rious things which interested them as a family; and
Christie found herself listening with pleasure to all her plans. At the
side of the brook, where they sat down for a while, as they usually did,
they spoke of their father and mother; and though Christie wept, it was
not that nervous weeping which sometimes so exhausted her. She wept
gently; and when Effie spoke of the love that should bind them all
closely together, now that they were orphans, she prayed inwardly that
God would make her more patient and loving than she had lately been.
Her heart was lighter than it had been for days, when they rose to go.

They went to the kirk together the next day too. They did not walk; so
there was no lingering in the kirk-yard or at the half-mile corner. But
the day was fine and the air pleasant; and the motion of the great wagon
in which they drove, though not very easy, was agreeable for a change,
and Christie enjoyed it all. I am afraid she did not enjoy the sermon
better than usual. She had a great many wandering thoughts, and she had
to struggle against overpowering drowsiness, which she did not quite
succeed in casting off. But she enjoyed the kind greetings and looks of
sympathy that awaited them in the kirk-yard, though they brought many
tears to Effie's eyes, and sent them gushing over her own pale cheeks.
She was glad of old Mrs Grey's sweet, cheerful words, and of the light
pressure of blind Allie's little hand. She was glad when she heard Mrs
Nesbitt ask Effie to bring her sister over to pass a week with her, and
more glad still when Effie made the promise, saying the change would do
her good. Altogether, the day was a pleasant one, and Christie went
home better and more cheerful than she had been since her father's
death.

But before the week was over she had fallen back into the old way again;
and when Effie came home on Saturday, she found her as wan and listless
and peevish as ever. Something must be done without delay, thought the
elder sister. So, that night, as she sat with Annie and Sarah in her
aunt's room, when all the little ones had gone to bed, she said:

"Aunt Elsie, I am going to take Christie back with me, to stay a week
with Mrs Nesbitt."

Aunt Elsie looked astonished and somewhat displeased.

"Why should you do the like of that?" she asked.

"Oh, just for a change. She's not very well, I think, and a little
change will do her good."

"Folk canna ay get changes when they would like