wn "heigh-ho!" which ran wearily down all the notes of the
gamut. Matilda felt she was not getting on. The place and the woman
were inexpressibly forlorn to her.

"Who sent ye fur to come here?" was next asked.

"Nobody sent me."

"What fur did ye come?"

"I thought you would like to hear a little reading."

"'Taint a song, is it? I used fur to hear songs oncet; they don't sing
songs in this village. They sells good 'baccy, though. Heigh-ho!"

Matilda grew desperate. She was not making any headway. As a last
expedient, she opened her book, plunged into the work, and gave in the
hearing of Mrs. Eldridge a few of its wonderful sentences. Maybe those
words would reach her, thought Matilda. She read slowly the
twenty-third psalm, and then went back to the opening verse and read it
again.

"'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.'"

Mrs. Eldridge had been very still.

"A shepherd," she repeated, when Matilda had stopped;--"he used fur to
be a shepherd."

Matilda wondered very much what the old lady was thinking of. Her next
words made it clearer.

"He kept sheep fur Mr.--Mr.--him they called the Judge; I don't mind
who he was. He kept sheep for him, he did."

"Judge Brockenhurst?"

"That was it--I can't speak his name; he kept his sheep. It was a big
place."

"Yes, I know Judge Brockenhurst's place," said Matilda; "he has a great
many sheep. _Who_ kept them?"

"He did, dear. My old man. He kept 'em. It's long sen."

"Well, didn't he take good care of them, the sheep?"

"My old man? Ay, did he. There warn't no better a shepherd in the
country. He took care of 'em. The Judge sot a great deal by him."

"How did he take care of them?" Matilda asked.

"Oh, I don' know. He watched 'em, and he took 'em round, and he didn't
let no harm happen to 'em. He didn't."

"Well, this I read was about the Good Shepherd and _His_ sheep. He
takes care of them, too. Don't you think the Lord Jesus takes care of
His sheep?"

"He don't take no care o' me," said the poor old woman. "There ain't no
care took o' me anywheres--neither in heaven nor in earth. No, there
ain't."

"But are you one of His sheep?" said Matilda, doubtfully.

"Eh?" said the woman, pricking up her ears, as it were.

"Are you one of the Lord's sheep, Mrs. Eldridge?"

"Am I one of 'em? I'm poor enough fur to be took care of; I am, and
there ain't no care took o' me. Neither in heaven nor on earth. No,
there ain't."

"But are you one of His