ick people in the first place? how came
that? It was very careless!"

"Nobody knew what was the matter with them, aunt Candy. Mrs. Laval was
gone to town, and I went to take some beef tea that the doctor had
ordered."

"Doctor Bird?"

"Yes."

"Doctor Bird ought to have known better. He ought to have taken better
care," said Clarissa.

"It is easy to say that afterwards," remarked Mrs. Candy. "How came
Mrs. Laval not to be there herself?"

"She was there. She was only gone to New York to get help; for all the
servants had run away."

"Then _they_ knew what was the matter," said Clarissa.

"I don't know," said Matilda. "They seemed frightened or jealous. They
all went off."

"Like them," said Mrs. Candy. "Who did the nursing at last?"

"Mrs. Laval and Miss Redwood."

"Who is Miss Redwood?"

"She keeps house for Mr. Richmond."

A perceptible shadow darkened the faces of both mother and daughter.
Matilda wished herself away; but she could not end her visit while it
was yet so short; that would not do.

"And so you have been wasting six weeks at the parsonage,--doing
absolutely nothing!"

It had not been precisely that. But Matilda thought it was best to be
silent.

"It seems to me you are not improving in politeness," Mrs. Candy
remarked. "However, that is somebody else's affair now. Are you going
to school?"

"Not yet, ma'am."

"When are you going to begin?"

"I do not know. Not till we get to New York, I think."

"To New York! Then you are going to New York?"

"How soon?" Clarissa inquired.

"Not till next month."

"That is almost here," said Mrs. Candy. "Well, it would have been a
great deal better for you to have remained here with me; but I am clear
of the responsibility, that is one thing. If there is one thing more
thankless than another, it is to have anything to do with children that
are not your own. You know how to darn stockings, at any rate, Matilda;
I have taught you that."

"And to mend lace," Clarissa added.

"Matilda may find the good of that yet. She may have to earn her bread
with doing it. Nothing is more likely."

"I hope not," said Clarissa.

"It is an absurd arrangement anyhow," Mrs. Candy went on. "Matilda at
Mrs. Laval's, and Anne and Letitia earning _their_ bread with something
not a bit better than mending lace. They will not like it very well."

"Why not, aunt Candy?" Matilda asked.

"Wait and see if they do. Will they like it, do you think, to see that