Say, does He hear the sufferer’s groan,
   And is that child of wrath his own? 
   O mortal, wavering in thy trust,
   Lift thy pale forehead from the dust
   The mists that cloud thy darkened eyes
   Fade ere they reach the o’erarching skies! 
   When the blind heralds of despair
   Would bid thee doubt a Father’s care,
   Look up from earth, and read above
   On heaven’s blue tablet, god is love!

XI

          The tea is sweetened.

We have been going on very pleasantly of late, each of us pretty well occupied with his or her special business.  The Counsellor has been pleading in a great case, and several of The Teacups were in the court-room.  I thought, but I will not be certain, that some of his arguments were addressed to Number Five rather than to the jury,—­the more eloquent passages especially.

Our young Doctor seems to me to be gradually getting known in the neighborhood and beyond it.  A member of one of the more influential families, whose regular physician has gone to Europe, has sent for him to come and see her, and as the patient is a nervous lady, who has nothing in particular the matter with her, he is probably in for a good many visits and a long bill by and by.  He has even had a call at a distance of some miles from home,—­at least he has had to hire a conveyance frequently of late, for he has not yet set up his own horse and chaise.  We do not like to ask him about who his patient may be, but he or she is probably a person of some consequence, as he is absent several hours on these out-of-town visits.  He may get a good practice before his bald spot makes its appearance, for I have looked for it many times without as yet seeing a sign of it.  I am sure he must feel encouraged, for he has been very bright and cheerful of late; and if he sometimes looks at our new handmaid as if he wished she were Delilah, I do not think he is breaking his heart about her absence.  Perhaps he finds consolation in the company of the two Annexes, or one of them,—­but which, I cannot make out.  He is in consultations occasionally with Number Five, too, but whether professionally or not I have no means of knowing.  I cannot for the life of me see what Number Five wants of a doctor for herself, so perhaps it is another difficult case in which her womanly sagacity is called upon to help him.

In the mean time she and the Tutor continue their readings.  In fact, it seems as if these readings were growing more frequent, and lasted longer than they did at first.  There is a little arbor in the grounds connected with our place of meeting, and sometimes they have gone there for their readings.  Some of The Teacups have listened outside once in a while, for the Tutor reads well, and his clear voice must be heard in the more emphatic passages, whether one is expressly listening or not.  But besides