nch did
more for them than as many years will do for most ordinary girls; they
were, the two elder ones at least, wonderfully healthy in mind and
body, bright-tempered, faithful, unselfish, inheriting from their father
the noble characteristics which in some mysterious way had in him so
flourished as to oust all the reckless and contemptible qualities of the
Bernard Harper who had half-broken his sister's heart, and brought down
in sorrow to the grave his gray-haired father.

But alas! they had _not_ known the worst, as the loving, brave-spirited
wife and mother had believed. In some sense, it is true, they had not
known the _best_, for the years had brought many satisfactions, many
unlooked-for, though unimportant, mitigations of the poverty so hard to
bear cheerfully--people had been 'very kind.' But the poverty itself had
increased. There were literally unavoidable expenses for 'the boys,' if
they were not to be stranded in their careers; there was an unexpected
rising of the rent owing to their good landlord's sudden death by
accident; there was, worst of all, the terrible strain of Captain
Harper's ill-health. In itself this was sad enough for the wife and
daughters who adored him: it became almost an agony when, joined to the
knowledge that more money, and not so very much more, might both relieve
his suffering and hold out a reasonable prospect of comparative
restoration.

One operation--now some years ago--had succeeded for the time; but not
being followed by the treatment at home and residence abroad prescribed,
the improvement had not been lasting. Then it was that Mrs Lyle had
written to her aunt, with the result that we know. Her letter was
returned unopened.

Then there came a period of comparative comfort, and for two or three
years the family at Hedge End (such was the not very euphonious name of
the Harpers' house) took heart again, and began to be sure 'father was
going to get well all of himself, after all.' And during this time some
other cheering things came to pass. An old acquaintance of long-ago days
between Mrs Harper and the Misses Scarlett was renewed by the ladies of
Ivy Lodge coming to Southcliff one Midsummer holiday-time for sea-air,
and this resulted in their offering to take Camilla, then almost
grown-up, and later her younger sisters, on exceptionally moderate
terms. The news from and of the far-away 'boys' was regular and good.
The parents began to breathe freely, and to dare to hope