Well, this person, whose name ought to have been Sister Benevolence,
agreed to take care of Lucy until the child grew strong again.

'But Gertrude feared she would never be quite so strong as she used to
be, and she felt very, very sorry about it. But, you see, she couldn't
undo what was done; she could only make up her mind to be much more
careful in the future. She saw Lucy's friends, who were not very nice
persons, and they said that Lucy had neither a father nor a mother, nor
anybody who really belonged to her, so--so Gertrude gave her friends
money, and they said she might keep Lucy at her house for ever.

'You must understand that Gertrude made up her mind that Lucy should not
go back to the place she had come from, but that as soon as she grew
better, she should be sent to school. But now I am going to tell you
both a little secret about Gertrude. She often said she would do things,
and yet when the time came she found she could not possibly do them. She
intended to be very good, and when she saw people unhappy she always
wanted to make them happy. Only she thought a great deal about her own
happiness too, and in thinking of herself she forgot the others, and
when she remembered them again, sometimes it was too late.

'So when Lucy grew stronger, and the doctor said she would soon be able
to walk quite nicely again, perhaps Gertrude did not think about her so
much as she had done at first. She was going to be married, you see, and
to live in a foreign country, and even if she sent Lucy to boarding
school, she did not know who was to look after her during the holidays.
But to tell you the truth, Gertrude had so many other things to think of
that she forgot all about Lucy's future, and although she would be going
away very soon now, nothing had been done to provide for the child.

'Then something happened to remind Gertrude how necessary it was that
Lucy should be taken care of after she went away, only she had so little
time left that she did not know in the least what to do.

'One day Lucy wandered out of the garden and into the road, where the
woman with whom she used to live saw her and wanted to take her back
again. Not that the woman was fond of Lucy; she only wanted to take her
away so that Gertrude should pay more money to get her back again.'

At this part of the story the door opened and a servant entered to say
that Evangeline was particularly wanted somewhere else, and rising from
her chair, Evangel