undertake the trouble. And never mind what
I say —you will soon get used to my ways
—and we shall be as comfortable and
friendly— "

Just as Mrs. Frankland said the words,
"comfortable" and "friendly," the new
nurse left the window, and went back to
the part of the room where she was hidden
from view, between the fireplace and the
closed curtains at the foot of the bed.
Rosamond looked round to express her surprise to
the doctor, but he turned away at the same
moment so as to occupy a position which
might enable him to observe what Mrs.
Jazeph was doing on the other side of the
bed-curtains.

When he first caught sight of her, her
hands were both raised to her face. Before
he could decide whether he had surprised her
in the act of clasping them over her eyes or
not, they changed their position, and were
occupied in removing her bonnet. After she
had placed this part of her wearing apparel,
and her shawl and gloves, on a chair in a
corner of the room, she went to the dressing-
table, and began to arrange the various useful
and ornamental objects scattered about it.
She set them in order with remarkable
dexterity and neatness, showing a taste for
arrangement, and a capacity for discriminating
between things that were likely to
be wanted and things that were not, which
impressed Mr. Orridge very favourably. He
particularly noticed the carefulness with
which she handled some bottles of physic,
reading the labels on each, and arranging
the medicine that might be required at
night on one side of the table, and the
medicine that might be required in the
day-time on the other. When she left the
dressing-table, and occupied herself in setting
the furniture straight, and in folding up
articles of clothing that had been thrown on
one side, not the slightest movement of her
thin wasted hands seemed ever to be made
at hazard or in vain. Noiselessly, modestly,
observantly, she moved from side to side of
the room, and neatness and order followed
her steps wherever she went. "When Mr.
Orridge resumed his place at Mrs.
Frankland's bedside, his mind was at ease on one
point at least— it was perfectly evident that
the new nurse could be depended on to make
no mistakes.

"What an odd woman she is!" whispered
Rosamond.

"Odd, indeed," returned Mr. Orridge, "and
desperately broken in health, though she may
not confess to it. However, she is wonderfully
neat-handed and careful, and there can
be no harm in trying her for one night —that
is to say, unless you feel any objection."

"On the contrary," said Rosamond, "she
rather interests me. There is something in
her face and manner—I can't say what— that
makes me feel curious to know more of her.
I must get her to talk, and try if I can't
bring out all her peculiarities. Don't be
afraid of my exciting myself, and don't stop
here in this dull room on my account. I
would much rather you went down-stairs,
and kept my husband company over his
wine. Do go and talk to him, and amuse
him a little—he must be so dull, poor fellow,
while I am up here; and he likes you, Mr.
Orridge—he does, very much. Stop one
moment, and just look at the baby again.
He doesn't take a dangerous quantity of
sleep, does he? And, Mr. Orridge, one word
more: when you have done your wine, you
will promise to lend my husband the use of
your eyes, and bring him up-stairs to wish
me good-night, won't you?"

Willingly engaging to pay attention to
Mrs. Frankland's request, Mr. Orridge left
the bedside. As he opened the room door,
he stopped to tell Mrs. Jazeph that he should
be down-stairs if she wanted him, and that
he would give her any instructions of which
she might stand in need later in the evening,
before he left the inn for the night. The new
nurse, when he passed by her, was kneeling
over one of Mrs. Frankland's open trunks,
arranging some articles of clothing which
had been rather carelessly folded up. Just
before he spoke to her, he observed that she
had a chemisette in her hand, the frill of
which was laced through with ribbon. One
end of this ribbon she appeared to him to be
on the point of drawing out, when the sound
of his footsteps disturbed her. The moment
she became aware of his approach, she
dropped the chemisette suddenly in the
trunk, and covered it over with some hand-
kerchiefs. Although this proceeding on Mrs.
Jazeph's part rather surprised the doctor, he
abstained from showing that he had noticed
it. Her mistress had vouched for her
character, after five years' experience of it, and
the bit of ribbon was intrinsically worthless.
On both accounts, it was impossible to
suspect her of attempting to steal it; and
yet, as Mr. Orridge could not help feeling
when he had left the room, her conduct,
when he surprised her over the trunk, was
exactly the conduct of a person who is about
to commit a theft.

"Pray don't trouble yourself about my
luggage," said Rosamond, remarking Mrs.
Jazeph's occupation as soon as the doctor
had gone. "That is my idle maid's business,
and you will only make her more careless
than ever if you do it for her. I am sure
the room is beautifully set in order. Come
here, and sit down and rest yourself. You
must be a very unselfish, kind-hearted woman
to give yourself all this trouble to serve a
stranger. The doctor's message this afternoon
told me that your mistress was a friend
of my poor, dear father's. I suppose she
must have known him before my time. Any
way, I feel doubly grateful to her for taking
an interest in me for my father's sake. But
you can have no such feeling; you must