Meanwhile, poor Jo left behind him a dread and infectious disease which Charley caught from him, and in twelve hours after his escape she was very, very ill.  I nursed her myself, with tenderest care, bringing her back to her old childish likeness again.  Then the disease came upon me, and in my weeks of mortal sickness, it was Charley’s love and care, and unending devotion that saved my life.  It was Charley’s hand which removed every looking-glass from my rooms, that in my convalescence I might not be shocked by the alteration which the disease had wrought in the face she loved so dearly.

When I was able, Charley and I went away together, to the most friendly of villages, and in the home which my guardian’s care had provided, we enjoyed the hours of returning strength.  There was a kindly housekeeper to trot after me with restoratives and strengthening delicacies, and a pony expressly for my use, and soon there were friendly faces of greeting in every cottage as we passed by.  Thus with being much in the open air, playing with the village children, gossiping in many cottages, going on with Charley’s education, and writing long letters to my dearest girl, time slipped away, and I found myself quite strong again.

And to Charley,—­now as well, and rosy, and pretty as one of Flora’s attendants, I give due credit, and the bond which binds me to my little maid is one which will only be severed when the days of Charley’s happy life are over.

TILLY SLOWBOY

[Illustration:  TILLY SLOWBOY]

TILLY SLOWBOY

Although still in her earliest teens, Tilly Slowboy was a nursery-maid for little Mrs. Peerybingle’s baby, and despite her extreme youth, was a most enthusiastic and unusual nursery-maid indeed.

It may be noted of Miss Slowboy that she had a rare and surprising talent for getting the baby into difficulties; and had several times imperilled its short life, in a quiet way peculiarly her own.

She was of a spare and straight shape, this young lady, insomuch that her garments appeared to be in constant danger of sliding off those sharp pegs, her shoulders, on which they were loosely hung.  Her costume was remarkable for the partial development on all possible occasions, of some flannel vestment of a singular structure; also affording glimpses, in the region of the back, of a pair of stays, in color a dead green.

Being always in a state of gaping admiration at everything, and absorbed besides, in the perpetual contemplation of her mistress’s perfections, and the baby’s, Miss Slowboy, in her little errors of judgment may be said to have done equal honor to her head and to her heart; and though these did less honor to the baby’s head, which they were the occasional means of bringing into contact with deal doors, dressers, stair-rails, bed-posts, and other foreign substances, still they were the honest results of Tilly Slowboy’s constant astonishment at finding herself so kindly treated and installed in such a comfortable home.  For the maternal and paternal Slowboy were alike unknown to Fame, and Tilly had been bred by public charity, a foundling; which word, though only differing from fondling by one vowel’s length, is very different in meaning, and expresses quite another thing.