'Then I'll away to the doctor this blessed minit, and Miss Miller will
be for sendin' that parish nurse she's a startin' of, and who's a
kickin' up her heels with naught to keep her out o' mischief. She'll
be flyin' down here wi' the greatest joy, and will handle your pots and
pans as poor me isn't able, and I'll be back to my dressmakin', not
being of no manner o' use in tendin' a sick sister, who's that
partickler, and full o' fuss----'

Deb stopped here, catching sight of Gwen, and her face brightened as
she turned to her.

'Come in, my dear; we're just two quarrelsome old women, as you know,
and Patty, poor thing! is a new hand at illness. 'Tis a bad attack o'
cold in the innards--flannelation o' the lung, a neighbour thinks; but
she be a contrary patient, and she won't have no doctor.'

Gwen stepped up to the invalid, and looked down with pity upon the thin
gaunt frame stretched on the tiny bed. Patty's face was flushed, her
lips dry and parched, and her eyes feverishly bright. She seemed very
talkative.

'Come in, miss, and welcome. Better in here, where I can see things is
what they should be, than out in the kitchen, which to my certain
knowledge hasn't been cleaned out proper since I took to bed, and that
was week ago yesterday. If I could get better, please God, I never
would put off the scrubbin' out o' the cupboards agen. Twas Toosday,
the day for to do 'em, and I says to myself, "I seem strangely tired,
I'll leave it till tomorrow;" and Wednesday found me in my bed, too bad
to move, and the cupboards hasn't had their right chance yet, and Deb
she be but a poor cleaner. Ay, dearie me, it'll go hard wi' me if I'm
not so much as able to wash myself, and--but there, the good Lord will
take me home when it comes to that, for when my cleanin' days be over
my livin' days will be over too.'

'Now look here,' said Gwen authoritatively, 'you are talking yourself
into a fever. Lie still, take your gruel, and hear me do the talking.
Now, Deb, give me the stuff. It looks delicious. I'll turn nurse.'

There was no resisting Gwen. Patty took it from her hands as meekly as
a child, and Deb heaved a deep sigh of relief when she saw the last
drop swallowed.

''Tis a great gift to be determined in your will,' she said to Gwen.
'Patty never has had any who could master her. We be both so
masterful; that is where all the trouble cometh between us.'

'Determination, or, rather, self will, has been my curs