tisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are
healed.' Still Stephen, feeling how hard it was to continue in the right
way, and knowing how often he failed, to his own sore mortification and
the rude triumph of his comrades, wondered exceedingly how it was
possible for Miss Anne to find it as hard to be a follower of Christ as
he did.

CHAPTER VII.

POOR SNIP.

The middle weeks of August were come--sunny, sultry weeks; and from the
brow of the hill, all the vast plain lying westward for many miles looked
golden with the corn ripening for harvest. The oats in the little field
had already been reaped; and the fruit in the garden, gathered and sold
by Martha, had brought in a few shillings, which were carefully hoarded
up to buy winter clothing. It was now the time of the yearly gathering of
bilberries on the hills; and tribes of women and children ascended to the
tableland from all the villages round. It was the pleasantest work of the
year; and Martha, who had never missed the bilberry season since she
could remember, was not likely to miss it now. Even little Nan could help
to pick the berries, and she and Martha were out on the hillsides all the
livelong summer day. Their dwelling on the spot gave them a good
advantage over those who lived down in Botfield; and each day, before any
of the others could reach the best bilberry-wires, they had already
picked a quart of the small purple berries, fresh and cool with the dew
of the morning. Only the poor old grandfather had to be left at home
alone, with his dinner put ready for him, which he was apt to eat up long
before the proper dinner-hour came; and then he had to wait until Stephen
returned from his work, or Martha and little Nan were driven home by the
August thunderstorms. Martha was wonderfully successful this year, and
gained more money by selling her bilberries than she thought necessary to
show to Stephen; though, on his part, he always brought her every penny
of his wages.

Ever since their father's funeral there had been a subject of dispute
between the brother and sister. Martha was bent upon enclosing the green
dell, with its clear, cool little pond; and to this end she spent all the
time she could spare in raising a rough fence of stones and peat round
it. But Stephen would not consent to it; and neither argument, scolding,
nor coaxing could turn him. He always answered that he had promised the
master that he would not trespass