as possible in her mother's eyes. Mrs. Vane kept her promise of being
very gentle with Biddy, and indeed, when in her room, and seeing the
poor little thing so ill, it was not difficult to be so. But once away
from her, and in sight of her husband's sufferings, the irritation
against Biddy grew almost too great to keep down. And Mrs. Vane was not
very good at keeping down or keeping in her feelings, and each time she
burst out it seemed to make Mr. Vane worse. There was no going to bed
for either her or Mrs. Fairchild that night; indeed, what she would have
done without Celestina's wise and gentle mother I do not know. It was
she who sensibly made the best of it all, soothing Mrs. Vane, who really
needed it almost as much as Biddy and her father; and the only snatches
of sleep Mr. Vane got were when her soft and pleasant voice had been
reading aloud to him.

'I don't know how to thank you,' said Biddy's mother tearfully the next
morning early, when she at last persuaded Mrs. Fairchild to lie down a
little. 'Can't you stay all day to rest?'

But Mrs. Fairchild shook her head, smiling.

'I must go home,' she said. 'At the latest I must go home by ten
o'clock. It will be all right till then. I can trust Celestina to see to
her father's breakfast and everything, and there's not much doing in the
shop before then. Celestina will have let Miss Neale know not to come.'

'How well you have brought your little girl up--how thoughtful and
womanly she is; and to think that she is only a year or two older than
Bridget!' said Mrs. Vane sadly.

'It has not been exactly my doing,' Celestina's mother replied. 'I often