r back ached, her arms were stiff, and
her very heart was sick with his crying. He had been fretting or
wailing ever since daylight; and Mildred felt as if she could not bear
it one minute longer. Just then she heard a laugh from the boys
outside; and Ailwin began to sing, as she always did when putting away
the pots and pans. Nobody seemed to care: nobody seemed to think of
her; and Mildred remembered how different it would have been if her
mother had been there. Her mother would have been thinking about poor
George all the morning: but her mother would have thought of her too;
would have remembered that she must be tired; and have cheered her with
talk, or with saying something hopeful about the poor baby.

When Ailwin stopped her loud singing, for a moment, while considering in
which corner she should set down her stew-pan, she heard a gentle sob.
Looking round, she saw Mildred's face covered with tears.

"What's the matter now, dear?" said she. "Is the baby worse? No,--he
don't seem worse to me."

"I don't know, I'm sure. But, Ailwin, I am so tired, I don't know what
to do; and I cannot bear to hear him cry so. He has been crying in this
way all to-day; and it is the longest day I ever knew."

"Well, I'm sure I wish we could think of anything that would quiet him.
If we had only his go-cart, now, or his wooden lamb, with the white wool
upon it, that he is so fond of ... But they are under water below."

"But if you could only take him for a little while, Ailwin, I should be
so glad! I would wash up all your dishes for you."

"Take him! Oh, that's what you are at! To be sure I will; and I might
have thought of that before,--only I had my pans and things to put away.
I'll wash my hands now directly, and take him:--only, there is not much
use in washing one's hands: this foul damp smell seems to stick to
everything one touches. It is that boy's doing, depend upon it. He is
at the bottom of all mischief.--Ay, Mildred, you need not object to what
I say. After what I saw of him yesterday morning, with all that plague
of animals about him on the stairs, you will never persuade me that he
has not some league with bad creatures, a good way off. I don't half
like Oliver's being with him on the raft, in the stream there. That
raft was wonderfully ready made for two slips of boys."

"They had the planks ready to their hands," said Mildred, trembling;
"and leather harness and ropes to tie it with. I think