nature seemed rejoicing in the
gladness of the approaching summer, Lucy went as usual to visit
Antonio, carrying some of the delicacies which Mrs. Brooke still
continued to send him, chiefly for Amy's sake. How often might the
rich greatly alleviate the sufferings of sickness in poverty, by
timely gifts of luxuries, which at such a time are almost necessaries,
yet which the poor cannot buy!

Lucy found the patient unable now to rise, and struggling with the
suffocating sensation of oppressed breathing. He could scarcely speak,
but he listened with pleasure to the few words she read to him; and as
she left him, he pressed her hand convulsively, saying in a low,
expressive tone, "Good-bye."

Lucy felt she should not see him again in life, and was not surprised
when Nelly came next day, crying bitterly, to tell her that her
adopted father's weary pilgrimage was ended.

The poor girl remained in the now desolate home only until the simple
funeral was over, and then entered Mrs. Brooke's family, where her
warm, grateful heart found comfort in doing everything she could for
Miss Lucy, whose presence made her new place seem again a home.

XVII.

_Home Again._

"And this was once my home;
The leaves, light rustling, o'er me whisper clear,
The sun but shines on thee where thou dost roam,
It smiled upon thee here!"

Stella had been losing instead of gaining strength since the warm
weather came on, and her parents were now really alarmed about her,
and were considering what would be the best and most bracing place to
send her to during the heat of the summer. But Stella, with an
invalid's capricious fancy, had formed a plan of her own, and she
insisted, with all her old wilfulness, on its being carried out. It
was, that Lucy and she should go together to Ashleigh, to stay at Mill
Bank Farm, if Mrs. Ford would consent to receive them as boarders. Her
former visit was connected in her mind with pure, healthful, and happy
associations, and she thought that the fresh country air, which she so
well remembered, and the delicious milk from Mrs. Ford's sleek cows,
would do her more good than anything else. It need not be said that
the project was a delightful one for Lucy; and as Ashleigh was
certainly a healthy place, it was decided that they should go thither
under the escort of Fred, who also wished to pay a short visit to his
old home. Bessie wrote that her mother would be delighted to recei