et anywhere else,' said Nuttie, declaring herself quite
voracious, while her aunt fondly admired her growth and improvement,
and she inquired into the cold, not quite gone yet; and there were
speculations over what Mark could have got into his head. Mary
remembered having met him coming to call, and having told him that she
had persuaded Miss Headworth to keep her bed because her colds were apt
to be severe, and it was agreed to lay the exaggeration at the door of
the lovers and Blanche. Miss Headworth laughed, and said she ought to
be flattered that an old woman's sore throat should be thought worthy
of mention by a fine young gentleman like Mr. Mark. 'A very good young
man he is,' she added. 'You would never have thought how kind he is in
coming in here to tell me everything he hears about your dear mother,
Nuttie.'

'He makes himself very useful while Mr. Dutton is away,' added Mary,
'taking his young men's class and all.'

'Oh! is Mr. Dutton away?'

'Yes; he has had to be in London a great deal of late. I am afraid he
may have to live there altogether.'

'What a grievous pity!'

'He won't be anywhere without doing good,' said Miss Headworth, 'but I
sometimes wish we had his cool good sense here.'

'And how is Mr. Spyers,' asked Nuttie. She felt shy of asking for
Gerard Godfrey, or perhaps she thought she ought to be shy of his name,
and kept hoping that it would come in naturally.

'Mr. Spyers is very well. Very busy of course, and very much delighted
with your mother's gifts to the church. All her own work, isn't it,
Nuttie?'

'Yes; every bit. She does lots of embroidery and work of all kinds
when she is waiting for _him_ or sitting with him, and luckily it has
never occurred to him to ask what it is for.'

The two ladies knew well what was meant by him, but they would not
pursue the subject, and proceeded to put Nuttie au courant with St.
Ambrose affairs--how last year's mission had produced apparently an
immense effect in the town, and how the improvement had been ebbing
ever since, but had left various individual gains, and stirred up more
than one good person who had hitherto thought it enough to save one's
own soul and let other people alone; how Mr. Spyers was endeavouring to
bind people together in a guild; how a violent gust of temperance
orators had come down upon the place, and altogether fascinated and
carried away Gerard Godfrey.

There was his name at last, and Nuttie was rather gr