and, and when he had shut himself up in his own room, she could not
help repairing to his uncle, and telling him the whole. Mr. Clare's "God
bless you, my boy," had double meaning in it that night.

Not long after, Alick told Rachel of his having met poor young Carleton
in the meadows, pretending to occupy himself with his fishing-rod, but
too wretched to do anything. And in a short time Mrs. Carleton again
called to pour out to Mrs. Keith her warm thanks to the Captain, for
having roused her son from his moody, unmanageable despair, and made him
consent to accept a situation in a new field of labour, in a spirit of
manful duty that he had never evinced before.

This was a grave and subdued, but not wholly mournful, period at
Bishopsworthy--a time very precious to Rachel in the retrospect--though
there was much to render it anxious. Alick continued to suffer from
recurrences of the fever, not very severe in themselves after the first
two or three, but laying him prostrate with shivering and headache every
third day, and telling heavily on his strength and looks when he called
himself well. On these good days he was always at Timber End, where
his services were much needed. Lord Keith liked and esteemed him as a
sensible prudent young man, and his qualities as a first-rate nurse were
of great assistance to the Colonel. Lord Keith's illness was tedious
and painful, the necessity of a dangerous operation became increasingly
manifest, but the progress towards such a crisis was slow and the pain
and discomfort great; the patient never moved beyond his dressing-room,
and needed incessant attention to support his spirits and assist his
endeavours to occupy himself. It was impossible to leave him for long
together, and Colonel Keith was never set at liberty for exercise or
rest except when Alick came to his assistance, and fortunately this
young brother-in-law was an especial favourite, partly from Lord Keith's
esteem for his prudence partly from his experience in this especial
species of suffering. At any rate the days of Alick's enforced absence
were always times of greater restlessness and uneasiness at Timber End.

Meantime Rachel was constantly thrown with Mr. Clare, supplying Alick's
place to him, and living in a round of duties that suited her well,
details of parish work, walking with, writing for, and reading to Mr
Clare, and reaping much benefit from intercourse with such a mind.
Many of her errors had chiefly arisen