects to Miss
Templeton; and then he lifted his hat and turned away. Elizabeth stood
in the porch and watched him. "He is a good