and

see that plainly enough, though she did not choose to speak out before me. Take my word for it. I know what I'm about. Give me the money, leave the management of the matter to me. It will be better for you in the end."

Thus influenced by a mind far more powerful than her own, the weak, unprincipled girl took from her pocket a sealed envelope and gave it to Mrs. Jolliffe, who, delighted to possess it, put it carefully into her own pocket, and departed, meditating in her evil heart in what way the possession of this five-pound note would enable her most effectually to bear false witness against her neighbour.

CHAPTER XLI.

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT.

OR some days it was difficult even for Mrs.
Stancombe to comfort Nellie. The child

could neither eat nor sleep. She believed all that her kind friend told her of God's readiness and power to help her in her trouble. She knew that her affairs were safe in his hands, and could pray to Him, and trust in Him, and love Him, through all her anxiety. But her nerves had been completely shaken, and the result was that she lost all appetite, sleep forsook her, and she became so ill that Mrs. Stancombe, thinking she might be better further away from the Park, and perhaps more at ease with a younger friend than she was with herself, resolved on sending her to Heath Cottage, to stay with Patty Seymour, whose interest and confidence in her, and sympathy for her, were equal to her own. It was a wise thought; and no sooner was Nellie at the cottage than she rallied at once. Patty Seymour was very, very ill. The change which she had herself told Nellie must come before the end, had taken place now, and she now, and she was sinking

slowly but very surely. She required constant attention, and this her father gave her. He had not liked to leave her even to neighbour Simmons' care since she had become so very weak, but had ́ remained himself at home to nurse her, and keep her company. This devotion to his child, however, was a great temporal loss to him; for Seymour was a poor man, and dependent on his own earnings, and of late years these earnings had been all the more necessary to him, because they were needed for Patty's comfort and support. Now that Nellie was with them, he saw he could return more to his work. Patty persuaded him to do so. She knew that he troubled himself more than he would allow her to see as time passed on, and he earned less and spent more each day; she saw, too, that so much confinement within doors was beginning to injure the health of one accustomed all his life to outdoor employment; he was growing paler and thinner every day, and in spite of his efforts to be cheerful, his face was becoming more and more anxious.

All this Patty had perceived for some time past. It had not been a trouble to her, for she was very near the door of heaven now; it stood, indeed, as it were, open for her, and within were such bright glimpses of the glory and the rest, that no earthly care could very much affect her. Besides, she was able to talk so much to Jesus; He was so very near her, that she could tell Him all about it, and hear his dear voice sweet and close in answer. Still, when Mrs. Stancombe called to ask them to take

in Nellie, offering to pay for her board and lodging with them, Patty was very thankful. She felt that Jesus had done this; that it was in this 'way that He was answering her prayer, and sending money to refill the fast emptying purse, whilst, at the same time, He was providing for her dear father's health and strength, by enabling him to return to his former work.

And so it proved. Mrs. Stancombe could not have made a better arrangement for all parties. Seymour, seeing how happy Patty was to have Nellie with her, and how thoughtful and skilful Nellie was in attending to her, left his darling very much to her little friend's charge. And this was the best thing that he could have done for Nellie. She could not, indeed, forget her trouble, and the terrible suspense that was hanging over her; but half the burden 'seemed gone now that she could tell it all out to Patty, with a freedom which, dearly as she loved her, she could not feel with Mrs. Stancombe. The many duties she had to perform for Patty were very good for her also; they took off her thoughts and occupied her time in a manner that soon brought back some of the roses to her cheeks, and restored to a great degree both sleep and appetite. Many and many hours did the girls spend together in the little cottage, and in spite of the illness of the one, and the anxiety of the other, it was a happy time, a time on which Nellie always looked back in after life with feelings of deepest thankfulness, and far more of pleasure than of

The days passed very quietly, Nellie had been accustomed to nursing when the darling little baby at the Park was alive, and she had been left for hours together to watch him, and she had learned many thoughtful, helpful ways then which were very useful to her now; besides, Nellie was by nature a most womanly little woman, and all gentle and homely duties came naturally to her. Those who had only known her some time ago in her illkept, untidy home, might have had some trouble in believing that it was so; but all that Nellie's nature needed was some motive power strong enough to call into active exercise the womanly energies and capabilities which were lying dormant within. And this motive power had been supplied; first at the Park, and now still more strongly at the cottage. Nellie had not been there a week before the whole charge, not only of the sick girl, but also of the little home, seemed to have settled upon her. It was she who rose in the early morning to light the kitchen fire, and get breakfast ready for Seymour before he should go to his work; it was she who tidied up the room and made it look as it never had looked since Patty's mother had been laid to rest, and Seymour left to do all his own daily house-work, with only such help as his little crippled child could render him; it was she who made the tea so well with water boiling from the kettle, always carrying the first cup to Patty's bedside on the tidiest of trays, with the milk in a certain blue jug, which Nellie remembered well, sent still, as it had been years ago, from Heath Farm. Neighbour Simmons