ladder which
did service for a staircase to see what was amiss. The flags in the
kitchen were strewn with broken plates, and the front kitchen door swung
loosely on its hinges.

[Sidenote: No Answer!]

He called Bess, but there was no answer! He went into her room, the bed
was untouched since day! Then he pulled on his great sea-boots and cap
and went out to look for her.

The day was dawning when they brought her in and laid her on the bed of
her little room more dead than alive. She was soaked through and
through, and the seaweed still clung about her hair. Jacob Tresidder
stood watching her like a man in a dream as she lay there white and
silent.

"Us be mighty sore fer ee, so us be!" said old Benjamin Blake, who had
helped to bring her home. "But teddin fer yew nor I, Jacob, tu go
fornenst His will." And he went out crying like a child.

There was a slight movement of the quiet figure on the coverlid, and
Jacob Tresidder's heart stopped beating for a moment as he watched his
daughter's brown eyes open once more! They wandered wonderingly to where
he was, and rested there, and a faint smile crossed the dying lips.

Then he bowed his head between his hands as he knelt beside her, for he
knew that God had given her back her memory again; and his sobs were
the sobs of a thankful heart.

"Vather!" she whispered, and with an effort she stretched the hand
nearest to him and touched his sleeve. "'Tis--all right--now--I be
gwine--tu--Ben."

The dying eyes glowed with love; then with a restful sigh the life
passed out.

* * * * *

They had battened down the last spadeful of new-dug earth, and once
again there was a storm-bred mound in Trewithen churchyard.

The three old comrades stood together in silence looking down on it,
making little or no attempt to hide the sorrow that was theirs.

Then Tom Pemberthy said, drawing his hand across his tear-dimmed eyes:
"Us'll miss ur simple wa-ays, sure 'nuff!"

But it was given to "Clacking Joe" to speak the final words ere they
turned their faces homewards.

"'Twas awnly right that we laid ur 'longside o' Ben! When ur was a
little chile ur shrimped with 'n! an' when ur was a gert maiden ur
walked out with 'n! Please God, ur'll be the furrst tu spake tu 'n--cum
the aftermath!"

[Illustration: SPRING CLEANING.]

[Sidenote: A seasonable chant, possibly useful for recitation purposes.]

A Spring-time Duet

BY

MARY LESLIE