A Flat Iron for a Farthing

oir, my father put fifty pounds into Nurse Bundle's hand, and sent another fifty to Mr. Andrewes for some

ions. "No money could purchase such care as you bestowed on him, and no money can reward it; but it will be doing me a farther favour to allow me to think

ment on my father's. Rubens was a great comfort at this period. For his winning ways formed an interest, and served a little to vary the monotony of the hours when I was too weak t

renoon, when she had neatly arranged the tra

ve, come September,

-and-fifty, papa?" I asked that evening,

sometimes. But why

lmost melancholy gravity. "She's a good deal older than I am; but I love

r weariness over my helpless figure, the painful, unchildlike anxiousness on my thin face

eaker, and much in need of what doctors call "tone." All concerned in the c

o Aunt Maria was out of the question. Even if London had been a suitable

nquired one evening, as we all sat in th

ld," was Nurse Bundle's answer, which, though admirable in its spirit, did

elf?" I persisted. "Where would you go if

going away for myself, I think I s

their children; and when my father came to sit with me I had a long history of Oakford and Nurse Bundle's relatives at my fingers'

"and I should like Nurse to see her sister; and,"

we stayed long, my father was to go backwards and forwards, and he was to fetch us when we went away. His anxiety was still so great, and led him to watch me in a manne

d not feel strong enough for any feats of energy, and went meekly enough into that stuffy hole, the inside! Before following me, Nurse B

drop us at Mr. Buckle'

achman, looking down on Mrs. Bundle exac

y three doors be

p her skirts, and her worsted wor

e seems to have been impelled thereto by a three hours' contemplation of the contrast between my slim, wasted little

to sit on the one s

nt nod. When the coach stopped in the High Street of Oakford, and Nurse Bundle had descended, he so far relaxed, as he h

kle, I b

ng at the 'Crown

top here," sai

ayed by the getting out of our luggage. I do not think he missed

o to speak, all the facts of every kind that come within their ken. They "go in for general information," like

ver, is a

e us. I believe the cat was the only living creature in the house who was not there. But cats seldom exert themselves unnecessarily on behalf of other people, and she awaited

kle, I b

I fancy, rather put out by the touch of my frail hand, which was certainly ve

. I hope your heal

said I (all children mak

nurse. She was as good-natured a woman as Mrs. Bundle herself, but with

I asked, going up to her, and once more tend

hat, Jemima! did you ev

edgment of which striking rem

without an instant's pause, "Please ta

he scattered rolls of leather and other trade accessories in the shop, and conveyed me into an arm

ary for new experiences, I was only conscious that the stairs were narrow, the room

disciplined egotism of many children "now-a-days," was not often tolerated by the past generation. As I sat silent and sad, Nurse Bundle ransacked her bag, muttering, "What a fool I be, to be sure!" and anon produced a flask of wine, from which

at last. The said cat, a beau

my dear, at your own little dog lying as good as gold i

immovable composure of the good lady herself. Half a movement of encouragement on my part, half a movement of flight on the cat's, and Rubens would have been after her. All this was so plainly expressed in his attitude, that I burst out laughi

s to bed, and get a good night's rest. I can hear Jemima a-

d I was greatly interested in the brazen im

got between the sheets. I had often warmed my hand

sleep, well satisfied on the whole wi