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why Janet Williams's sad story should have made me think of another very different from it; but so it is and I should much like to tell it you at some other time. Now it is getting late; and it seems to me that we shall have more than five minutes' work to lay these things straight, and make the parlour tidy and comfortable before my uncle and aunt come in and want their tea."

CHAPTER XII.

"Fair smiling cheerfulness! auspicious guest!
Source of all comfort to the human breast!
Though beauteous objects all around us rise
To charm the fancy and delight the eyes,
'Tis joyless all, till thy enliv'ning ray
Scatters the melancholy gloom away.—
Then opens to the soul a heavenly scene,

Gladness and peace, all sprightly, all serene.

Thine aid, O ever faithful, ever kind!

Through life, through death, attends the righteous mind
Of angry fate, wards from us ev'ry blow,
Cures ev'ry ill, and softens ev'ry woe.
Whatever good our mortal state desires,
What wisdom finds, or innocence inspires;

From nature's bounteous hand whatever flows,
Whate'er our Maker's providence bestows,
By thee mankind enjoys; by thee repays
A grateful tribute of perpetual praise."

THE Conversations between the cousins were not resumed for some time. They were interrupted by the illness of Farmer Thorpe. A cold had been hanging on him for some days. He was unwilling to

desist from his usual avocations; but when he came home on Saturday evening, he felt so heavy and unwell, that he went to bed immediately after his tea. His wife remained at home with him all the next day, and his daughters took it by turns to go to church. In the afternoon, he appeared so much. worse, that Richard Thorpe rode to the town of to fetch a doctor, the village to which Linden Grange belonged being too small to have a medical man resident in it. When Mr. came, and had felt his pulse, &c., it was evident, though he did not say the farmer was in danger, that he thought him seriously ill. He continued for some days with little or no amendment; and probably would have sunk under the attack had not his naturally good constitution been unimpaired by any deviation from abstemious and healthful habits. During this time Linden Grange was naturally full of anxiety. Then was it in Mary Fielding's power in some degree to repay the kindness which had given her in her time of need a home and a parental welcome, by the assistance she gave to her aunt and cousins in nursing her uncle, and the many little attentions that contributed greatly to his comfort.

Mary Fielding was not particularly clever; but it had pleased God to endow her with good sense and a kind heart, and to place her in circumstances where those gifts would enable her to make the best use, for herself and others, of all that she saw and heard. From her father being a gardener, she learned the

properties of many plants and herbs; and her steady conduct and obliging disposition having made her a general favourite, she was frequently employed in Mr. Howard's house; and being very observant, and desirous to acquire all kinds of useful information, she learned from the house-keeper the best method of preparing many simple remedies for bodily ailments, which might either render the attendance of a medical man unnecessary, or assist his prescriptions. Moreover, her experience of sickness had taught her what few, unaccustomed to it, are aware of the importance of forethought, alacrity, and gentleness. Thus was she always prompt to do whatever was required, without noise or bustle. Above all, her constant good-humour and cheerfulness were invaluable at this time. It will be believed she rejoiced scarcely less than her cousins when she saw her uncle convalescent.

One day, when Mrs. Thorpe, observing that all the girls looked pale and worn with anxiety and fatigue, desired them to go and refresh themselves with a little walk, Jane and Bessy reminded Mary of her promise to tell them a story, and she readily assented.

"I should tell you in the first place," said she, "that amongst the many benefits conferred on the parishioners of Hazels by the family of Mr. Howard, by no means one of the least was the assistance they were in the habit of giving to the young women going out to service. They almost always had one or more in the house, for perhaps six months, per

haps a year or more, assisting the cook and the housemaid, in order to train them for servants. Besides this, some were sent for occasionally when there was any extra work to be done, to give them some notion of the ways of a gentleman's house. I was called in rather more frequently than the rest ; both, I suppose, out of regard to my father, and that I was nearest at hand, as we lived in a cottage in Mr. Howard's garden."

"I should guess there might be another reason," whispered Bessy to her sister.

"So should I," replied Jane; "but Mary never gives herself any praise."

"I hear your kind words," said Mary, smiling; " and I know what you mean. But if it were from any preference for myself, I can only be very thankful that I was enabled to obtain it, and that my endeavours to please were not suffered to remain unrequited. For it is not always the most deserving receive their reward in this world; no doubt for wise and good reasons, which we shall know hereafter. But I want

to come to my story."

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"And we are longing to hear it," said Jane; though we do like very much to hear you talk of those happy days, and those kind friends who made you what you are, a treasure of goodness and a comfort to all you come near.

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Mary coloured and laughed, and said, "It seems to me you are resolved to try to undo much or all of the good they have done me by your flattery, so as

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