the garden. She was a
hard-worked woman, and her husband's illness made things harder for her.
Still, she was not quite easy at taking what did not belong to her.

"I don't suppose any body will miss the coal," she repeated. "I dare say
the mistress would have given it to me if I had asked her; and as for
its being the Brownie's lump--fudge! Bless us! what's that?"

For the barrow began to creak dreadfully, and every creak sounded like
the cry of a child, just as if the wheel were going over its leg and
crushing its poor little bones.

"What a horrid noise! I must grease the barrow. If only I knew where
they keep the grease-box. All goes wrong, now my old man's laid up. Oh,
dear! oh dear!"

For suddenly the barrow had tilted over, though there was not a single
stone near, and the big coal was tumbled on to the ground, where it
broke into a thousand pieces. Gathering it up again was hopeless, and it
made such a mess on the gravel-walk, that the old woman was thankful her
misfortune happened behind the privet hedge, where nobody was likely to
come.

"I'll take a broom and sweep it up to-morrow. Nobody goes near the
orchard now, except me when I hang out the clothes; so I need say
nothing about it to the old man or any body. But ah! deary me, what a
beautiful lot of coal I've lost!"

She stood and looked at it mournfully, and then went into her cottage,
where she found two or three of the little children keeping Gardener
company. They did not dislike to do this now; but he was so much kinder
than he used to be--so quiet and patient, though he suffered very much.
And he had never once reproached them for what they always
remembered--how it was ever since he was on the ice with them that he
had got the rheumatism.

[Illustration: Suddenly the barrow had tilted over.]

So, one or other of them made a point of going to see him every day, and
telling him all the funny things they could think of--indeed, it was a
contest among them who should first make Gardener laugh. They did not
succeed in doing that exactly; but they managed to make him smile; and
he was always gentle and grateful to them; so that they sometimes
thought it was rather nice his being ill.

But his wife was not pleasant; she grumbled all day long, and snapped at
him and his visitors; being especially snappish this day, because she
had lost her big coal.

"I can't have you children come bothering here," said she, crossly. "I
want to wring out my cl