’He went back to Shields early next morning, and bade me good-bye quite in his usual manner; so I hoped he had forgiven me; but the affair has left an unpleasant feeling in my mind, a sort of vague dread of some trouble to arise out of it in the future.  I cannot forget that hard cruel look in my cousin’s face.

’When he was gone, Mrs. Darrell began to praise him very warmly, and my father spoke of him in the same tone.  They talked of him a good deal as we lingered over our breakfast, and I fancied there was some intention with regard to me in the minds of both—­they seem indeed to think alike upon every subject.  Dearly as I love my father, this is a point upon which even his influence could not affect me.  I might be weak and yielding upon every other question, never upon this.

’And now let me tell you about my friend Peter, Rebecca Thatcher’s half-witted grandson.  You know how painfully we were both struck by the poor fellow’s listless hopeless manner when we were at the cottage on the moor.  I thought of it a great deal afterwards, and it occurred to me that our head-gardener might find work for him in the way of weeding, and rolling the gravel paths, and such humble matters.  Brook is a good kind old man, and always ready to do anything to please me; so I asked him the question one day in August, and he promised that when he next wanted extra hands Peter Thatcher should be employed, “Though I don’t suppose I shall ever make much of him, miss,” he said; “but there’s naught I wouldn’t do to please you.”

’Well, my dear Mary, the boy came, and has done so well as quite to surprise Brook and the other two gardeners.  He has an extraordinary attachment to me, and nothing delights him so much as to wait upon me when I am attending to my ferns, a task I always perform myself, as you know.  To see this poor boy, standing by with a watering-pot in one hand, and a little basket of dead leaves in the other, watching me as breathlessly as if I were some great surgeon operating upon a patient, would make you smile; but I think you could scarcely fail to be touched by his devotion.  He tells me that he is so happy at Thornleigh, and he begins to look a great deal brighter already.  The men say he is indefatigable in his work, and worth two ordinary boys.  He is passionately fond of flowers, and I have begun to teach him the elements of botany.  It is rather slow work impressing the names of the plants upon his poor feeble brain; but he is so anxious to learn, and so proud of being taught, that I am well repaid for my trouble.’

Milly was very anxious that I should spend Christmas at Thornleigh; but it was by that time nearly a year since I had seen the dear ones at home, and ill as my dear father could afford any addition to his expenses, he wished me to spend my holidays with him; and so it was arranged that I should return to Warwickshire, much to my dear girl’s regret.

The holiday was a very happy one; and, before it was over, I received a letter from Milly, telling me that Mr. and Mrs. Darrell were going abroad for some months, and asking me to cut short my term at Albury Lodge, and come to Thornleigh as her companion, at a salary which I thought a very handsome one.