y, how could I do that? I could not propose myself as a
visitor to Mrs. Sullivan, however useful I might intend to be to her;
nor could I speak of nursing to a woman who will not confess that she is
ill. It seemed to me impossible, with all the delicacy and tact in the
world, to bring it about; for I have been with you so long that Mrs.
Sullivan thinks me entirely unfitted for her primitive way of life. It
was only when Mr. W. spoke of his wanting an assistant, and hinted that
he should like to employ me in that capacity, that the present plan
occurred to me. I knew if I told Mrs. Sullivan that I was engaged to
teach there, and that you were not coming to town, and represented to
her that I wanted a boarding-place for the winter, she would insist that
I should go nowhere else."

"And it proved as you expected?"

"Exactly; and she showed so much pleasure at the thought of my being
with her, that I realised still more how much she needed some one."

"She will have a treasure in you, Gertrude."

"No, indeed! The feeling I have is, that however little I may be able to
accomplish, it will be more than anyone else could do for Mrs. Sullivan.
She has lived so retired that she has not an intimate friend in the
city, and I do not know of anyone, except myself, whom she would
willingly admit under her roof. She is used to me, and loves me; I am no
restraint upon her, and she allows me to assist in whatever she is
doing, although she often says I live a lady's life now, and am not used
to work. She knows, too, that I have an influence over her father; and I
_have_--strange as it may seem to you--I _have_ more than I know how to
account for myself. I think it is partly because I am not afraid of him,
and am firm in opposing his unreasonable fancies, and partly because I
am more of a stranger than Mrs. Sullivan. But there is another cause; he
associates me in his mind with Willie; for we were for some years
constantly together, both left the house at the same time, and he knows
that it is through me that the correspondence with him is carried on.
Since his mind has been so weak, he thinks continually of Willie, and I
can at any moment, however irritable he may be, make him calm and
quiet, by proposing to tell him the latest news from his grandson. It
does not matter how often I repeat the contents of the last letter, it
is always new to him; and you have no idea, Emily, what power this gives
me. Mrs. Sullivan sees how easily I ca