think the very things I would have wished different for her have been
the best training. She has _had_ to be helpful and thoughtful; she has
had her own duties and share of responsibility almost all her life.'

'Biddy never feels responsible for anything--not even for learning her
lessons or being ready for meals,' said her mother.

'Well, that is just what wants awaking in her. This lesson may show her
that even a child is responsible, that a child may cause sad trouble.
One would rather she had learnt it the other way, but it may be what she
needed.'

Mrs. Vane sighed. She wanted to be patient, but she could hardly bring
herself to feel that a lesson which was to cost Biddy's father such
suffering, nay, even to risk his life perhaps, would not be too dearly
bought.

The doctor came, but he was not much more outspoken than the night
before. Biddy was to be kept very quiet, the more she could sleep the
better; as for Mr. Vane, he _hoped_ it would not be rheumatic fever, but
it was plain he feared it. And he advised Mrs. Vane to get a trained
nurse.

A trying time followed. For some days it seemed almost certain that Mr.
Vane was in for rheumatic fever; in the end he just managed to escape
it, but he was sadly weakened, and the cough, which had disappeared
since his coming to Seacove, began again. It would be weeks before he
could leave his room.

And Biddy, too, did not get well as had been expected. She lay there