ng very like gratitude
stirring at her heart that she said to Christie, when all was done:

"You are fond of children, are you not? You are very gentle and
careful, I see."

The little boy quarrelled with his dinner, as usual; but upon the whole
the meal was successful, his mother said; and as a reward for being
good, he was promised a walk in the garden by and by.

In the meantime Christie went down-stairs to her dinner, under the care
of the friendly Mattie, whom she had seen in the morning. She was very
kind, and meant to make herself very agreeable, and asked many
questions, and volunteered various kinds of information as to what
Christie might expect in her new place, which she might far better have
withheld. Christie had little to say, and made her answers as quietly
and briefly as possible.

When she went up-stairs again, she found affairs in not quite so
cheerful a state as when she had left them. The doctor had been in, and
though he had greatly applauded the scheme for sending little Claude
into the garden, he had utterly forbidden his mother to leave her bed to
go with him. It could not be permitted on any account; and she had so
entirely devoted herself for the last few weeks to the care and
amusement of the child that he could not, at first, be prevailed on to
go without her. He would not look at Mattie, nor at Mrs Grayson, the
housekeeper. After much gentle persuasion on her part, and many
promises as to what he would see and hear out in the pleasant sunshine,
he suffered Christie to bring his hat and coat and put them on.

"I think you may trust me with him, ma'am," said Christie. "I will be
very gentle and careful with him. Poor wee boy!" she added, looking
into the face that seemed more wan and thin under the drooping plumes of
his hat. But his mother dismissed them with a sigh.

It was not a very easy thing to amuse the exacting little fellow for a
long time, but it was perhaps a very good thing for Christie that it
fell to her lot to do so. A longer indulgence in the musings which had
occupied her during three hours passed in the darkened room would not
have been good for her, at any rate; and there was no chance for that
here. She was suffering very keenly from her parting with Mrs Lee and
her children, and as she had felt the clinging arms of little Claude
about her neck, she had said to herself, almost bitterly, that she would
not allow herself to love any one--any stranger--so de