her charge by doing all she could to persuade
Ellinor to allow her to invite the canon to their "little sociable teas."
The most provoking part was, that she was sure he would have come if he
had been asked; but she could never get leave to do so. "Of course no
man could go on for ever and ever without encouragement," as she confided
to herself in a plaintive tone of voice; and by-and-by many people were
led to suppose that the bachelor canon was paying attention to Miss
Forbes, the eldest daughter of the family to which the delicate Jeanie
belonged. It was, perhaps, with the Forbeses that both Miss Monro and
Ellinor were the most intimate of all the families in East Chester. Mrs.
Forbes was a widow lady of good means, with a large family of pretty,
delicate daughters. She herself belonged to one of the great houses in
---shire, but had married into Scotland; so, after her husband's death,
it was the most natural thing in the world that she should settle in East
Chester; and one after another of her daughters had become first Miss
Monro's pupil and afterwards her friend. Mrs. Forbes herself had always
been strongly attracted by Ellinor, but it was long before she could
conquer the timid reserve by which Miss Wilkins was hedged round. It was
Miss Monro, who was herself incapable of jealousy, who persevered in
praising them to one another, and in bringing them together; and now
Ellinor was as intimate and familiar in Mrs. Forbes's household as she
ever could be with any family not her own.

Mrs. Forbes was considered to be a little fanciful as to illness; but it
was no wonder, remembering how many sisters she had lost by consumption.
Miss Monro had often grumbled at the way in which her pupils were made
irregular for very trifling causes. But no one so alarmed as she, when,
in the autumn succeeding Mr. Ness's death, Mrs. Forbes remarked to her on
Ellinor's increased delicacy of appearance, and shortness of breathing.
From that time forwards she worried Ellinor (if any one so sweet and
patient could ever have been worried) with respirators and precautions.
Ellinor submitted to all her friend's wishes and cares, sooner than make
her anxious, and remained a prisoner in the house through the whole of
November. Then Miss Monro's anxiety took another turn. Ellinor's
appetite and spirits failed her--not at all an unnatural consequence of
so many weeks' confinement to the house. A plan was started, quite
suddenly, one m