Bess; though three common ones had to be laid beside them, for, as Tim
was coming, Stephen must fare like grandfather and little Nan. As soon as
Tim arrived, she was very busy beating up the batter for the pikelets,
and then baking them over the fire; and very soon the little party were
sitting down to their feast--Bess declaring politely, between each piece
pressed upon her by Martha, that she had never tasted such pikelets,
never!

At last, when tea was quite finished, and the table carefully lifted back
to a safe corner at the foot of the bed, though Martha prudently replaced
the china cups in the cupboard, Tim and Stephen drew up their stools to
the front of the fire, and a significant glance passed between them.

'Now then, Stevie,' said Tim, 'thee learn me the new hymn Miss Anne sings
with us; and let's teach Bess to sing too.'

Bess looked round uneasily, as if she found herself caught in a trap;
but, as Tim burst off loudly into a hymn tune, in which Stephen joined at
the top of his voice, she had no time to make any objection. Martha and
the old grandfather, who had been a capital singer in his day, began to
help; and little Nan mingled her sweet, clear, childish notes with their
stronger tones. It was a long hymn, and, before it was finished, Bess
found herself shyly humming away to the tune, almost as if it had been
the chorus of one of the pit-bank songs. They sang more and more, until
she joined in boldly, and whispered to Martha that she wished she knew
the words, so as to sing with them. But the crowning pleasure of the
evening was when little Nan, sitting on Stephen's knee, with his fingers
stroking her curly hair, sang by herself a new hymn for little children,
which Miss Anne had been teaching her. She could not say the words very
plainly, but her voice was sweet, and she looked so lovely with her tiny