sk her
ladyship to come?"

Gwen immediately returned to the bedside. "Is she asking for me?" said
she. And Granny Marrable replied:--"I think she has it on her mind to
speak to you, my lady."

Not too many at once was the rule. Ruth made a pretence of something to
be done in another room, but the Granny kept near at hand.

"My dear--my Lady--I am so afraid...."

"Afraid of what, Mrs. Picture dear? Don't be frightened! We are all
here."

"Afraid about my son--afraid Ruth may know...."

"No one has told Ruth of him, dear. No one shall tell Ruth. I promise
you."

"It is not that. It is what I may say myself." Gwen had not heard her
speak so clearly for a long time. "It was on my lips to speak of
him--but just now. Because--is he not the same?"

"The same as what, dear? Try and tell me!"

"The same as the son that came with me in the ship. The same as the
baby I suckled the last of four, out there on the farm. It was he that I
was telling of before, and I was glad to tell my child--my Ruth--of the
brother she never set eyes on. And then it came upon me, the thought of
what he was, and what he had come to be.... Oh, my dear--my dear!..."

Gwen could not think of any stereotyped salve for a wounded heart. She
could only say:--"Don't think of it, dear. Don't think of it! Lie still
and get better now, and then I will make Aunt M'riar fetch Dave and
Dolly, and Dave shall see Jones's Bull, and Dolly shall see the new
baby."

"Suppose, my dear, I don't get better, will Dave and Dolly come all the
same; for Phoebe and my Ruth, the same as if I was here?"

It was a sore tax on the steadiness of Gwen's voice, but she managed her
assent. Yes--even in the improbable event of old Maisie's non-recovery,
Dave and Dolly should visit Granny Marrable. And so consolatory had the
assurance proved more than once before, that she repeated her
undertaking about the visit to Farmer Jones's; for Dave, not for Dolly.
"But there will be plenty for Dolly to see," Gwen said. "She won't be
frightened of lambs--at least, I think not. Because she has never been
in the country."

"No--but she has been in the Regent's Park, and is to go to Hampstead
Heath some day with Uncle Mo. She is not frightened of the sheep in the
Park, only in...."

"Only in where?" said Gwen. "Where is Dolly frightened of sheep?"

"In the street, because they run on the pavement, and the dog runs over
their backs.... There are very few sheep here, compared to wha