r there; the rest of the
time he was at the cottage, attending to everything that concerned Mr.
Copley. Dolly and her mother were quite put away from that care. And
whether it were the moral force of character, which acted upon Mr.
Copley, or whether it were that his disorder had really run its length
and that a returning tide of health was coming back to its channels,
the sick man certainly was better. He grew better from day to day. He
had been quiet and manageable from the first in his new nurse's hands;
now he began to take pleasure in his society, holding long talks with
him on all possible subjects. Appetite mended also, and strength was
gradually replacing weakness, which had been very great. Anxiety on the
one score of her father's recovery was taken away from Dolly.

Other anxieties remained, and even pressed harder, when the more
immediately engrossing care was removed. In spite of Mr. Shubrick's
lecture about casting off care, Dolly found it difficult to act upon
the truth she knew. Her little fund of money was much reduced; she
could not help asking herself how they were going to live? Would her
father, as soon as he was strong enough, go back to his former ways and
be taken up with his old companions? and if he did, how much longer
could the little household at Brierley struggle on alone? What had
become of all her father's property in America, from which in old time
the income had always been more than sufficient for all their wants and
desires? Was it gone irrevocably? or had only the ready money accruing
from it been swallowed up in speculation or pleasure? And whence could
Dolly get light on these points, or how know what steps she ought to
take? Could her weakness do anything, in view of that fact to which her
mother had alluded, that Mr. Copley always took his own way? It was all
utter and dark confusion as she looked forward. Could Dolly trust and
be quiet?

In her meditations another subject occupied her a good deal. The
presence of Sandie Shubrick was such a comfort that it was impossible
not to think what she would do without him when he was gone. He was a
universal comfort. Since he had taken charge of the sick-room, the
sickness was disappearing; while he was in command, there was no
rebellion; the affairs of the household worked smoothly, and Dolly had
no need to draw a single long breath of perplexity or anxiety. The
sound of that even, firm step on the gravel walk or in the hall, was a
toke