fresh as a bird, and no pain.' The triumph was increased by the fact that Miss Medley's father had been a physician-by some called a quack, because he had late in life adopted the new system of medicine; anyhow, he was a gentleman, and Faith, never forgetting that Miss Medley was born a lady, was all the more happy in her self-gratulation, when she could, as she thought, prove, to the confounding of all gainsayers, that port wine, or water gruel, as the case might be, would be found to be worth all the whimsies which clever gentlemen or clever ladies had ever invented or encouraged. 'You don't happen to be wanting anything I can get for you at the grocer's, ma'am?' was her enquiry, as she knocked at, and then immediately opened, the door of Miss Medley's little parlour. 'I have been at the Hall, on a message from Mrs. Patty, and now I am just going on a step farther down the village.' 'I don't want anything that I know of, Faith, thank you; but don't stand in the draught of the passage.' Faith willingly obeyed, though draught there was none from the passage, for a very good reason, that no passage existed. The little steep staircase went up directly from the street-door. The landlady, Mrs. Haynes, had the parlour to the right; Miss Medley herself the parlour to the left, with the bedroom above. It was a comfortable little lodging upon the whole, and tolerably well furnished. There was a dark puce-colour leathern arm-chair, a sofa with a chintz covering, a chiffionier and some bookshelves, a mahogany slab and a little writing-table; not to mention a rosewood cabinet piano, which Miss Medley's friends voted a great encumbrance, but which Miss Medley herself looked upon as the one only important piece of furniture in her possession, 'since on it she diligently played chants and psalm tunes on Sunday evening, singing at the same time with a cracked, though originally good voice, to the great edification of Mr., Mrs., and Miss Haynes, who, besides listening and approving, were not unfrequently summoned to join. 'Anything the matter at the Hall, Faith?" asked Miss Medley. She was a brisk little woman, and her bright black eyes twinkled and glittered incessantly. They made her look quite young at a distance, especially when it was not seen that her brown curls had no natural and necessary connection with her head. 'I can't say, ma'am. I wouldn't undertake to say. Mrs. Patty recommended that Mr. Harrison should be sent for; but Mrs. Cameron-I don't mean any disrespect-but she is very slow; and fever is sometimes fearful rapid.' 'Fever! infectious ? scarlet ? typhus? gastric?' Miss Medley stretched out her hand to a large green book which always lay on her table. 'Dear heart! no, ma'am. How can one say? fevers are like babbies; there's no knowing them apart when they are born. And who can tell what this will turn to ? or it might not turn at all. But anyhow, they have some common sense up at the Hall, and will know what to do. I said so to Mrs. Patty, and great comfort it was to her to think of it.' Common sense could not mean globules! Miss Medley was quite sure of that fact; but under what nauseous form it would be likely to exhibit itself, in the emergency so vaguely hinted at by Faith, she did not stop to enquire. 'Mrs. Cameron has fever, then -low fever, I suppose? It is going about a good deal.' 'Mrs. Cameron, ma'am! No, surely. I did n't speak of her, did I? If I did, I was wrong. Mr. Cameron must be home by this time, and he may know better what to do. Miss Myra is greatly in fear of her papa, they say; and well she may be, for his one word goes further than other people's dozens.' 'His word, and his wish, and his will, of course!' observed Miss Medley; and her thin lips cunled satirically. When was there ever a man that had not his will? But what about Miss Myra?' 'Why, that she is likely to die of fever, if she does not get better soon, ma'am,' replied Faith; 'and it is her own doing too; a wilful young lady she was always.' 'Aconite! aconite!" murmured Miss Medley. 'Three globules every hour! it would quite save her.' She gave a deep sigh, and for a moment she seemed lost in some sorrowful meditation. 'But, Faith,' and she looked up as briskly as ever, 'what is the - cause?' 'A child's folly, ma'am,' replied Faith, 'which never would have been if her papa had been at home. She tumbled into the pond, and got wet through, and when she went home locked herself up in her room, and would not let anyone in; and there they stayed outside, begging and begging, and she inside, in her wet things, for nearly an hour. So of course there is a cold and fever; that is all, Miss Medley. But Mr. Cameron will be home by-and-by, and then there will be some one to manage her.' 'I don't see what good a man is to do in a sickroom, unless he is a physician,' observed Miss Medley. 'As a race, Faith, men are noisy.' 'Very true, ma'am.' 'And impatient.' 'Yes, I suppose so, ma'am.' 'You need not suppose it, Faith, it is a fact; they are awkward, also.' 'Well! yes, perhaps.' Faith thought for a second, and added, 'Master is not.' 'Noisy, impatient, awkward-and selfish, Faith; selfish-don't think of denying it! they are selfish; and what good can they do in illness?' 'They can have things their own way, ma'am, replied Faith bluntly; 'and I take it that is what is wanted in all households. And if you will forgive me for saying it, you would think the same if you had heard Mrs. Patty's account of what went on at the Hall this afternoon.' 'If Mrs. Patty had done right,' replied Miss Medley, 'she would have taken the responsibility upon herself, and not have waited for Mr. Cameron. It has been my rule through life, Faith. I have never hesitated to accept any responsibility. I should have given aconite directly, and Myra Cameron's life would have been saved.' 'Please, ma'am, she is not dead yet,' observed Faith. 6 'But she is going to die-there can be no hope,' exclaimed Miss Medley, impatiently. 'I am half inclined But Mr. Cameron is not a man to listen.' 'To listen, but not to answer, ma'am,' replied Faith: 'and if you are thinking of the pins' heads in the little bottles, you might as well talk to a stone wall as to him about them. I heard him say one day myself, when he was dining at the Rectory, and I was waiting at table, that it was -- I forget the word-but it was something very unpleasant.' 'Humbug! It is his favourite word. You need not be afraid to repeat it, Faith. I know Mr. Cameron well.' 'If you do, ma'am, it is more than anyone else does,' answered Faith. 'An oyster in his shell isn't more close.' 'I know him, Faith, as I know all men. Two or three general principles are all which is required to enable one to find the key to their characters. If one does not fit, another will. But you cannot understand that.' 'I don't know about keys and principles, ma'am. I dare say they might be useful, if one had to live with Mr. Cameron; but master, you see, is different.' 'Dr. Kingsbury is a remarkable-not exceptionhe has the faults of his sex: but, upon the whole, he is enabled to rise superior to them. But Dr. Kingsbury is being spoilt; and Mrs. Patty will live to |