&& ssiiv;E >'> v ^,^t.> ^-vy
 
 
 

 
 UNIV. OF CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS ANGELES
 
 "I want to speak to you, my dear. Will you attend 1 "Page n.
 
 Life in a Nutshell 
 
 a 
 
 AGNES GIBERNE 
 
 AUTHOR OF "WON AT LAST," ETC. 
 
 BOSTON 
 A. J. BRADLEY & CO. 
 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 i. KATIE'S HOME . 
 
 If. MATCH-BOXES . 
 
 III. AT "THK WALNUTS" 
 
 IV. SOMETHING TO DO . 
 V. BESSIE'S ACCOUNTS . 
 
 VI. AUNT CII.VTTIE . 
 VII. A COMING BIRTHDAY 
 VIII. LATE TALKING . 
 
 ix. MR. BALFOUR'S GIFT 
 x. FROM KATIE'S FATHER . 
 
 XI. THE BLUE DRESS 
 XII. NIGHT-WATCHING 
 
 XIII. THE BIRTHDAY . 
 
 XIV. AN INVITATION 
 XV. KEPT APART 
 
 XVI. BY THE FIRESIDE . 
 XVII. SOMETHING GONE WRONG 
 XVIII. A CRASH 
 
 PACK 
 
 7 
 
 19 
 27 
 38 
 47 
 5S 
 66 
 
 77 
 86 
 
 94 
 1 06 
 
 "3 
 
 121 
 I 3 
 I3S 
 146 
 
 153 
 
 161
 
 vi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 XIX. AT "THE WALNUTS" AGAIN 172 
 
 XX. PASSING AWAY l8l 
 
 XXI. KATH'S LOSS 189 
 
 XXII. A QUESTION 197 
 
 XXIII. THE LAST THREE WEEKS 206 
 
 XXIV. TOGETHER 214
 
 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 KATIE'S HOME, 
 
 had never been out into the great 
 world, or even into any considerable por- 
 tion of it, beyond a day's trip to Great 
 Yarmouth or to Norwich, at distant intervals. Katie 
 Balfour was still unfledged at the age of eighteen, 
 knowing practically nothing of life, beyond the limits 
 of the remote east-country village which had always 
 been her home except, of course, what books might 
 teach her. One may learn a good deal of life from 
 books ; much that is true, as well as much that is 
 false. 
 
 But books were not abundant in Eckham. Mudie 
 extended no finger there; while the nearest rail- 
 way station was five miles away. Moreover, the 
 said station was much too small to possess a book- 
 
 7
 
 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 stall ; and had things been otherwise, Mr. Balfour 
 was too poor to pay a subscription to any library. 
 
 The village itself was a mere collection of cot- 
 tages, apparently squatted down, without aim or 
 object, on the flat coast flat, except for the great 
 sand-dunes running all along the shore, between 
 the village and the beach. But those sand-dunes, 
 or long low hills of sand, were not stationary. 
 Slowly, century by century, they had been creep- 
 ing inward, as inch by inch the sea gained upon the 
 land. The Eckhani of olden days had lain where now 
 the waves danced among sea-weeds at the lowest 
 tides. The Eckham of these days would by-and- 
 by lie, in like manner, a ruined village under the 
 sands. People knew this, but they held their know- 
 ledge calmly ; for it was a case of " not in my days." 
 
 Eckham Church was a grand old building, with 
 windows down one side only, and with the massive 
 square tower characteristic of Norfolk. It would 
 hold more than four hundred people with ease. 
 Not much use in that, since the whole population 
 of Eckham, old people, middle-aged folk, children 
 and babies, all together fell very far short of four 
 hundred. Mr. Balfour counted himself well off with 
 a Sunday morning congregation of twenty or thirty, 
 and a Sunday afternoon congregation of perhaps 
 twice that number.
 
 KATIE'S HOME. 
 
 He had toiled many a long year in this place, 
 labouring patiently, though not 'very hopefully, 
 without making much impression. The people 
 took his efforts as a matter of course, and his 
 kindnesses as their right. Mr. Balfour often called 
 himself an "unprofitable servant," because he saw 
 so little fruit to his labours ; and perhaps he forgot, 
 sometimes, that " the Lord seeth not as man seeth." 
 
 He was growing old fast, this Eeverend Stephen 
 Balfour not yet sixty-five in years, but in appear- 
 ance much past seventy, with his worn hands, his 
 stoop, his furrowed brow. He looked thin, and 
 his cheeks were sunken, and a certain tremulous- 
 ness of manner was perceptible when he read and 
 preached. It had been more marked lately. The 
 keen winds of Norfolk seemed too much for him, and 
 a winter cough troubled him much. September had 
 come round again, and cold weather lay not far 
 distant, with the terrible easterly blasts of spring to 
 follow. He dreaded them in prospect. 
 
 Mr. Balfour had only one child, his eighteen-years- 
 old Katie; and one servant, faithful and devoted, 
 though crabbed and disagreeable. Katie's mother had 
 died in her childhood, and since then, Mr. Balfour 
 had been to her, father, mother, friend, all in one, to 
 the best of his ability. 
 
 Katie loved him most dearly. Still, it was a
 
 io LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 strange and lonely life for a young girl. She had no 
 intimate friends. "Society," for her, consisted of 
 the few families of the neighbouring clergy; and, 
 after all, they met but seldom. Mr. Balfour had 
 a rough little two-wheeled " chay," and a very feeble 
 ancient pony, with which he and Katie sometimes 
 drove to a rectory or a parsonage, here or there. 
 But callers were few, and calls due were not 
 many. 
 
 So Katie grew up with her little round of home- 
 duties, in the way of dusting, cooking, and mending ; 
 her little round of interests, in the way of pet 
 chickens and kittens; her little round of parish 
 occupations, in the way of Sunday-school and village 
 calls; her little round of pleasures, in the way of 
 reading, and of a walk or drive with " father ; " her 
 little round of troubles, in the way of Deborah's 
 temper, and Sunday scholars' dulness. She grew up, 
 year by year ; and for a long while it never dawned 
 on her father that she was a child no longer. Only 
 Katie herself felt a difference. 
 
 They were out together in the garden one after- 
 noon ; Mr. Balfour on the rustic seat, not reading, 
 but thinking. It was a small garden surrounding 
 a small house; part being laid out for vegetables, 
 and a portion reserved for flowers. A few late roses 
 hung over Katie's smooth brown head, as she sat on
 
 KA TIE'S HOME. 1 1 
 
 a little wicker chair, quite absorbed in Goldsmith's 
 "History of Greece." She wore a navy-blue summer 
 serge, of the plainest possible make, with linen 
 collar and cuffs. 
 
 A slight breeze swept by, stirring the small clump 
 of bushes in their rear bushes planted, one and all, 
 by Mr. Balfour's own hand, during past years. He 
 had " made " the garden, such as it was. With the 
 breezy breath he shivered sharply. Katie at once 
 looked up, and said, " Are you cold, father ? " 
 
 " Yes. I almost think I will go in," Mr. Balfour 
 answered ; yet he did not move. He seemed to be 
 thinking. 
 
 Katie's eyes went back to her page. " Goldsmith 
 is so interesting," she remarked. 
 
 "He was thought more of at one time than he is 
 now. Katie " 
 
 " Yes, father." 
 
 " I want to speak to you, my dear. Will you 
 attend ? " 
 
 Katie shut the book at once. "But won't you 
 come indoors, father, if you are cold." 
 
 " It was momentary. I think the breeze has 
 died down." 
 
 "Has anybody done anything wrong?" asked 
 Katie. " Father, I think you look worried." 
 
 " I dread changes, my Katie. Things have gone
 
 12 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 on quietly so long so many years. Yet, if it has 
 to be " 
 
 " Changes ? " said Katie. 
 
 " How would you like to pay a long visit to your 
 uncle Thornton and his family ? " 
 
 " You and I together ? " 
 
 "You alone." 
 
 "Oh, I couldn't, of course," Katie answered at 
 once, and very decidedly. "It isn't as if there 
 were any one else. I couldn't leave you alone, 
 father, with only Deb. She has been so cross 
 lately." 
 
 "Poor Deb! She and I are growing old to- 
 gether ! " 
 
 Katie looked beseeching. She had an expressive 
 face, oval in shape, and healthy in colouring, not 
 remarkable for beauty of feature, with the excep- 
 tion, perhaps, of a pretty little mouth and chin ; 
 but answering to every shade of thought and feel- 
 ing below. " Please don't talk about being old," 
 she said. " Sixty-five is only quite middle-aged 
 for a man, father." 
 
 "Ah, my dear!" Mr. Balfour half-smiled, half- 
 sighed. " Age is not only a question of years." 
 
 "But you haven't had such very hard work 
 either, have you? not like a London clergyman. 
 Of course I should like very much to see London,"
 
 KATIE'S HOME. 13 
 
 Katie went on sedately. " Still, I could not leave 
 you. And there would be no one to take the 
 Sunday-school." 
 
 This was literally true. Katie " took " the Sun- 
 day-school herself, with only the help of a farmer's 
 young daughter. 
 
 Mr. Balfour shivered again. "I think I will go 
 iu," he said. " It is certainly turning cold." 
 
 He stood up and slowly crossed the lawn, Katie 
 walking by his side. 
 
 The drawing-room which they entered was dimi- 
 nutive, and furnished in old-fashioned style, with a 
 round table in the centre, and heavy chintz-clothed 
 chairs standing stiffly against the walls. The chintz 
 was old-fashioned too, having a pattern of big red 
 flowers and leaves upon a white ground. A little 
 old cottage piano occupied one corner, and a straight- 
 backed sofa stood opposite. 
 
 " I think you will like a fire this evening, father," 
 said Katie, as he sat down. 
 
 "Yes, perhaps so. Don't go, my dear; I have 
 something to say still." 
 
 Katie took a seat, feeling somewhat anxious. 
 His manner was unusual. 
 
 " What is it ? " she asked, looking up in his face. 
 "Father, I am quite sure something is troubling 
 you, and you have not told me. Won't you tell me
 
 I 4 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 now ? I think I ought to know. You and I are 
 friends not only father and child and we always 
 tell each other everything. I shouldn't like to think 
 there were secrets between us. It isn't as if there 
 were anybody else in the world, except, of course, 
 dear old Deb and the villagers. But that is quite 
 different. Please tell me. I am not a child now, 
 you know." 
 
 And as Katie pleaded thus, the old clergyman 
 turned his head aside, and burst into tears. 
 
 Katie had never in her life seen him do this 
 before. " Father ! " she said, in an awe-struck tone. 
 She drew closer to his side, and laid her head on 
 his shoulder. " Father, dear, please don't ; I won't 
 tease you any more." 
 
 Mr. Balfour's arm came round her, and he was 
 already recovering himself. " Will you be a dear 
 brave child, and help me ? " he asked. " It will be 
 a trial, I know ; but will you be brave ? " 
 
 " Yes," she answered steadily. 
 
 " I know you will try. I have not been very 
 not very well or strong for a year or two past. It 
 did not seem worth while to say much ; but last 
 winter was trying, and this summer has not done 
 so much for me as perhaps I hoped. Last week, 
 when I drove alone to the station, I did not tell you 
 my reason for not taking you ; but I went by train
 
 KATIE'S HOME. 15 
 
 to see Dr. Bandall. That is why I was so long gone. 
 He is skilful, and he understands me." 
 
 " Yes, father." 
 
 "He says I must not spend another winter in 
 Norfolk." 
 
 Katie was silent for a few seconds. Then she 
 asked, in the same firm voice, "Does he think it 
 too cold ? " 
 
 " Too cold for me in my present state. There is 
 active mischief in the lungs. He does not think 
 we have any cause for present alarm. People in 
 this condition often last for years ; but I must be 
 very careful, and he insists, above all, on a winter 
 abroad." 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 " He would prefer Cannes." 
 
 Katie lifted a perplexed face. " But the money ? " 
 she said ; " and the work here ? I don't quite 
 
 " Those were my difficulties. I would not speak 
 to you till I could see my way." 
 
 " And do you now ? " 
 
 " Yes ; I wrote in one or two directions. Of 
 course the expense would be great. We have some- 
 thing laid by ; but it grieves me to think of using 
 that. I meant it for you, by-and-by. Still if it has 
 to be ! Dr. Eandall spoke very strongly of the need.
 
 1 6 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 Katie grew pale. "And that money will be 
 enough to take us ? " 
 
 " I find I can obtain help from a society as to my 
 locum tenens. That clears away one obstacle. Dr. 
 Eandall suggested it, and kindly took steps in the 
 matter, bringing me a quick answer by private 
 interest, as to what I might hope for. With that 
 help, I think my stipend and what is laid by will 
 make the winter in Cannes a possibility for me." 
 
 Katie did not notice the slight stress on the last 
 word. "And that will make you quite strong again, 
 father ? " 
 
 " I hope it may, dear," he answered. " But, Katie 
 about yourself " 
 
 " I must go too, of course, to take care of you." 
 
 " Impossible, my dear child. The cost " 
 
 . She gave one start. 
 
 " That was my second great difficulty. I wrote at 
 once to your uncle Thornton, and he has answered 
 most kindly, offering you a home for at least the 
 greater part of my absence. If it should not be 
 quite convenient to him and his wife to have you all 
 the while, Mrs. Carrington will take you in. You 
 remember her name ? " 
 
 " Aunt Euth's sister," murmured Kate. 
 
 " Yes ; they live near together at Penshurst. Dear 
 Katie, I can't tell you what the thought of the part-
 
 KATIE'S HOME. 17 
 
 ing is to me. But it does seem arranged for us. It 
 seems as if I should be wrong not to go, after all Dr. 
 Eandall said; and six months will very soon pass. 
 You will be a brave child, and, after all, you will 
 enjoy being with your cousins, having young com- 
 panions, and seeing a little of life. It will be good 
 for you, my child." 
 
 " Yes, father." Katie spoke calmly ; and he could 
 not see her pale dazed look. 
 
 " So we will make the best of it, won'c we ? Dr. 
 Eandall said I must avoid agitation ; and I do feel 
 that I am not equal to it. We will both be brave, 
 darling. It is God's will for us, and it must be 
 right. Think how much we shall have to say when 
 we meet again. Besides, we shall write very often ; 
 and I have not to go for another month or six weeks. 
 Plenty of time to get used to the thought." 
 
 Katie had had as mucli as she could endure. 
 " Yes, father," she said, " there will be a great deal 
 to do. And now I'm going to to see about your 
 tea," 
 
 But seeing about the tea did not come first. Katie 
 slipped out of the room, and fled upstairs to her own. 
 There she stood, looking out on one corner of the 
 sleepy little village, and on the great square tower 
 of the old church. A cornfield lay beyond, and to 
 the right, as she stood, she could see the top of the
 
 1 8 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 nearest sand-dunes, on the other side of which rolled 
 the waters of the German Ocean. 
 
 Katie gazed and gazed, till her eyes were blinded 
 with tears, and she clasped her hands and held them 
 out, with one smothered cry, "0 father, father, 
 father ! I don't know how to live without you ! "
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 MA TCH-BO XES. 
 
 ' to France, indeed ! I know what that 
 
 means. It's the way of 'em. Send him 
 x 
 
 off when there's nothing more to be done, 
 
 to die alone in a furrin' country, and ne'er a friend 
 to speak a word o' comfort. That's what it'll be. 
 There's no sort of folly in life folks ain't capable 
 of more especial when it's a-flying in the face of 
 Providence. If master goes to them furriii' parts, 
 he'll never come back no more." 
 
 Katie had gone into the kitchen next morning to 
 " order dinner," which meant to hear Deb's intentions 
 about dinner. Deb, having held the little Katie in 
 her arms, washed, nursed, petted, and scolded her at 
 will, had no notion now of taking orders from her. 
 Katie knew better than to give orders. She only 
 stood in the daintily clean kitchen, and asked 
 meekly, " What shall we have to-day, Deb ? " And 
 Deb concisely said what she meant to do. After all,
 
 20 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 nobody knew better than Deb what was needed, 
 and what could be afforded ; only sometimes Deb's 
 temper gained the upper hand of her wish to 
 please. 
 
 That very simple matter, "to-day's dinner," being 
 settled, Katie falteringly told Deb what she had 
 heard the afternoon before. Deb, not gratified that 
 " the child " should have been informed on so weighty 
 a matter before herself, and feeling the important 
 question of her own future put into the background 
 though she would have been the first to put it 
 there, had somebody else brought it forward 
 answered a"s above. 
 
 Poor Katie listened with a heavy heart. She 
 knew what Deb's predictions were worth, and could 
 quite allow for Deb's irritability; yet the words 
 were such as she could hardly bear to hear. A mist 
 came over her eyes, and a choking into her throat, 
 as she leant against the dresser. " Oh, Deb, don't," 
 she said once or twice ; and at the end, " But Dr. 
 Eandall thinks it will do father good, and \ve must 
 try it ; you know we must." 
 
 Yes, Deb knew that, and she knew she had said 
 cruel words to the young girl in her foolish vexation. 
 But Deb never seemed to think it necessary to con- 
 quer this troublesome temper. It was " only her 
 way," she said; and she held the absurd theorv held
 
 MATCH-BOXES. 21 
 
 self-comfortingly by many irritable people, that a 
 sharp temper is the token of a fine character. 
 
 Katie could not trust herself to discuss the matter 
 with Deb. She went away to her own room, and 
 did not venture downstairs again for some time. 
 Mr. Balfour seemed to be waiting about for her when 
 she appeared. 
 
 "Come, Katie," he said, with a glance at the 
 reddened eyelids, " I think we will have a little 
 stroll on the shore. I feel unsettled, and I shall 
 write my' sermon the better afterwards. They say 
 there has been a wreck near some small merchant- 
 man, I fancy." 
 
 "The wind was so high last night," Katie said, 
 thinking how she had lain awake, listening to it, for 
 once hardly remembering the perils of those at sea 
 in her own new sorrow. 
 
 A straw hat hung within easy reach, and no other 
 " dressing " was needful. They were soon passing 
 down the one tiny irregular street leading shore- 
 wards hardly a street so much as a loose group 
 of cottages. The ground really did slope a little 
 here, so that it might fairly be termed "going 
 down." But the country around was flat as a pan- 
 cake. 
 
 An opening in the sand-dunes admitted them to 
 the level sandy beach. The wind blew rather
 
 22 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 strongly still, and the waves were tumbling busily 
 about at half-low tide. Two or three fishing-boats 
 stood above high-tide mark, and two or three fisher- 
 men lounged listlessly near. Mr. Balfour gave the 
 men a kind word in passing, and received a curt 
 acknowledgment of the same. These folks of Eck- 
 ham were not genial-mannered. Mr. Balfour sighed 
 as he passed on. 
 
 " Will any of them care, Katie ? " 
 
 " Oh, father after all these years ! They must 
 be sorry when they know." 
 
 "I cannot tell. I seem to have made no mark 
 here. Years of work, and no result. Last night 
 those words so haunted me, 'I have laboured in 
 vain, and spent my strength for nought.' " 
 
 A glow came to Katie's cheeks. " You know what 
 comes next," she said, "don't you, father?" 
 
 Mr. Balfour hesitated. "No, I could not recall. 
 My memory often fails me now." 
 
 "'Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and 
 my work with my God.' " Katie's clear tones had a 
 ring of heart-cheer in them. 
 
 "Yes, yes true I forgot. One cannot decide 
 as to one's self, or others. But He understands 
 perfectly. Thank you, Katie ; that ought to comfort 
 your old father. I have tried to carry out His will, 
 and I will leave results with Him. See, there has
 
 MATCH-BOXES. 23 
 
 been a wreck. How singular ! I never saw quite 
 such a sight before." 
 
 On the beach, far as the eye could reach, there 
 lay along high-water mark a wavy line of match- 
 boxes. Small boxes all of them, uniform in shape 
 and pattern, not so large as the " Bryant and May's," 
 strewn in countless thousands; here whole still by 
 scores, there by scores torn open, the discoloured 
 matches in multitudes keeping up the line. Mingled 
 with the match-box cargo were seaweeds little red 
 weeds, and long ribbon weeds and now and then, at 
 intervals, might be found a plank or a broken spar. 
 
 Side by side, slowly, Mr. Balfour and Katie fol- 
 lowed the slender line of wreckage, left by the 
 waves in their retreat. For ten minutes or more 
 the two walked on, facing the gusty breeze, and 
 presently a small mast was visible, tossed up on the 
 sands. And still, far ahead, extended that thin 
 waved line of broken and unbroken match-boxes. 
 
 "From Sweden, I suppose; this is Swedish," Mr. 
 Balfour said, standing still to examine a box which 
 Katie had picked up. He spoke rather breathlessly. 
 
 "Father, I wonder if any of the sailors were 
 lost ? " 
 
 " I wonder whether any of them were saved, my 
 dear ? After all, there are worse troubles in the 
 world than ours ! "
 
 24 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 Katie thought of Deb's words. " If only we were 
 a little richer," she said, sighing. 
 
 " Yes ; then you could couie with me. But 
 suppose you are wanted at Penshurst? Sup- 
 pose there is some little work for you to do there ? 
 It may be so. I think we will go home now, 
 dear." 
 
 " Kath is my own age, isn't she ? " said Katie, 
 after a pause. 
 
 " To the day. That was partly why you both 
 received the same name." 
 
 " I can just remember seeing them all ; but it was 
 so long ago. Grace was the nicest, I think ; only, 
 being four years older made her seem almost grown- 
 up. Bessie and Winnie teased me, but Kath and I 
 were friends, rather. I wonder if I shall be afraid 
 of them all now ?" 
 
 "You will soon get over the feeling of strange- 
 ness. Of course there may be little rubs and 
 trials," Mr. Balfour said thoughtfully. " Set one 
 thing before you, Katie, never to forget Whose 
 servant you are, and never to be ashnmed of that 
 service. Others may do or say tilings you believe 
 to be wrong, and you have not to judge them ; 
 but never be drawn yourself into going against your 
 own conscience." 
 
 " No, father."
 
 MATCH-BOXES. 25 
 
 " I think you will like to see Mrs. Carrington's 
 letter to me. Here it is." 
 
 He did not offer to show his own brother's letter, 
 and Katie was conscious of the omission, as she 
 read : 
 
 " THE NUTSHELL, PENSHURST, Tuesday. 
 
 " DEAK STEPHEN, It is long since I heard from 
 or of you, .but I have not forgotten my old friend 
 of childish days. Thornton has told me of your 
 trouble, and I sincerely feel for you. 
 
 " I dare say you are aware that I lost my dear 
 husband two years ago, and that I have since then 
 settled down within reach of my sister and her 
 husband. They tell me your daughter will spend 
 the time of your absence with them. Quite right 
 that she should. 
 
 " I have, however, one microscopic spare room, 
 and if at any time it should prove not quite con- 
 venient to my sister to have your Katherine, or 
 if she would like it herself, for any other reason, 
 she shall come to me. Only she would have to 
 put up with Life in a Nutshell. The name of 
 this ' bit hoose ' is my own fancy. It seemed 
 appropriate, my brother having chosen to call his 
 < The Walnuts.' 
 
 " At all events, if Katherine comes, I will pro-
 
 26 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 mise her a kind welcome, for the sake of my old 
 friend, her dear father. So believe me still, yours 
 sincerely, C. CARKINGTON." 
 
 " Father, she must be nice." 
 
 " She was ; but I have not seen Charlotte Carring- 
 ton for years ' Chattie ' every one called her." 
 
 " And she lives alone, I suppose, at that house 
 what an odd name ! ' The Nutshell.' " 
 
 " She has one son," said Mr. Balfour.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 AT "THE WALNUTS." 
 
 [ESSIE ! How you do plague ! " 
 
 "But, Winnie, you have no business to 
 draw on this table." 
 
 " I've as much business as you, so there !" 
 
 " I always keep my Shoe Club and Library ac- 
 counts here. You must move." 
 
 "You can take your accounts somewhere else. 
 There's not light enough anywhere else for drawing. 
 Now then ! Saint Elizabeth in a passion ! " 
 
 Winifred leant back in her chair with an exas- 
 perating laugh. She was about seventeen years old, 
 plain-featured and angular, and in a manner sturdily 
 wilful. By her side stood another girl, three or four 
 years her senior ; tall and rather thin, with a long 
 nose and a low forehead not classically low, but 
 low merely because it was not high and a generally 
 uncomfortable expression ; disturbed, restless, almost
 
 28 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 unhappy. Vexation was plainly written at this 
 moment on lips and brow. 
 
 "I can't possibly move them all. Everything is 
 together in these drawers. And it is nonsense about 
 the light. You could see better in the bow window. 
 I must get things done this afternoon." 
 
 " Very well. Get them done." 
 
 Winnie bent over her drawing, and Elizabeth's 
 hand came on the sheet, moving it slightly. Winnie 
 flashed up with a look of fury. 
 
 " Bessie ! You dare ! If you do, I'll tell father." 
 
 " Tell him anything you like. This is my place, 
 Winnie." 
 
 " How you two do go on ! " a distressed voice said 
 from the bow window of which Elizabeth had spoken. 
 Grace Balfour, eldest of four sisters, lay there on a 
 couch, her thin cheeks and white hands telling of 
 illness. She had large blue eyes, bright still, and 
 must have been very pretty in health, though almost 
 too wasted now for beauty. " It is like two chil- 
 dren. Winnie, do come away, and let Bessie have 
 the table. You know she always does sit there, 
 and it is tiresome having to move everything." 
 
 " I don't see why it is more tiresome for her than 
 for me," said Winnie, in a sulky voice. 
 
 " But the light here is quite as good; and I like 
 to have you near me."
 
 AT "THE WALNUTS." 29 
 
 " I don't believe you do." Nevertheless, Winifred 
 actually rose, gathered together her drawing mate- 
 rials, and marched into the bow window, her vacated 
 seat being occupied at once by Elizabeth, in severe 
 silence. " She might have said ' Thank you,' " mut- 
 tered Winnie, in a disgusted tone ; " but that isn't a 
 part of religion, I suppose." 
 
 " Hush, Winnie ! you must not say such things." 
 Grace turned her face away, sighing. 
 
 Winnie sat looking at her. ' Are you in bad pain 
 this afternoon, Gracie ? " 
 
 " Yes." The voice told of threatening tears. 
 
 " Can't anything be got ? Where's Katli ? " 
 
 "Father wanted her. She will be in soon. I 
 must just bear it." 
 
 " Where's the pain ? Your chest ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 Winnie did not seem to know what else to do or 
 say. Elizabeth uttered not a word. She was stoop- 
 ing over her account-books, with rounded shoulders, 
 and a look of gloom still upon her face. Then the 
 door opened, and another sister came in a girl of 
 about eighteen, with a slight figure and a face not 
 exactly beautiful, but sweet and bright and intensely 
 lovable. People often called Kath Balfour "lovely," 
 and she really was that. The features were soft in 
 outline, good enough to be set off by a fair clear
 
 3 o LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 complexion ; the light brown hair clustered in curly 
 rings round a straight white brow ; and the grey 
 eyes, if neither dark nor large, were full of light and 
 tenderness. So no wonder Kath won admiration. 
 
 She cast one look at Elizabeth, and the corners of 
 her mouth gave an involuntary twitch, as if of amuse- 
 ment ; then one look at Grace, and the same rosy 
 lips grew pitiful and sad. Kath came straight to 
 the sofa, bent over it, kissed Grace, and altered the 
 arrangement of the pillows. "Is that better?" she 
 asked. 
 
 " Yes. You always know how, Kath." 
 
 " Of course I do. And you have chest-ache and 
 back-ache, and you would like the comfort of a good 
 cry, wouldn't you ? " said Kath lovingly. 
 
 A sob came in answer. Kath laid her soft cheek 
 beside Grace's, and comforted her with touch and 
 whisper till something of a smile became possible. 
 
 "Where's mother?" she asked then. 
 
 "Gone a round of calls," said Winnie. "She 
 wanted Bessie with her, and Bessie would not go." 
 
 " I could not," Elizabeth's voice said, with a kind 
 of injured protest. 
 
 " And who is going to meet Katie ? " 
 
 General silence. 
 
 " You know what father said at breakfast about 
 his engagement, and depending on us. I would
 
 AT "THE WALNUTS." 31 
 
 go, only I should like to stay in and see after 
 Gracie." 
 
 Grace looked very wistful. " Bessie, can't you ? " 
 
 " I can't possibly. I have all these accounts to 
 make up to-day. Why can't Kath or Winnie go ? 
 Or why must anybody ? " 
 
 " Nice sort of welcome," said Winnie. " After 
 what father said, too." She looked at Grace's long- 
 ing eyes, and at Kath's figure leaning over the 
 sofa, then rather indignantly at Bessie. " Not 
 much use in being a saint, if it means never doing 
 anything that anybody wants," she muttered, start- 
 ing up. " I shall get into disgrace to-morrow if this 
 isn't done. But it doesn't matter. Yes, I'll go. 
 What o'clock. Five ! Why, I shall only be just in 
 time. I hope Saint Elizabeth's accounts will come 
 square. It's more than they deserve to do." 
 
 Elizabeth heard in silence, with a species of 
 martyr-look. She counted herself something of a 
 martyr, ascribing all this to her more distinctly reli- 
 gious profession, and not at all to her less obliging 
 ways than those of her sisters. Winnie meantime 
 rushed away, childlike in movement still, and angry 
 at feeling herself compelled to volunteer. 
 
 As she had said, there was no time to be lost. 
 Mr. Thornton Balfour's house, " The Walnuts," stood 
 near the higher end of a long valley, half-way up
 
 32 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 one of its sides. This valley had been once, many 
 years earlier, a private park belonging to a single 
 large mansion ; but it was now pretty well lined on 
 both sides with red houses in neat gardens. The 
 station lay at the farther and lower end, some fifteen 
 minutes' quick walk distant. 
 
 Winnie threw on hat and jacket, and started off 
 at a rapid pace down the dusty road. One or two 
 friends, encountered by the way, received a nod of 
 recognition. Not far from the station a neat little 
 pony carriage, drawn by one brown pony, and con- 
 taining a rather stout and rather handsome lady of 
 middle age, drew up suddenly. 
 
 " Where are you going, Winnie ? " 
 
 " To meet Katie, mother." 
 
 " I should not have thought that necessary." 
 
 " Father said somebody must, and Bessie wouldn't." 
 
 The lady's fine dark eyes showed displeasure. 
 
 " Bessie is becoming perfectly useless since she 
 took up all this parish work. Is your drawing 
 done?" 
 
 " Couldn't," said Winnie concisely. 
 
 " I have a great mind to take you straight home. 
 It is absurd," Mrs. Balfour said, frowning. " Why 
 cannot Kate manage for herself ? " 
 
 " Father said somebody must go." 
 
 " Then don't be long. I particularly wish you to
 
 AT "THE WALNUTS." 33 
 
 get that drawing finished. Kate will probably have 
 a fly for her luggage, and of course you will return 
 with her." 
 
 " Father said at breakfast, that if the pony car- 
 riage couldn't go, we were to have a fly, and pay 
 for it." 
 
 "Very absurd and unnecessary," said Mrs. Bal- 
 four. After which she drove on, and Winnie per- 
 formed the rest of her way at a semi-gallop, rushing 
 upon the platform in a breathless and dishevelled 
 condition, as the train steamed slowly up. 
 
 A minute of confusion, and Winnie found herself 
 near a young girl, lady-like, but plainly dressed, 
 and with a certain unsophisticated air, which the 
 town-bred maiden recognised at once. She seemed 
 bewildered, and was looking from side to side for- 
 lornly. 
 
 " Are you Katie ? " a voice asked. 
 
 " I'm Katie Balfour. And you ? " 
 
 " I'm Winnie. How do you do ? The others 
 were too busy to come, at least Kath was, and 
 Bessie made believe to be, and Gracie, of course, is 
 ill. So there was only me. Where is your luggage ? 
 How many trunks ? Only one ! Well, we must 
 have a fly. It is a good distance, and uphill, too." 
 
 After some waiting, the box appeared, hauled 
 out from among a medley of trunks and bags.
 
 34 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 Penshurst Station was not peculiarly noisy or bust- 
 ling for a station in the near neighbourhood of 
 London, but to Katie all seemed a whirl of con- 
 fusion. Winifred managed for her in business-like 
 style: hailed a cab; desired a porter to bring out 
 the box ; paid him twopence ; and ordered the cab- 
 man to drive to "Mr. Balfour's the Walnuts;" 
 after which they set off. 
 
 " Father thought you were living in the country," 
 remarked Katie; "but I suppose we go through a 
 part of London first." 
 
 Winnie's eyes opened widely. " You've just been 
 through London on your way here," she said. " We're 
 a good twenty minutes outside London. This is 
 country." 
 
 " But there are so many houses," objected Katie. 
 " It is all houses." 
 
 "They've been building a good deal. Why, this 
 is nothing," said Winnie, in danger of an explosion 
 of laughter. " Nothing," she repeated emphatically. 
 " You should have seen our Westbourne house, be- 
 fore we came to Penshurst. That was town, and no 
 mistake. We call this country. Of course there 
 are plenty of houses and people, and things doing. 
 And London is near. It's not being buried alive. 
 I should think you were pretty well buried in 
 Norfolk."
 
 AT "THE WALNUTS." 35 
 
 If so, Katie did not as yet find disentombment 
 a lively process. Her heart went back with aching 
 desire to the dear old Eectory and its " buried " 
 surroundings. 
 
 " Mother would rather be in London, but father 
 likes this best. Mother thinks it too dull and quiet. 
 We came to Penslmrst three years ago nearly four ; 
 and the place has grown ever so much lately ; all 
 that row of houses up there, in front of us, is quite 
 new. Oh, and look this side, Aunt Chattie's? " 
 
 " Mrs. Carrington ? " 
 
 " Yes ; her house. She's a dear thing, only rather 
 odd in some ways. We don't like her being in that 
 queer little house much," said Winnie. "Didn't 
 you see ? It's called ' The Nutshell ' ; and it is the 
 most ridiculous little concern ; only one storey high ; 
 and only four or five tiny rooms. One sittiug-room, 
 and the kitchen, and three bed-rooms, and a box- 
 closet, hardly big enough to be called a room. It 
 was a fancy of hers to go there, when uncle died, 
 and she came home from India. She wanted to be 
 near us, and she said she couldn't afford anything 
 bigger. More like a cottage than a house. Father 
 says it must have been the lodge to the estate, when 
 all this valley was a great park belonging to one 
 person. He wonders that 'The Nutshell' was never 
 pulled down. Auut Chattie lives there now, how-
 
 36 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 ever; and Harold never will say he minds it. I 
 think he ought. Of course he isn't often at home, 
 but when he is, he must hate such a poky place. 
 We all wish she would make a change. It is nice 
 to have Aunt Chattie near us ; but still we don't 
 like her being there. Our friends must think it so 
 odd." 
 
 " I don't see why, if the house is large enough," 
 said Katie. 
 
 " Oh, I suppose it is large enough, in a way, 
 just for her and one maid. But it is hardly like a 
 lady's house. It is more like a cottage. She might 
 afford something better, if she chose. Mother says 
 so. She says it is just a fad of Aunt Chattie's 
 always to be talking about ' life in a nutshell ' too ! 
 I almost wish father hadn't named our house ' The 
 Walnuts.' Mother wanted it called 'The Elms'; 
 and father said that was so dreadfully suburban. 
 We have two walnut-trees in our garden, so he 
 thought that would be more uncommon. I wish he 
 hadn't." 
 
 Kate could only ask, " Why ? " 
 
 "Oh, I don't know. Can't you see? Walnuts 
 and Nuts seem to belong together, and we don't like 
 to belong to that queer little low-roofed concern. I 
 can't explain, if you don't understand. You'll know 
 better when you see Aunt Chattie. She's not a bit
 
 AT "THE WALNUTS." 37 
 
 like mother, and very religious. So is Bessie, only 
 in a different sort of way. You've got to learn to 
 know us all. What a good thing you were always 
 called 'Katie/ and our Katharine is always called 
 ' Kath.' Ic saves a muddle."
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 SOMETHING TO DO. 
 
 ??5EjSj^jHE first evening of Katie's stay at " The 
 
 2*k|s Walnuts" was over; and she found her- 
 ^V^K_A. ge j a j. } ag j. a ] one j n th e sma ]| bedroom 
 
 assigned to her use. 
 
 It was a very small bedroom, and a shabby one 
 too; for though there were two good spare rooms 
 on the floor below, Mrs. Balfour had decided that 
 this little ill-furnished apartment was " quite good 
 enough for only Kate Balfour." And it was " at 
 last," for Katie had never in her life gone through 
 so lengthy and dull an evening. . Measuring the 
 six mouths ahead by the slow hours just passed, 
 they seemed a life-time, absolutely interminable. 
 We are so apt to forget that the longest part of any 
 given time lies almost always at the beginning. 
 
 It was not that everybody had not shown kind- 
 ness, more or less. Mr. Balfour had bestowed quite 
 
 a cordial greeting on his only brother's only child, 
 
 38
 
 SOMETHING TO DO. 39 
 
 saying repeatedly how very glad he was to see her. 
 Katie appreciated his warmth ; yet somehow " Uncle 
 Thornton " turned out to be not at all what she had 
 expected. He was such a little bustling, excitable 
 man; and everybody seemed so very much afraid 
 of offending him. No lack of kindness lay in that 
 direction ; but it was rather an odd sort of kindness, 
 involving much talk about himself. He evidently 
 liked a good show of gratitude, and expected every- 
 thing to be done in exactly his own way. Katie felt 
 oppressed by his very cordiality. 
 
 Mrs. Balfour was neither small nor cordial. 
 Eather tall, decidedly stout, and markedly hand- 
 some, so far as features alone were concerned, she 
 seemed to give way to her husband in everything, 
 yet held the household reins firmly in her large 
 plump white hands. Katie had not been five minutes 
 in Mrs. Balfour's presence, before she knew herself 
 to be an undesired addition to the household. It 
 was a terribly painful feeling, but there was no 
 putting it aside ; and with the sense of unwelcome 
 came also a sense of something like fear towards 
 Mrs. Balfour. Katie knew that she would dread 
 greatly having to oppose her aunt's will 
 
 The evening had passed, as I have already said, 
 very tardily, very drearily. Kath's sunshiny face 
 won Katie's heart more than any other in the
 
 40 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 household; but Grace was upstairs, more ill than 
 usual, and Kath could not leave her. Bessie spent 
 the evening over her Library and Shoe Club ac- 
 counts, frowning grimly in the endeavour to make 
 them come right. Winnie was trying somewhat 
 fractiously to draw by gaslight. Mr. Balfour, after 
 a few remarks, went sound asleep, a little figure in 
 a very big arm-chair. Mrs. Balfour sat opposite, 
 reading a yellow-backed novel, and being by way 
 of contrast a voluminous figure in a very small 
 easy chair. Katie longed to retire, but was too 
 shy to ask leave, and the family did not break up 
 until half-past ten. 
 
 "I dare say everything is right in your room, 
 Kate," Mrs. Balfour said then, standing up, with 
 a yawn. " If not, you must tell the girls, or ring." 
 She gave her hand, evidently not counting a kiss 
 necessary. " Good-night. Winnie, you are to go to 
 bed directly. It is an hour past your time ; and 
 drawing by gas-light is no use. You ought not to 
 have been out this afternoon. Bessie, I can't have 
 you sit up late. Oh dear, how tired I am ! " 
 
 So was Katie, but no one seemed to remark it. 
 She took the candle pointed out as her own, and 
 went wearily upstairs to her little bedroom. Her 
 box, half unpacked, lay open ; her things were 
 scattered about, as she had left them, when some-
 
 SOMETHING TO DO. 41 
 
 what hurriedly dressing for late dinner. A jug of 
 almost cold water stood in the basin : and the Vene- 
 tian blind had not been lowered. Servants are 
 quick to see when a guest is not honoured, and 
 too often drawing-room neglect finds a downstairs 
 echo. 
 
 Katie was not fussy or over-sensitive, but the 
 general feeling of being imwelcomed weighed upon 
 her heavily ; and she was very tired, almost too 
 much so to make up her mind to unpack or undress. 
 The parting with her father, kept resolutely all day 
 in the background, now rushed in upon her with 
 a great flood-tide of sorrow. It was the first even- 
 ing for many long years that she had not had his 
 good-night kiss. 
 
 The pain grew and grew, as Katie stood at the 
 unbliuded window, looking out. She could see the 
 lights glittering in many houses, late though it 
 was, all the way down the length of the Penshurst 
 valley ; and coloured station lights, in the distance, 
 at the lower end of the valley ; and heaven's lamps 
 twinkling softly overhead. These last her father 
 might be watching also ; but not the others. He 
 and she had a different outlook now, so far as 
 earthly things were concerned. And every day 
 would make the parting worse, as he travelled 
 south, widening the distance which divided the two.
 
 42 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 And if he should never return, if Deb's foretellings 
 should come true ! 
 
 Katie could not face that thought. She dashed 
 aside some heavy drops, and began taking off her 
 dress. But grief was not to be so easily kept 
 down. Having put a few things straight, and 
 hung up her dress, and let her brown hair flow 
 over her white dressing-gown, she took out her 
 little Bible, and sat down to read. There com- 
 posure failed. 
 
 It was the one touch of association too keen. 
 Katie's dim eyes could make out no word of the 
 print. She closed the Book, and knelt down to 
 pray ; but, instead of prayer, there came a burst 
 of weeping, a bitter anguish of sobs. The lone- 
 liness was overpowering. No one to help ; no one 
 to care; no one to comfort! "Father! father!" 
 broke from her repeatedly. Katie almost felt that 
 she could not bear it, could not stand the part- 
 ing, could not endure the present isolation. Would 
 nobody ever love her here ? Must she stand 
 alone, uncared-for; an intruder, tolerated from 
 necessity, but only looked upon as a burden and 
 a trouble. 
 
 " Poor dear ! " a soft voice said. 
 
 Katie had not seen Kath enter; had not heard 
 repeated knockings at her door. She only felt now
 
 SOMETHING TO DO. 43 
 
 a pair of warm hands clasping her cold ones, and 
 kind lips kissing her flushed cheek. 
 
 " You poor Katie ! " the voice repeated. " Gracie 
 was quite unhappy. She and I sleep just under- 
 neath, you know. Katie, don't cry. It will be all 
 right by-and-by. And you will soon know us. 
 Don't cry, dear. Yes, I know. It's dreadfully hard 
 to say good-bye to your father ; of course it is. But 
 he'll come back in the spring, looking so well, you'll 
 be quite glad he went ; and how nice that will be ! 
 Don't cry, Katie." 
 
 The very sweetness of that reiterated " Don't cry!" 
 made Katie's tears at first come faster; but before 
 long she managed to whisper, " Dear Kath ! so kind 
 of you ! I didn't mean to disturb Gracie !" 
 
 " Oh, you didn't disturb her. She can't sleep 
 with pain, poor dear. Now, you are going to leave 
 off crying, and be good. It's no use being unhappy 
 is it ? You'll have to put up with us all for a 
 little while, you know ; and perhaps you won't find 
 us so very disagreeable, after all, when you are used 
 to our ways." 
 
 This was a new view of the matter. Katie checked 
 her tears, and said energetically 
 
 " Oh no, it isn't that." 
 
 " I was afraid they hadn't properly looked after you. 
 Bessie is always so busy with her own concerns ; and
 
 44 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 Winnie has to prepare for classes still. Bessie's 
 business is parish business; and sometimes, I sup- 
 pose, it can't be well put aside. And poor Gracie 
 being like this keeps me rather busy, because I am 
 her nurse. She and I always paired off together, 
 which is odd, for Bessie comes next to her in 
 
 age." 
 
 "Has Gracie been long ill?" asked Katie. "I 
 don't remember hearing about it." 
 
 " Father is such a bad correspondent. Yes, a good 
 while. She had an attack on the lungs a year ago, 
 and it seemed to leave her so delicate all last 
 winter. When summer came on, she really did 
 get better for a time ; but she caught a very 
 bad cold before the end of August, and ever 
 
 since " Kath paused, sighing. " I hope her 
 
 cough will not disturb you, Katie. It is often bad 
 at night." 
 
 " But doesn't it disturb you, sleeping in the 
 same room ? " 
 
 " Oh, that is nothing. I am Grade's nurse. 
 It is my business to be disturbed. She has been 
 particularly poorly the last week or two. Some- 
 times she is not nearly so bad, but the weather is 
 chilly now." 
 
 " Wouldn't going to a warm place be good for her 
 like father ? " asked Katie.
 
 SOMETHING TO DO. 45 
 
 " No. They did talk of such a thing last year, 
 for this winter ; but not now. They say it would 
 be of no use ; and she isn't fit for travelling. 
 She must just stay indoors at home, and be taken 
 care of." 
 
 Kath spoke quietly, but Katie could see tears 
 shining on her eyelashes. 
 
 " You must be anxious about her." 
 
 " Yes," Kath answered briefly. " One must, of 
 course. But don't say a word of that to Gracie, 
 please. We have to keep her spirits up. Now, 
 don't you think it is time for you to go to bed ? 
 And you must not be miserable any more : for we 
 really want to make you happy, Katie." 
 
 ' : I ought not to be unhappy," Katie said in a low 
 tone. " I have the best comfort of all." 
 
 " Oh, I don't know about ' ought.' It is quite 
 natural. But you'll try and be brave." 
 
 Katie was too shy to explain her thought in 
 words. Her hand stole involuntarily to the little 
 Bible, still lying open on the table, and her eyes 
 met Kath's. 
 
 "Ah! did you mean that?" Kath asked, half- 
 lightly, yet with kindness. "Well, dear, we all 
 have our Bibles, of course. And I suppose they 
 ought to be a comfort, if one is in trouble. It is 
 right that they should. Only don't stay up late
 
 46 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 to-night, reading, because really bed is the best 
 place for you. Good-night, Katie. " Mind you sleep 
 well, and don't cry any more." 
 
 Kath went off, after a parting kiss, and Katie 
 sat thinking, much cheered, yet a little troubled. 
 Was that "best comfort" unknown to the lovable 
 Kath ? Sad if it were so ! Yet Kath had comforted 
 Katie : had helped her up to a cheerier, braver level. 
 Katie no longer felt utterly cast down. She was 
 able now to kneel quietly in prayer, and to read a 
 few verses with thoughtful attention. 
 
 Grace's cough could not induce wakefulness that 
 night. Katie's head scarcely reached the pillow 
 before she fell into dreamless sleep, which lasted 
 until after morning dawn.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BESSIE'S ACCOUNTS. 
 
 )INE o'clock having been the hour named 
 for breakfast, Katie was punctually down- 
 stairs at the sounding of the bell. No- 
 body else had yet appeared. 
 
 It was a fine cool autumn morning, and the 
 window at one end of the dining-room stood open. 
 Kate leant out, trying not to hear a little voice of 
 longing for the pure ocean breezes, to which she 
 had been all her life accustomed. Penshurst air 
 was counted remarkably fine by Londoners; but 
 it could not bear comparison with Norfolk air. 
 
 Houses lay below on the hill-side, and houses 
 all down the length of the valley, each standing in 
 its own neat garden. Houses clustered more thickly 
 at the lower end, near the station, where the Pens- 
 hurst Valley ran at right angles into the longer Hurst 
 Valley. Beyond the station, and on the other 
 side of the said Hurst Valley rose steep downs, 
 
 47 -n
 
 48 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 dotted with low bushes, forming a lengthy hill, 
 some two hundred feet in height above the station 
 level. The hills bounding the Penshurst Valley 
 rose also to much the same height. Katie's eyes, 
 used to the flat lands of Norfolk, found the effect 
 to be almost mountainous. The view from this 
 dining-room window really was very pretty, though 
 a little spoilt by much recent building. 
 
 Ten minutes passed, and Katie was still alone. 
 Ten minutes more, and she began to feel very 
 hungry. A step at length sounded, and Mr. Thorn- 
 ton Balfour came in. 
 
 " Katie ! what has become of Kath ? Are you the 
 first down ? Good-morning, my dear. Slept well ? " 
 
 He did not wait for an answer. 
 
 "Trained in punctual habits, I see. The ladies of 
 my household are uncommonly lazy. Not Bessie, I 
 believe, but she is probably out on some wildgoose 
 chase, or muddling her head with Parish accounts. 
 Kath generally is in good time. Do you prefer 
 coffee or tea ? I'll ring for it at once. We don't 
 have prayers till after breakfast. Sit down, and 
 make yourself at home. The time those servants 
 are answering a bell! one would think they had 
 to walk a mile ! Coffee at once, Ann, and ham and 
 eggs, or whatever is cooking."
 
 BESSIE'S ACCOUNTS 49 
 
 Mr. Balfour betook himself to arm-chair and news- 
 paper, almost vanishing behind the latter. Katie obe- 
 diently seated herself, and waited in hungry patience. 
 Breakfast at home had been a full hour earlier. 
 
 Presently there was a crunching of gravel out- 
 side, as by a man's boots. Somebody threw wide the 
 partly-opened window. 
 
 " Uncle ! " 
 
 " Hey ! what ? Harold ! " Mr. Balfour dropped 
 his newspaper, and went quickly towards a face 
 which was inserting itself between two plants. The 
 lower sill of this -window stood nearly five feet above 
 the gravel path, and was well-lined outside with 
 flowers in pots. The face was a pleasant one, not 
 unlike Kath's in outline, spare and healthily-pale, 
 with laughing eyes, and a soft clerical wide-awake 
 shading the brow. 
 
 " Good-morning, Uncle. How is Gracie ? " 
 
 "I have not heard yet. Good-morning. Can't 
 you come in? Your cousin, Katherine Balfour, 
 from Norfolk." 
 
 Katie drew near, in obedience to his glance, and 
 Harold lifted the wide-awake. 
 
 " No, not your cousin, by-the-bye no relation 
 really. I forgot." 
 
 "Next door to cousin," said Harold. "How do
 
 5 o LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 you do, Miss Balfour? Rested after your jour- 
 ney?" 
 
 " Yes, thank you," said Katie. 
 
 " Come in," urged his uncle. 
 
 " Thanks, no ; I can't spare the time. I'm merely 
 come to bring a message from my mother. She is 
 anxious to make Miss Balfour's acquaintance, and 
 would be very pleased to see Miss Balfour to after- 
 noon tea at half-past four. She would pay the duo 
 preliminary call, but for a cold." 
 
 "Mrs. Carrington, my wife's sister," explained 
 Mr. Balfour. "Your father knew her well long 
 ago." 
 
 " I should like it very much," said Katie. 
 
 " Where are you off to, Harold ? " asked Mr. 
 Balfour. 
 
 "Back to London, by-and-by. I ran down last 
 night ; and we fancied I should catch some of you 
 before breakfast was quite ended ! " with a glance 
 at the table. 
 
 "It is not quite ended yet," Katie found herself 
 saying. 
 
 "Have a cup of coffee ? " asked Mr. Balfour. 
 
 "No, thanks. We breakfasted an hour and a half 
 ago. Good-bye." 
 
 " That sounds like Aunt Chattie," Kath re-
 
 BESSIE'S ACCOUNTS. 51 
 
 marked, appearing in time for a glimpse of Harold's 
 retreating back. " Good-morning, Katie. Are you 
 rested this morning ? Did you sleep well, dear ? " 
 
 Kath looked sleepy herself, and not so bright as 
 the evening before. She heard Katie's answers with 
 a kind but absent smile, and sat down sighing. 
 
 " Is that Mrs. Carrington's son ? " asked Katie. 
 
 "That is Harold." And Kath stifled a yawn. 
 " He has a curacy in rather a poor part of London, 
 and works very hard there; but it doesn't seem 
 to hurt him at present. He comes down once a 
 week to see his mother. I am sorry we should 
 all be so late to-day. Gracie has had such a bad 
 night." 
 
 Mr. Balfour looked at her. " Cough ? " he asked. 
 
 " Cough, and pain, and breathlessness. I almost 
 had to call some one up." 
 
 " I have a great mind to get in further advice. 
 Your mother thinks Gracie stronger." 
 
 " She is not stronger," said Kath. 
 
 Katie was almost ashamed of her own hearty 
 appetite, Kath took so little. Breakfast was rather 
 a broken meal, one member of the family after 
 another dropping in at intervals. Mr. Balfour read 
 his newspaper diligently, and Mrs. Balfour appeared 
 last. Prayers did not take place till half-past ten,
 
 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 and nobody seemed to suppose that Katie might 
 care to be released sooner. Mr. Balfour hurried 
 off to catch the 11.10 train to London, and Mrs. 
 Balfour went slowly to her housekeeping. Eliza- 
 beth took out Parish accounts once more, Kath 
 returned to Grace, and Winnie ran off to a drawing- 
 class. 
 
 Katie alone had nothing to do. Nobody seemed 
 to want her. The lack of occupation was a new 
 experience in her life. At home, each day, though 
 not crowded, had always been full. 
 
 But here Katie found herself at a loss. She went 
 up to her room, and came upon servants there, so 
 she carried a little writing-case into the drawing- 
 room, and began a letter to her father. That would 
 not do, however. Tears threatened soon to become 
 too much for her. Katie shut the writing-case, took 
 up a book, and tried to read, but with poor success. 
 
 Bessie, busied at her favourite writing-table, with 
 bent brows and rounded shoulders, seemed uncon- 
 scious of Katie's presence. Katie sat watching her 
 for a while, and after a while, nobody else being 
 present, she said softly, 
 
 " I suppose I couldn't help ? " 
 
 Bessie turned and looked at her. 
 
 " Do you care for this sort of thing ? " she asked.
 
 BESSIE'S ACCOUNTS. 53 
 
 " Parish work, I mean. They all laugh at me for 
 taking to it." 
 
 " I like everything of the kind." 
 
 " Not accounts ! " 
 
 " I kept all my father's accounts. He says I have 
 a good head for figures." 
 
 Bessie seemed dubious. 
 
 " If you really mean it " she said at last. " I 
 
 hate people to offer to help out of mere politeness ; 
 but if you mean it " 
 
 "I do really." 
 
 "Well, I should be glad if you could just look 
 through this. I am stupid about figures, and I 
 can't get my Shoe Club accounts to square. And 
 Mr. Hamilton is so very particular." 
 
 " Is he your clergyman ? " 
 
 " Yes. He likes everything so very exact, and 
 of course it is right. But this will not come 
 straight. I have been hours over it." 
 
 " One gets stupefied at last," said Katie. She 
 brought a chair to Elizabeth's side, and sat down, 
 bending her attention at once to the somewhat 
 untidy rows of figures. Two or three slight ques- 
 tions were asked; and then she went through 
 column after column, in the rapid and assured 
 manner of a "ood accountant.
 
 54 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " Yes," she said presently ; " there are two mis- 
 takes in adding up enough to make everything 
 
 go wrong: and here is another. I think you have 
 read your own figures wrongly." 
 
 Bessie looked grateful. She did not speak, and 
 Katie went on adding, and making pencil altera- 
 tions, till the sum-total was reached. 
 
 " There ! " she said, smiling. 
 
 "Why, it is exactly right! Katie, how clever 
 you are ! " 
 
 " Oh, just a matter of practice. You must let me 
 help you sometimes. I like being useful." 
 
 " Should you not mind ? And you don't despise 
 this sort of thing ? But, of course you are a 
 clergyman's daughter." 
 
 "I don't see why that should make any differ- 
 ence." 
 
 Bessie looked round, rose, and shut the door, 
 then came back. 
 
 "It makes all the difference," she said. "You 
 have been brought up not to count religion a mere 
 secondary thing, just to be pushed into the back- 
 ground. That is how we have been brought up. 
 You will soon see ! It is only the last two years 
 that I have felt differently, and they all laugh at 
 me. You will soon see for yourself."
 
 BESSIE'S ACCOUNTS. 55 
 
 " A little laughing doesn't do one any harm," said 
 Katie, not pleased with Elizabeth's tone. 
 
 " It makes one angry sometimes." 
 
 Katie thought silently of the " love " that " is not 
 easily provoked." 
 
 " Besides, it is wrong. Things are altogether 
 wrong in this house. Nothing but pleasure, and 
 dress, and gaiety, and living for this world. Of 
 course I know that many people have more gaieties 
 than we ; but that isn't from want of will, at least 
 so far as mother and Kath are concerned. I don't 
 join in things myself more than I can possibly help, 
 and that vexes my mother." 
 
 " It must be difficult to know what to do, some- 
 times." 
 
 " Oh, I don't know about the difficulty. The only 
 thing to be done is to make a stand, and not to miud 
 what anybody says. I have a great deal to bear 
 sometimes from them all, and so will you have, if 
 your religion is worth anything. Kath seems very 
 charming to strangers, but you have no notion what 
 hard things she can say, and mother expects every 
 one to do exactly what she wishes." 
 
 "Kath is so kind to me," said Katie; "and 
 Grace " 
 
 "Poor Grace! It is saddest of all about Grade.
 
 56 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 Yes, she is very pleasant, naturally; but it is only 
 natural pleasantness nothing more. And to see 
 her like this, going down and down, and to know 
 that there is no hope of her recovery, and not to 
 be allowed to say one word " 
 
 " Is she so very ill ? " asked Katie, with a grieved 
 look. 
 
 " Oh yes ; there is no hope at all. She may live 
 for some months, or even perhaps for a year or two, 
 but she will never be well again. The doctors say 
 so plainly. Father and mother and Kath all know 
 it, though mother pretends to think it is a mistake. 
 But Gracie doesn't know. She always thinks she 
 is getting better, and nobody may contradict her, 
 or say a word to make her think the contrary. It 
 is dreadful to feel that she is to be left to go down 
 into the grave unprepared to the last." 
 
 " Oh no, surely," protested Katie ; " surely, by-and- 
 by, if she gets worse r-" 
 
 " But it may not be only a gradual getting worse. 
 She might at any time be taken very ill, and be 
 gone suddenly. She broke a blood-vessel once 
 and if that came again but she doesn't seem to 
 have the very least notion of danger herself. She 
 is always talking of getting well, and of things she 
 means to do by-and-by ; and Kath encourages her
 
 BESSIE'S ACCOUNTS. 57 
 
 'in it. It is dreadful, Katie. Oiily you mustn't re- 
 peat a word of all this. I ain the oiily one who 
 feels so. Everybody else is bent on keeping up 
 her spirits, and deceiving her into thinking herself 
 better."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 A UNT CHA TTIE. 
 
 SELCOME to my nutshell, Katie Balfour!" 
 It certainly was an old little house, 
 one - storeyed and low - roofed, standing 
 near the lower end of the Penshurst Valley. 
 Creepers grew abundantly over the little porch 
 and up the side gable ; Virginian red showing in 
 conspicuous style, where, somewhat earlier, white 
 roses had vied with clematis and passion-flower. 
 Not that these three had quite given over blooming 
 yet. A little garden ran round the small dwelling, 
 and a poplar tree, just as tall as the roof, guarded 
 the door ; another and taller one rearing its head 
 at a distance of three or four yards. ' 
 
 Mrs. Carrington stood in the doorway, a slim 
 and upright figure, dressed in black, with a semi- 
 widow's cap on her smooth hair. She was un- 
 usually tall; not exactly handsome, but with a 
 
 58
 
 AUNT CHATTIE. 59 
 
 face so full of life and character, that it could 
 hardly fail to win attention. 
 
 " Welcome, Katie, my dear. Excuse me, but 
 I can't call Stephen Balfour's daughter by any- 
 thing but her Christian name, so I hope you will 
 not be offended." 
 
 " No, indeed," Katie said, as Mrs. Carrington led 
 her indoors. 
 
 " And you have found my little shell without 
 difficulty. Not too spacious, is it ? But I have 
 room enough to eat, sleep, and turn round in. 
 More than Diogenes had in his tub or so one 
 would imagine." 
 
 Mrs. Carrington seated herself in an easy-chair, 
 and examined Katie all over, with penetrating yet 
 kind eyes. Katie blushed a little under the 
 scrutiny, yet could not feel uncomfortable. She 
 had already a sense of being with a friend. 
 
 " I don't know exactly who you are like, child. 
 There's a touch of your father, and a touch of your 
 mother, and there are a good many touches of no- 
 body in particular ; yourself individually, I suppose. 
 Good thing to have individuality in look as well as 
 in character. I never can see why human beings 
 are to be transformed into a row of pegs, all alike in 
 shape and pattern. And you are not yet a fashion- 
 able young woman of the day. That's easily seen ! "
 
 60 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " I hope not," said Katie, smiling. 
 
 "No, that's easily seen," repeated Mrs. Car- 
 rington, folding her hands, and continuing her 
 survey. " Take off your bonnet, Katie. It's a nice 
 little bonnet. Your father always had a neat taste, 
 and I suppose he has trained you. Yes ; I see a 
 likeness now. Well, how did you leave your father, 
 my dear ? " 
 
 Katie tried to answer, and faltered. 
 
 " It's not easy saying good-bye for the first time, 
 is it ? And at your age, six months seem an age. 
 But don't be afraid; the time will soon go. It is 
 anxious work for you, of course, having him so far 
 away. And we are apt to think nobody can take 
 care of our dear ones, as we could do ourselves. 
 As if the Everlasting Arms were not powerful 
 enough ; and as if HE couldn't provide human 
 friends and caretakers ! But you are like the rest 
 of us, child, I don't doubt always fearing where 
 there is no cause for fear. How did you manage 
 to find your way here this afternoon ? Anybody 
 come with you ? " 
 
 "No," said Katie, helped to composure by Mrs. 
 Carrington's words and manner. " Winnie showed 
 me the house yesterday, and the way is very 
 simple. Kath meant to walk with me, but she did 
 not like to leave Grace."
 
 AUNT CHATTIE. 61 
 
 " Poor Grace ! " 
 
 Katie looked gravely up, and said, " Mrs. Car- 
 rington, do you think " 
 
 "Why not call me 'Aunt Chattie,' child? I 
 have always counted myself your father's sister." 
 
 " May I ? Yes, I should like that." 
 
 " Well, you were going to ask " 
 
 " Is Gracie ill at all like my father ? " 
 
 " Like, and not like ! Lungs in both cases. But 
 your father's seems to be a case rather of delicacy 
 than of actual disease. He will, I hope, come back 
 well." 
 
 " And Gracie ? " 
 
 Mrs. Carrington made a negative gesture. 
 
 " Katie," she said slowly. " I don't know much 
 of you yet. It seems to me, however, at least 
 lilccly, that a child of Stephen Balfour's will have 
 been trained to serve the Master whom he serves. 
 Something he said, too and something in your 
 own look " 
 
 " I do try," was the simple answer. 
 
 " That might mean much or little. From you I 
 think it means much. Well, we have not to 
 judge other people. Many a one may be at heart 
 a truer servant to God than appears on the surface. 
 But my heart is sore often for that poor fading 
 flower, dying day by day, and taught to think
 
 62 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 herself getting daily better. I don't know how 
 things may be between you and her; but if ever 
 you have an opening, remember her need. Some- 
 times a comparative stranger may say words 
 which the home-folks cannot, or will not venture 
 to say. Kath dear little Kath ! nobody can help 
 loving her! guards Gracie like a very ogre from 
 aught that might open her eyes. It's cruel, cruel 
 kindness, so lovingly meant too ! You must wait 
 and watch. Agitation is forbidden, and might do 
 harm. There is the real difficulty. I am treating 
 you with confidence, my dear, for your face tells 
 me that I may." 
 
 Katie raised her eyes to Mrs. Carrington's, as 
 she said only, " Yes ! " 
 
 Mrs. Carrington smiled. "I would rather have 
 your quiet ' Yes,' than a great amount of vehement 
 protestation. You must, as I say, wait and watch. 
 Any word which might seem to hint at danger or 
 death is strictly forbidden by Grace's parents. Yet 
 an opening may come, if we ask it in prayer. Poor 
 Gracie ! She was the flower of the family before 
 this came on, so bonny and true-hearted. Even 
 Kath doesn't equal what Gracie was. But she is 
 sadly changed. Here comes tea, and here is Harold. 
 You have met already." 
 
 "Through a window," Harold said brightly
 
 AUNT CHATTIE. 63 
 
 "Mother miue, I found I should just have time 
 for a cup of tea and good-bye before catching my 
 train more than I expected. What a lovely day it 
 is ! Fresh, after London. Miss Balfour, I am seri- 
 ously thinking of bringing all my Parish accounts to 
 you. Some one tells me you are magnificently gifted 
 in that line." 
 
 Katie did not blush or look embarrassed, as he 
 half expected. She only smiled and said, " I sup- 
 pose you have seen Bessie." 
 
 "What is that?" asked Mrs. Carrington. 
 
 " Only poor puzzle-headed Bessie, floundering as 
 usual in a hopeless quagmire of figures. Miss Bal- 
 four has kindly pulled her out, and set her on firm 
 ground." 
 
 " Mr. Hamilton might find work for which Bessie 
 is better fitted." 
 
 " But Uncle Thornton objects to a district, for fear 
 of possible infection." A slight sound made him turn 
 towards Katie. " I suppose you have been used to 
 visiting among the poor." 
 
 " Yes ; I meant to ask for a district here." 
 
 Harold looked at his mother, and Mrs. Carrington 
 shook her head. " You will have to wait for a while. 
 By-and-by, perhaps " 
 
 " I don't know what to do," said Katie, rather dis- 
 tressfully. " I can't be idle for six months."
 
 64 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " Work will be given you, if you really want work. 
 My dear, don't be afraid. A little waiting does no- 
 body harm." 
 
 " If you can help Bessie out of a few of her quag- 
 mires, that will be a real charity," said Harold. 
 
 "Other quagmires besides figures," murmured 
 Mrs. Carrington. 
 
 Harold looked mischievous, as he added, " And 
 if you want to win Kath's heart, you only have to 
 show yourself as much an adept at hat-trimming as 
 at figures." 
 
 " For the poor ? " asked Katie innocently. 
 
 " I believe Uncle Thornton does count himself a 
 necessitous individual; otherwise one wouldn't ex- 
 actly describe his daughters as ' the poor ! ' " laughed 
 Harold. 
 
 Katie did not know what to make of Harold's 
 jesting manner, seeing which he became graver and 
 talked pleasantly on other matters for ten minutes 
 or so. Then he said good-bye, and went off at a 
 quick pace to catch his train, Mrs. Carrington ob- 
 serving, 
 
 "My dear, you must not misunderstand Harold. 
 His high spirits are not flippancy. His is a life of 
 hard work and self-denial; and I like to see my 
 boy able to laugh merrily." 
 
 " My father never jokes,"
 
 AUNT CHATTY. 65 
 
 "No; Stephen was always of a serious nature. 
 But don't let yourself think that fun is wrong, 
 because your father is not given to it. 'A merry 
 heart is a continual feast,' you know; or if you 
 don't know, I should like you to learn the fact. 
 You will find certain difficulties in your new home, 
 Katie. I know my sister too well not to be assured 
 of this beforehand. Some such difficulties it will 
 be best to meet, if possible, lightly and cheerily, 
 not in too desperately serious a manner." 
 
 " Only if they should want if I should be told 
 to do anything wrong " 
 
 " Then, my dear, don't do it."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A COMING BIRTHDAY. 
 
 JELL, Katie, what do you think of Auiit 
 Chattie's Nutshell ? " asked Winnie. 
 
 Twenty-four hours had passed since 
 Katie's visit to Mrs. Carrington, and nobody had yet 
 taken the trouble to make any inquiry on the subject. 
 Katie felt the omission, accustomed as she was to 
 a close exchange of thought with her father on any 
 and every matter which interested either. 
 
 It was a very wet afternoon, and Katie had been 
 spending an hour in her bedroom, writing a long letter 
 to Mr.Bulfour,and indulging in some saddened dreams 
 of past days " old times," she called them already 
 to herself, though so recent. Coming downstairs at 
 about four o'clock, she found her aunt and three 
 cousins in the drawing-room, Elizabeth alone being 
 absent. Gracie's sofa had been drawn near the fire, 
 for it was a chilly day. Kath sat beside her, wearing 
 
 66
 
 A COMING BIRTHDAY. 67 
 
 a sunny face, and busily engaged with a heap of white 
 India muslin. Winnie, on a low chair near, with 
 elbows on knees and chin on hands, seemed to be 
 giving alternate attention to a story-book, and to the 
 movements of Kath's fingers. 
 
 " Come near the fire, Katie, you look quite blue," 
 Grace said kindly ; and almost immediately Winnie 
 uttered the above question. 
 
 " I think it is a dear little place," Katie answered 
 warmly. 
 
 " Tastes differ," pronounced Winnie. " / like a 
 house, not a cottage. It's all spiders and crawly 
 creatures, and the ceilings are horribly low. What 
 do you think of Aunt Chattie herself. Queer! isn't 
 she?" 
 
 Katie was conscious of inspection from Mrs 
 Balfour's black eyes, and she had difficulty in con- 
 trolling a sense of shyness. " Mrs. Carrington was 
 so very kind," she said, " one could not help liking 
 loving her. She told me I might go in as often 
 as I could." 
 
 " Oh, then, Aunt Chattie has taken one of her 
 fancies. Mother, Aunt Chattie has fallen in love 
 with Katie ! " 
 
 " Nonsense," was the only answer vouchsafed by 
 Mrs. Balfour. 
 
 " She has. You'll see, mother ! / know."
 
 68 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 "Nonsense," repeated Mrs. Balfour, in a tone 
 rather disdainful than displeased. 
 
 " You'll see," repeated Winnie, nodding her head. 
 
 "I don't see anything so very surprising, if she 
 has taken a fancy to Katie," remarked Kath with 
 quick and pleasant tact, seeing her cousin look un- 
 comfortable. " She and Katie's father were always 
 great friends. Katie, there are lots of books on 
 that side-table. Wouldn't you like to choose one 
 to read ? " 
 
 "Very much," Katie began; and then she hesi- 
 tated. " But couldn't I help you in your work ?" 
 
 Kath glanced up, with the sweetest of graceful 
 smiles. " To be sure you could ! What a kind 
 creature you must be ! I should like some help 
 immensely ; but Gracie is too ill, and Bessie is too 
 good, and Winnie is too lazy." 
 
 " I think needlework is horrible ! " declared 
 Winnie. 
 
 Katie brought her workbasket from a side-table, 
 pondering in some perplexity over the expression, 
 " Bessie is too good ; " but glad to find once more 
 a prospect of being useful to somebody, even in a 
 small degree. She was speedily supplied with a 
 long narrow flounce to hem. " I'm sorry not to 
 give you something more interesting," Kath said 
 apologetically ; " but perhaps you won't mind.
 
 A COMING BIRTHDAY. 69 
 
 Something is wrong with our sewing-machine, or 
 that wouldn't take long. I don't often venture to 
 bring out this sort of work in the drawing-room ; 
 only it is so wet. I think we are pretty secure 
 against callers." 
 
 " Is this an evening dress for yourself ? " asked 
 Katie. 
 
 " Yes, for the 29th. Oh, don't you know ? 
 It is Gracie's birthday. She can't get out and 
 be amused this winter, poor dear, so we are 
 going to have a big party of friends. I want to 
 get my own dress done, father has just given it 
 to me, and then I shall have plenty of time for 
 Gracie's. Father has given her a new one, too, for 
 the occasion, the prettiest pale blue silk, and she 
 will look lovely in it. She must be well that 
 evening, and able to enjoy herself. I'm going to 
 make the dress myself, for nobody fits Gracie as 
 I do. I don't mean to let her look too thin. 
 Everybody is coming, and Gracie is to be our 
 Queen, are you not, darling ? It will do you lots 
 of good." 
 
 Kath paused in her work, to lean over the couch 
 for a kiss. Gracie brightened up, and grew flushed 
 and eager, in the anticipation of her birthday party. 
 Katie thought of certain words spoken by Bessie 
 and Mrs. Carrington, and wondered silently. The
 
 70 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 first week of November was not yet over; and 
 how could any one tell what might be Grade's 
 state before the end of the month ? This question 
 came before her, as she noted Grade's frail look and 
 transparent hands. 
 
 " Katie, you look as solemn as a judge," said Kath 
 quickly ; and Katie met a peculiar warning glance, 
 which told her that she was gazing at poor Grade 
 too solicitously. " I'm afraid you don't like such a 
 long seam," continued Kath. 
 
 " Oh yes, indeed ; I like work very much," said 
 Katie hurriedly. 
 
 " What shall you wear on the 29th, Katie ? " 
 asked her youngest cousin. 
 
 " My evening dress, I suppose. I only have one." 
 
 " What ! that old thing that you wore yesterday 
 evening ! " 
 
 " My father could not afford to buy me another," 
 said Katie gently. " I am very sorry ; but his going 
 abroad costs so much. If that dress won't do, I can 
 easily stay up in my room for one evening." Katie 
 suddenly found her eyes full, and one or two large 
 drops fell. She looked up at Grace, trying to smile. 
 " I am not crying about a dress ; please don't think 
 so," she faltered. " It doesn't matter in the least ; and 
 nobody would miss me. I shouldn't mind ; indeed I 
 shouldn't. It's only only about my father."
 
 A COMING BIRTH DA Y. 
 
 " Yes, \ve know, dear," said Grace, in a soft tone. 
 " Poor girl ! It won't seem so hard to bear in a few 
 days. But you mustn't talk of staying upstairs 
 on my birthday evening, for I should not like that 
 at all." 
 
 "Don't you have an allowance?" asked Winnie 
 bluntly. 
 
 " Father said he would send me something 
 five pounds, perhaps by-and-by. He could not just 
 now," Katie said, with some difficulty ; <c and when it 
 comes I must make it last as long as possible." 
 
 " Quite right, too," said Kath, with a reproving 
 glance at Winnie. " But we'll think what to do. 
 There's plenty of time." 
 
 Tea was brought in, and almost at the same moment 
 a cloaked wet figure appeared. " Bessie, you are 
 not fit to be seen in here ! You are all over mud," 
 Mrs. Balfour said, in a vexed tone. And, indeed, 
 there was reason for the exclamation. A draggled 
 skirt-tail dipped below the half-soaked ulster, in 
 unhappy proximity to boots which had buried their 
 native black under a dull brown coating; and a 
 very old pair of kid gloves had plainly come into 
 contact with dripping gate-handles ; and spatterings 
 from passing vehicles were conspicuous on the black 
 straw bonnet. It was a family saying, that mud 
 always showed a peculiar affection for Bessie.
 
 72 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " I haven't time to change things, mother; I must 
 go out again directly I have had a cup of tea." 
 
 " I would have foregone the cup sooner than 
 have made my appearance in such guise," murmured 
 Kath. 
 
 " I couldn't. I am tired, and I wanted it," said 
 Elizabeth, in an injured tone. She really did look 
 pale, perhaps from her struggle with the gale. 
 
 " You could have spared time to leave your cloak 
 in the passage, I should think. Look at the marks 
 your boots have made ! Eeally !" Mrs. Balfour 
 said. 
 
 Elizabeth stood her ground doggedly, waiting in 
 an attitude of impatience, while Kath handed tea 
 and bread-and-butter to her mother, to Katie, and to 
 Grace. Bessie then advanced a step, and a small 
 puddle became visible where she had stood. 
 
 Mrs. Balfour pointed to it, and said, " Eeally ! " 
 again, as if words failed her. Elizabeth knitted her 
 brows, evidently annoyed to be censured. 
 
 " Where are you going now?" asked Winnie. 
 
 " Something that Mr. Hamilton wants done." 
 
 "What! a secret mission?" cried Winnie. 
 Elizabeth was silent. 
 
 " I didn't know saints went in for beincj muddv : 
 
 V ' 
 
 but I suppose they are quite above attention to 
 doormats."
 
 " Bessie, y< .u ;ire not fit to be seui in here !" 5Irs. Bnlfour said.- Page 71.
 
 A COMING BIRTHDAY. 75 
 
 " I forgot my boots were so damp," Bessie said 
 in half-apology. It was not spoken graciously. 
 
 " Damp ! " repeated Winnie, several notes of ad- 
 miration in her voice. 
 
 " If you are laid up with rheumatic fever, don't 
 ask me to nurse you," remarked Kath, in a tone 
 of light superiority. " You ought to change every- 
 thing before going out again. It is perfect in- 
 sanity." 
 
 " I have a great mind to forbid you to go at all," 
 said Mrs. Balfour. " What does Mr. Hamilton want 
 done ? " 
 
 "Mrs. Hamilton has a cold, and can't take her 
 Bible-class. I am going to take it for her." 
 
 "Glad I don't belong to the class," muttered 
 Winnie. 
 
 "I have a great mind to forbid your going," 
 repeated Mrs. Balfour. 
 
 Elizabeth drank off her tea, and set down the 
 cup defiantly. "Mother, I have to go. I have 
 promised, and I must. Some more tea, please, 
 Kath." 
 
 A second cup was disposed of rapidly, Bessie 
 glancing once and again at Katie's busy fingers, 
 as if in wonderment. Katie could not understand 
 her look. Mrs. Balfour seemed to acquiesce in 
 necessity and ceased to remonstrate. Bessie put
 
 76 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 down her cup afresh, gazed hard at Katie again, 
 and walked out of the room. 
 
 "An undesirable fashion of leaving one's 'foot- 
 prints in the sands of time,' " murmured Kath, 
 looking at the carpet. 
 
 " It's too bad," said Mrs. Balfour. 
 
 "Mother, if I were you, I would not allow it," 
 said Kath. "Bessie will be ill on our hands, the 
 next thing. She is doing a great deal more than 
 she has strength for." 
 
 " And you have trouble enough already," Grace 
 said sadly. 
 
 Kath turned the subject at once, giving all her 
 attention to bringing back Grace's smile.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LATE TALKING. 
 
 was getting ready for bed that night, 
 when a tap at the door sounded. She 
 could hardly believe it was only her third 
 evening at " The Walnuts." So long a time seemed 
 already to have elapsed since saying good-bye to 
 her dear father; so wide and new a world seemed 
 already to have opened out before her eyes. Sad- 
 ness came over her keenly, when she found herself 
 alone ; but not the utter loneliness of two days 
 earlier. Loving interest towards and in these new 
 cousins was springing up in Katie's warm heart. 
 
 The tap came unexpectedly, just when she had 
 sat down to read a few Bible verses, once more 
 in her white dressing-gown. Thoughts of the past 
 assailed her strongly, with a threatening of tears 
 again ; and then the rap sounded. Katie answered 
 by a summons to enter. 
 
 " It's only me. May I come in ? " asked Bessie. 
 
 77
 
 ?S LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " Oh yes," Katie replied, not without a touch 
 of disappointment, for she had hoped it might 
 be Kath. " Is there anything you want me to 
 do?" 
 
 Bessie entered and shut the door, making no 
 immediate response. She found her way to a 
 second chair, and Katie waited for the first remark, 
 which seemed long in coming. 
 
 " I'm interrupting you," Bessie said at length, 
 with a gesture towards the open Bible. 
 
 " No ; I really had not begun to read. But ought 
 you not to be going to bed, Bessie ? Aunt said " 
 
 "There is no hurry. I want to speak to you 
 about something. You won't be offended, I hope. 
 I think I ought to speak." 
 
 " It isn't my way to be offended very easily," 
 Katie answered, laughing. " Say anything you like. 
 You know I have to learn your ways ; and perhaps 
 I have done something which isn't liked." 
 
 " Learning our ways is just what you ought not 
 to do," said Bessie, with emphasis "the ways of 
 the house, I mean." 
 
 Kate hesitated, then said, "I don't see that. I 
 want to please you all as much as possible." 
 
 " If you can without doing what is wrong." 
 
 "What have I done to-day that is wrong?" 
 Katie went straight to the point.
 
 LATE TALKING. 79 
 
 Another pause, before Bessie asked, "Does your 
 father approve of worldly gaieties ? " 
 
 Katie smiled, yet sighed. " There wasn't much 
 chance of gaieties at dear old Eckham," she said. 
 " I suppose there might be worldliness without 
 the gaieties." 
 
 Bessie knitted her brows, as if puzzled. " I 
 don't know what you mean," she said. "It is a 
 question of doing what the world does, or coming 
 out and being separate. I suppose you had not 
 much opportunity for worldliness there. But you 
 will have to choose here. Would your father think 
 such things right ? " 
 
 " I don't know yet exactly what things you 
 mean. My father would not like me to be worldly, 
 of course ; and I should not like it myself. But of 
 course I am sometimes. That is one of the things 
 one has to fight against." 
 
 " And yet you could sit for hours helping Kath 
 to make that dress ! and you could let them think 
 you cared about having a new dress yourself, to go 
 to that party ! " 
 
 Katie looked perplexed in her turn. "I should 
 be very glad to have a new dress, if I could afford 
 it," she said ; " but I can't. It is a pity, because 
 my old one is really shabby ; and I would rather not 
 look shabby on Grade's birthday. Is that wrong ? "
 
 8o LIFE IN A NUTSHELL 
 
 " Her last birthday, most likely ! And to spend 
 it in such a way ! " 
 
 " Can one be so sure ? " asked Katie, with much 
 feeling. "But, Bessie, even so, I don't quite see, 
 of course it does seem to me very sad, it seems 
 as if she ought to be told, ought to look forward, 
 and know what is coming. But I don't see that 
 there is anything wrong in having friends to spend 
 her birthday evening with her." 
 
 " Everything is wrong for Gracie which helps to 
 blind her eyes. But I was talking about yourself, 
 and about your going in for worldly gaieties." 
 
 " Yes," Katie answered. 
 
 "Don't you understand what I mean? About 
 that evening. I don't suppose there will be danc- 
 ing, because Gracie is not well enough to dance, 
 and everything is to be for her amusement. But 
 there will be a charade, and music ; and any amount 
 of dress and flirtation, and gossip and nonsense. 
 Kath wants father to give you a new dress, and he 
 will, for he always does what Kath wishes." 
 
 " I don't think you ought to have told me that," 
 said Katie. " Am I meant to know it ? " 
 
 " No, not yet, of course ; but I thought 
 
 " I wish you had not told me." 
 
 " It doesn't matter. That is of no consequence. 
 And you mean to go to the party ? "
 
 LATE TALKING. Si 
 
 " It is not going to it," Katie answered. " I do 
 not see that I could help being present, when it is 
 here, in the house, unless I had no dress to wear. 
 I should be rude if I stayed away. Why, Bessie, 
 you will be there ! " 
 
 " No ; I shall make an engagement somewhere 
 for the evening." 
 
 " But will Uncle and Aunt like that ? " 
 
 "I can't help it if they don't. I must act with 
 decision. And of course one must expect some- 
 thing of persecution." 
 
 Katie could hardly resist a smile, and Bessie 
 flushed up. " You may laugh, but it's true. Didn't 
 you hear how they went on at me this after- 
 noon ? " 
 
 "But I shouldn't call that exactly persecution, 
 would you ? Anybody might dislike muddy 
 boots in a drawing-room." 
 
 Katie's common sense was too severe for Bessie's 
 acceptance. " You don't know anything about it," 
 she said, with some annoyance. " Kath or Winnie 
 might be muddy to any extent, and nobody would 
 say a word. It is only I ! only because they 
 knew I was out visiting the poor, and taking a 
 Bible-class." 
 
 Katie was silent. She hardly liked to say how 
 much she had thought her cousin in the wrong ;
 
 82 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 how great a pity it had seemed to her that annoy - 
 ance should have been so needlessly given. 
 
 Bessie suddenly exclaimed, " I thought you were 
 a Christian, Katie ! " 
 
 It was Katie's turn to flush, though she only 
 said, " You don't mean in the sense of all baptized 
 persons being Christians." 
 
 " No, of course not. Of course, all in the house 
 are Christians in that sense. But I thought it was 
 a real thing with you, a real living for Christ. I 
 thought you and I would feel together, and work 
 together, and be apart from all the rest. And now 
 you seem to be just putting yourself on the side of 
 evil." 
 
 Was the accusation just ? A lump rose in Katie's 
 throat, as she said, " I don't know what you mean." 
 
 " Why, Katie, you must know ! They don't love 
 Him, or care to follow!" said Bessie. "Mother 
 and the girls, I mean. Can't you see for yourself ? 
 I should have thought it plain enough. They just 
 live for this world, and nothing more. And you 
 know that whoever is not ' with ' Christ is ' against ' 
 Him. And you know that we have to come out 
 from the world, and to be ' separate.' " 
 
 " I thought we had to be ' in the world,' only not 
 'of'it." 
 
 " Well, that means being separate, keeping apart.
 
 LATE TALKING. 83 
 
 I don't see liow you can mix up with all the people 
 who will be at Grace's party, and dress like them, 
 and talk as they do, and } r et not be ' of the world.' 
 It isn't possible. You have to take your choice 
 now, and so much depends on a first step. That 
 was why I thought I ought to speak. I am afraid 
 I have vexed you, but it seemed right to speak 
 frankly." 
 
 " I am not the very least vexed," Katie assured 
 her. " Only one can't always agree directly with 
 other people. My father has so often told me to 
 think difficulties out for myself, and not merely 
 to take what he said, just because he said it." 
 
 " I don't see what there is to think out. One has 
 to act." 
 
 " Yes, but it isn't a matter so easily settled," 
 said Katie, with a look of some distress. " People 
 see things so differently ; and one can't always be 
 sure that one's own way of seeing must be best; 
 and there is the question, what is exactly meant 
 by worldliness. I have had so little to do with 
 difficulties of that sort in Eckham. But my father 
 has often said how careful we ought to be not to 
 judge others in doubtful matters. To make up our 
 own minds of course, what is right for our own 
 selves, but not to judije" 
 
 " I should not call worldliness a doubtful matter,"
 
 84 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 said Bessie. And again she observed, "I thought 
 you were a real Christian, Katie. I am so dis- 
 appointed." 
 
 Katie did not feel as if she could stand much 
 more. A vision of her father's face came before 
 her; and of the tender voice in which he had said 
 at parting, "My Katie will be lonely sometimes, 
 but she will always have her dear Lord and Master 
 to uphold her. Look to Him for guidance, my 
 darling, and don't let any shadows hide His face 
 from your heart." 
 
 "It is getting late, Bessie," she faltered. "I 
 think you and I ought to go to bed. I will not 
 forget all you have said, only I am sure we can't 
 settle for one another about such things, and Judging 
 must be wrong. I am afraid I judged you hardly 
 this afternoon, and now you are judging me. I 
 think I would rather die than go on wilfully doing 
 anything that I know would grieve the Lord Jesus. 
 But we can't always know His will perfectly, with- 
 out waiting to be shown. I know He knows that 
 T want to obey Him. But of course there are things 
 where we are not told exactly in plain words how 
 much is right or wrong, only we are told to be kind 
 and gentle, and not to judge others. I suppose each 
 of us must decide for herself." 
 
 " Wrong must be wrong for anybody," said Bessie.
 
 LATE TALKING. 85 
 
 "And you mean to go on helping Kath with her 
 dress ? " 
 
 " Yes, I have promised to help ; and I can't think 
 that is wrong. I have not to judge for Kath. Please, 
 Bessie, I would rather not go on talking now; 
 another day, please." 
 
 Katie lifted her face for a kiss, and Bessie be- 
 stowed it, not without coldness. She seemed per- 
 plexed what to do, half began a remonstrance, then 
 hesitated and left the room. Katie bowed her face 
 low on the Bible, with one little sob. " Lord, Thou 
 knowest all things ; Thou knowest that I love Thee," 
 she murmured.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 MR. BALFOUR'S GIFT. 
 
 *jg) ATIE went through a good deal of troubled 
 thought in the next few days. Perplexi- 
 ties seemed to have come early in her 
 new home ; and Katie's sensitive conscience was 
 stirred and uneasy. 
 
 Was Elizabeth right? Was she herself in the 
 wrong ? She pondered the matter anxiously at 
 times, as she sat helping Kath in preparations for 
 the birthday party. Kath made full use of her 
 fingers, always with kind apologies and warm grati- 
 tude. Katie dearly loved to be useful, and had no 
 dislike to needlework. 
 
 Sometimes, however, a painful sense of unfitness, 
 of incongruity, came over her, as she listened to 
 Kath's light chatter, and saw Grace's eager absorp- 
 tion in the subject, and noted the latter's fragile 
 look. What if Gracie were indeed rapidly nearing 
 the end of life? How terribly sad if her thoughts 
 
 86
 
 MR. DALFOUR'S GIFT. 87 
 
 were indeed set upon these things, and these things 
 only ! 
 
 Then Bessie would appear, busy, moody, p re-occu- 
 pied, absorbed in her own concerns, holding herself 
 aloof with a cold disregard from family interests, 
 and carelessly giving offence right and left, from the 
 lack of a little thought and painstaking. Again the 
 sense of unfitness and incongruity pressed heavily 
 on Katie. 
 
 One day she wrote a long letter to her father, de- 
 scribing in detail her life at" The Walnuts," explain- 
 ing fully her difficulties, and asking his advice. But 
 when she read over what was written, it occurred to 
 her that Mr. Balfour might be worried, might think 
 his child not happy in his brother's house. Katie 
 knew that any kind of worry was undesirable for 
 him ; so she put the sheet into the fire, and rewrote 
 the whole. 
 
 Another meeting with " Aunt Chattie " did not 
 take place so quickly as Katie had hoped. Mrs. 
 Carrington's cold proved to be an attack of some- 
 thing very like bronchitis; and for a fortnight or 
 more, she was a prisoner to her bedroom, forbidden 
 to see visitors, or to use her voice in talking. 
 " All the fault of that wretched Nutshell of a 
 house!" her brother-in-law declared. But as Mrs. 
 Carrington had been all her life subject to such
 
 88 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 attacks, . Katie could not see why "The Nutshell" 
 needed to be blamed. 
 
 After that evening conversation, Katie was con- 
 scious of a marked holding aloof on the part 
 of Elizabeth. It was as if her cousin said " You 
 have chosen your path ; mine lies apart." Katie 
 would not yield to feelings of annoyance, but she 
 did not think that, had their positions been reversed, 
 she would have acted differently towards Bessie. If 
 she had thought Bessie in the wrong, she would at 
 least have tried to win her to the right by kindness. 
 
 Another fact, dawning slowly upon Katie's con- 
 sciousness, was that Kath, with all her sweetness 
 and lovable ways, possessed a somewhat jealous 
 temper-. The signs of this were for a while slight 
 and rare, bub decisive. 
 
 Kath's evening dress was nearly completed when, 
 one morning, Mr. Balfour came bustling into the 
 room he always had a pompous busy air about 
 everything that he did with a brown-paper parcel 
 in his arms. Katie wished much that it had not 
 been in her power to guess what the said parcel 
 contained, as Mr. Balfour laid it before her. 
 
 " Something for you, Katie," he said, beaming with 
 a delighted consciousness of generosity. " Kath's 
 notion ! I've taken your hint, Kath, my dear. 
 Yes, it is yours, Katie."
 
 MR. DALFOUR'S GIFT. 89 
 
 If Katie showed less surprise than others expected, 
 she certainly did not show less pleasure. Her thanks 
 were warm, even before she saw the delicate India- 
 muslin which lay folded within the brown paper, 
 cream-coloured like Kath's, but of finer texture, 
 and beautifully embroidered. Katie flushed, and 
 exclaimed, " Oh, it is too lovely a great deal too 
 lovely for me." 
 
 " Why, it is ever so much better than Kath's ! " 
 exclaimed Winnie. 
 
 " Well, I thought the first present I have ever 
 given to my brother's child shouldn't be a shabby 
 one," said Mr. Balfour. " You'll do now, Katie, on 
 the birthday night, eh ? " 
 
 " It is too pretty," repeated Katie. She was sud- 
 denly aware of looks exchanged between Kath and 
 Winnie, and she knew that Kath was not pleased. 
 Mrs. Balfour's face showed annoyance. So did 
 Elizabeth's, though from a different cause. She 
 evidently disapproved of Katie's gratification 
 after all, by no means an unmixed gratification. 
 Grace alone smiled with kind sympathy. 
 
 " I would offer to have it made up for you, but 
 there is no need with such a clever little woman 
 in the house as Kath. She beats all the dress- 
 makers hollow," said Mr. Lalfour, unconscious of 
 the shadow on Kath's face. He made his way
 
 90 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 out of the room, and Katie sat with the open 
 parcel upon her knees, hardly knowing what to say 
 or do next. 
 
 " Kath, you ought to have gone with your father," 
 said Mrs. Balfour. " He always blunders alone. It 
 is an absurd choice. I told him to get a plain 
 grenadine. And black would have been ten times 
 as useful." 
 
 " Katie will just cut out Kath altogether," said 
 Winnie, with a girlish liking to stir up mud. 
 " If father had got something different, it wouldn't 
 have signified ; but to go and choose a second, 
 exactly like his present to Kath, only ten times 
 better ! I shouldn't like to wear yours beside it, 
 Kath." 
 
 " I don't know how in the world it is to be made 
 by the 29th," said Kath shortly. " I have Gracie's 
 to see after." 
 
 " Pray don't say that to your father, or he will 
 insist on putting it out to a dressmaker," said 
 Mrs. Balfour, rising ; and Katie heard the little 
 succeeding mutter, " Quite enough expense already." 
 Pleasure in her present was gone ; and Grace looked 
 pityingly at her downcast face. 
 
 " It was so kind of Kath to think of asking Uncle," 
 Katie said in a low voice. 
 
 " I don't believe Kath would have asked him,
 
 MR. BALFOUR'S GIFT. 91 
 
 if she had guessed that he would get a prettier 
 dress than hers," said Winnie, as Mrs. Balfour 
 quitted the room, summoning Bessie to follow her. 
 " You'll cut out Kath altogether." 
 
 " Oh no ; that is quite impossible," Katie answered, 
 with grave sincerity. " Kath is so very pretty ; and 
 I am not pretty at all." 
 
 " I mean in your dress, of course. There's mother 
 calling you, Kath ; and I must be off to my drawing- 
 class. I expect mother's in a way ! " with which 
 consoling suggestion Winnie withdrew. 
 
 Kath's moodiness seemed slightly lessened by 
 Katie's last words; but she said nothing, only 
 worked on with bent head, till Mrs. Balfour's voice 
 again called her name. Then she threw down the 
 dress-bodice and disappeared, showing an unwonted 
 impatience. Katie, left alone with Grace, looked at 
 her sorrowfully. 
 
 "Never mind. It will all come right," Grace said. 
 "I am glad my father has chosen such a pretty 
 muslin." 
 
 " If only it had been plainer ! " 
 
 " You must not mind," repeated Grace. " Father 
 only meant to give you pleasure, dear. And Kath 
 will not really care. It is only just at the first 
 moment. Poor Katie ! " 
 
 Grace's kind look almost upset Katie. She laid
 
 92 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 aside the parcel and went to the couch, putting her 
 face on the pillow beside Grace's, with a feeling that 
 here comfort might be found. 
 
 "Dear Katie! I am so sorry you should have 
 the worry. But it will all come right, it will in- 
 deed," Grace said lovingly. "You mustn't think so 
 much of a few quick words. It doesn't do to be too 
 sensitive. In a family like ours, things can't always 
 go quite straight, you know, so many different 
 people to please. Living alone with your father 
 must have been very different." 
 
 " If only somebody cared for me here ! " broke 
 from Katie's full heart. 
 
 " Somebody does, for I do. Katie, I love you very 
 much," Gracie assured her tenderly. " I have loved 
 you from the very first day. And you must love me 
 too, and come and tell me your little worries. It is 
 always best to speak of them to somebody, and then 
 they seem less. Be sure you do, for I shall like it. 
 Now don't be unhappy any more, for it is quite true 
 that I am very fond of you ; and you won't be able 
 ta say again that there is nobody to care." 
 
 If Katie's heart had not been won before, it was 
 won now. She kissed Grace passionately, alike 
 stirred and consoled. 
 
 "Gracie, mayn't I sometimes do things for you, 
 anything you want done ? "
 
 MR. BALFOUR'S GIFT. 93 
 
 " I should like it very much. Only we must be 
 just a little careful not to give Kath pain," Grace 
 said softly, as if afraid of being overheard. " You 
 see, she has always been my especial sister, and she 
 likes to do everything she can for me. But perhaps 
 sometimes " 
 
 " Don't you think some of the embroidery might 
 go on Kath's dress ? " asked Katie, after a pause. 
 
 " Better not propose it, I think. My father might 
 notice. Besides, it isn't only a question of the dress 
 looking better," added Grace. "Kath is his pet; 
 and perhaps I think she is just a little hurt at his 
 giving something better to somebody else. But that 
 will not last. It will all come right, so you must 
 not worry yourself. I think, if I were you, I would 
 put away the dress now ; and some day, soon, Kath 
 will propose to cut it out for you."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 FROM KATIE'S FATHER. 
 
 dull and foggy days after the 
 middle of November were succeeded by 
 one of bright sunshine, and of spring-like 
 warmth. Katie enjoyed the change heartily. She 
 went off after luncheon, for a ramble on the Downs 
 at the lower end of the valley, having been at work 
 all the morning. 
 
 Grace's birthday dress was nearly finished, and 
 Katie had helped much in the making. Her own 
 embroidered muslin lay still untouched in a drawer. 
 Katie wondered sometimes how it was to be made 
 up by the 29th. Hardly more than a week now 
 remained, and she had not ventured to recur to the 
 subject. Nobody else spoke of it. 
 
 Kath had resumed her earlier manner towards 
 Katie, yet with a difference. She seemed at times 
 to be on the look-out lest her father should display 
 any peculiar warmth towards Katie; and on certain 
 
 94
 
 FROM KATIE'S FATHER. 95 
 
 days, there was a touch of irritability towards every- 
 body except Grace. Other people did not show 
 surprise at these changes of mood, so Katie sup- 
 posed them to be not unusual. She thought Kath 
 still most lovable and attractive; but the slight 
 uncertainty as to moods was checking, and her 
 greatest warmth of love went out towards Grace. 
 Caution there, however, she found to be even more 
 necessary. If Kath was jealous about her father, 
 she was doubly jealous as to her position with 
 Grace. 
 
 Katie had to content herself with solitary rambles, 
 commonly. She dearly liked walking, but she stood 
 almost alone in the taste. Kath cared only for calls 
 and shoppings; Elizabeth had no leisure to spare 
 from parish occupations ; and Winnie was busy 
 perpetually with her classes. 
 
 In summer weather these grassy Downs, studded 
 with occasional bushes, were somewhat overcrowded 
 with the good folks of Penshurst strolling out to 
 enjoy the fresh air. But not many cared to climb 
 the heights in November, even on so sunny a day as 
 this, and Katie found herself for once free to enjoy 
 almost solitude. She did enjoy it thoroughly, and 
 pressed up the hill-side with eager feet. 
 
 A long letter had arrived from her father that 
 
 morning, full of cheer for Katie. He seemed already 
 
 G
 
 96 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 better and stronger for the change, and was also find- 
 ing kind friends amid new surroundings. 
 
 "I am much grieved with your account of poor 
 Grace," he wrote. " She was a sweet girl when I 
 saw her last. Saddest of all, that none are allowed 
 to speak to her of her state. There may be much 
 serious thought going on below the surface, which 
 no one can see; but surely she needs help. One 
 can but pray that her eyes may be opened in 
 time. 
 
 " You do not tell me of any little troubles or diffi- 
 culties, and that makes me the more sure that all 
 does not go smoothly in your new home. Something 
 in the tone of your last letter convinces me of this. 
 
 "My dear, you need not be afraid to tell your 
 old father everything. It will not hurt me to 
 hear, and I may be able to help you with a few 
 words. 
 
 " If you want an immediate adviser on any point, 
 do not be afraid to go to Chattie Carrington. She is 
 always true, and always thorough. 
 
 " You will, of course, find very much in your pre- 
 sent quarters different from what you have been ac- 
 customed to at Eckham. But don't make up your 
 little mind that everything belonging to Eckhaui 
 must needs be right, and that everything differing 
 from Eckham ways must needs be wrong. Try to
 
 FROM KATIE'S FATHER. 97 
 
 take each question on its own ground, and weigh it 
 independently. There is a broad margin wherein 
 opinions and modes of action do and must differ, and 
 a good deal of allowance has to be made for dif- 
 ferences of bringing-up, varieties of character, and 
 diversities of surroundings. 
 
 " I am not speaking of any one difficulty in parti- 
 cular, but only with a view to your position, my 
 darling. Coming suddenly out of your peaceful 
 little home-nest, it is quite a plunge into the world 
 for you, and it is hardly possible that you should not 
 be sometimes puzzled what course to pursue. 
 
 "Well, and if you are, remember 'Keep THY 
 HEART with all diligence, for out of it are the issues 
 of life.' If the heart of a tree is healthy, not 
 much is likely to be wrong with the leaves and 
 flowers. 
 
 " ' Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eye- 
 lids look straight before thee.' Be clear and decided 
 fur yourself, which does not at all mean judging for 
 others. 
 
 " ' Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways 
 be established.' And with this join the promise, ' In 
 all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct 
 thy paths.' So guidance is promised for every step, 
 if only we will look for it." 
 
 " Dear father ! he does so exactly understand what
 
 98 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 I want, even without my telling him," murmured 
 Katie. She had been re-reading parts of the letter 
 pacing up and down the grassy summit of the long 
 low hill. Now she folded the sheet, put it away, 
 and looked up, to see Harold Carrington coming to- 
 wards her. 
 
 " How do you do ? What, all alone ? " he asked, 
 liftin" his hat and shaking hands. 
 
 o o 
 
 " I don't mind being alone, I am used to it in the 
 country," said Katie. " And I don't think my cousins 
 care for a ramble as I do." 
 
 " So much the greater pity. It is a glorious day, 
 and my mother will not let me stay indoors with her. 
 By-the-bye, she wishes to see you again." 
 
 " Aunt Euth says talking makes her cough, and I 
 ought not to go yet." 
 
 Harold laughed slightly. " My mother and Aunt 
 Euth seem to differ. Come and see her to-morrow, 
 if you can. Perhaps she has talked enough to-day. 
 But she is much better now ; only a prisoner still. 
 Are you going home ? " 
 
 " I think I ought. It will be getting dusk 
 soon." 
 
 " Will you let me show you another way back ? " 
 asked Harold. "It is a prettier road. You and 
 I are to be cousins, you know!" as she hesi- 
 tated.
 
 FROM KATIE'S FATHER. 99 
 
 "I should like it very much," said Katie, "if it 
 isn't taking you too far." 
 
 "I hope you have been gone long enough," said 
 Winnie, when Katie came in ; only Elizabeth beside 
 being in the room. " I don't believe the tea is 
 drinkable by this time. It came up early for a 
 caller." 
 
 "Oh, I don't mind about the tea," said Katie, 
 looking very bright. 
 
 " Where have you been ? Mother won't like you 
 to ramble about on the Downs after dusk." 
 
 " I didn't, Winnie. It was light when I left the 
 Downs; and Harold Carrington walked back with 
 me." 
 
 "Have you been to Aunt Chattie's? I thought 
 mother said " 
 
 " No, I met Harold on the Downs. I am to go 
 and see Aunt Chattie to-morrow." 
 
 Winnie drew her lips together with a peculiar 
 expression. 
 
 " Well, I advise you just to keep quiet about your 
 walk with Harold," she said. " That won't be liked ! 
 You can help yourself to tea, I suppose." 
 
 Winnie looked too indolent to move, and Katie 
 obeyed, finding a lukewarm beverage. "I don't 
 understand," she said gravely. "Was there any
 
 loo LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 harm ? He offered to show me a second way home, 
 and I did not like to refuse." 
 
 " Oh, it doesn't matter ; only you had better be 
 wise, and not talk. It's lucky for you that mother 
 and Kath have gone out to tea at Mrs. Prince's. 
 We have had one fuss already this afternoon." 
 
 "I should not like to hide anything, especially 
 if it were wrong." 
 
 " There wasn't anything wrong, and you haven't 
 got to hide it; only just to hold your tongue. 
 People are not obliged to talk," said Winnie ; " and 
 I don't see why you should be obliged to snub 
 Harold, just because Kath likes a monopoly of 
 everybody. Mother thinks he admires Kath im- 
 mensely, but / don't believe he does. And I don't 
 believe Kath cares one scrap for him; only she 
 likes all the world to run after her." 
 
 Katie stood thinking. " Is Gracie upstairs ? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " In her room. Didn't Gracie say something 
 about Katie going to her ? " asked Winnie, turning 
 to Elizabeth. 
 
 "I don't know. Yes, she did. I believe she 
 thought Katie would be back sooner," Elizabeth 
 said, in an uncomfortable and almost sullen 
 tone. 
 
 "I'm so sorry. I'll go at once;" and in half
 
 FROM KATIE'S FATHER. 101 
 
 a minute Katie was tapping at Grace's bedroom 
 door. 
 
 A large fire blazed within, and Grace lay on the 
 sofa near it, looking unwontedly sad. She had fits 
 of depression sometimes, though usually bright ; and 
 Katie fancied that one of these fits was on her 
 now. 
 
 " Gracie, I am so sorry not to have come earlier," 
 she said. " I only heard just now that you wanted 
 me." 
 
 "Kath had to go out with mother. I thought 
 you would not mind for a little while " 
 
 " Oh no ; I love to do anything for you. If only 
 I had known that Kath would be out, I should have 
 come home a great deal sooner." 
 
 Grace sighed faintly. 
 
 " I am afraid you don't feel so well this after- 
 noon," said Katie. 
 
 " No, I don't think I do, only I didn't like to say 
 it to Kath. She has too much on her hands, and 
 she does so want me to be well for the 29th. But 
 sometimes I think " 
 
 Katie looked at her anxiously. 
 
 " Yes, darling ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know. Only I almost dread the 
 bustle. Everything tires me so now. Dear little 
 Kath has worked so hard to get my dress done. I
 
 102 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 ain sure she works too hard, arid you must not say 
 a word to her. Only if " 
 
 Another sigh broke into Grace's words. 
 
 " Dearest-! " whispered Katie. 
 
 " There has been so much worry to-day. Bessie 
 says she cannot be at the birthday party, and my 
 father says she must. If she is not, he will be very 
 angry. I can't think she is right to go against 
 him. I don't thiuk he would mind so much if 
 she spoke differently, but she seems to be so sure 
 everybody is in the wrong except herself. I am'so 
 tired of it all," sobbed Grace, suddenly breaking down. 
 
 "Bessie ought not to have worried you," Katie 
 said, trying to soothe the poor girl. " It could not 
 be right. Don't mind crying a little ; it will do you 
 good, darling. And don't think any more about 
 Bessie just now." 
 
 " She did not mean it was not said to me," 
 murmured Grace. " Only I suppose she was 
 excited. Bessie often gets excited. She seemed 
 to think it wrong to have my birthday party at 
 all, and still more just now, because I am ill. 
 Father was so angry at that, he went away and 
 slammed the door." 
 
 " Bessie isn't wise," was all Katie said. 
 
 " And it isn't as if I were so very ill, you know, 
 dear. They all say I am better."
 
 FROM KATIE'S FATHER. 103 
 
 Katie offered 110 response to this. She could not 
 help thinking how terribly wasted was the slight 
 figure she held in her arms, kneeling by the couch ; 
 could not help noting how short and panting was 
 Grace's breath. 
 
 " Do you think me better, Katie ? " 
 
 The question came suddenly, taking Katie by 
 surprise. She waited before answering, and her 
 heart beat fast. A troubled look came into Grace's 
 large blue eyes. 
 
 " I should not have thought you better since I 
 came," she said slowly. " But .that is not a long 
 time, and I am not much of a judge. What does 
 your doctor say ? " 
 
 " I don't know. He doesn't tell me either way. 
 Some days I feel quite bright, and I really seem 
 getting on well only not to-day. But one must 
 be tired sometimes. That isn't being worse, you 
 know. It is only that I have been worried, and 
 I'm not strong, so I can't stand much." 
 
 " No, darling," was all Katie said. 
 
 " I shall be stronger when spring comes on. 
 The cold doesn't suit me." 
 
 Katie hardly knew what to answer. She stroked 
 lovingly the thin cheeks and the damp pale brow. 
 Then she found herself saying softly, "Jesus knows
 
 104 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 how tired you are, Gracie darling. He was so tired 
 Himself sometimes." 
 
 Grace's fingers tightened into a grasp of Katie's 
 hand a wordless response. 
 
 "And He is so loving, isn't He?" whispered 
 Katie. " He feels so for us ! Don't you always 
 love to think of those words : l As one whom his 
 mother comforteth, so will I comfort you ' ? It is 
 just motherly comforting that one wants when one 
 is weak." 
 
 Still no reply, except another quick warm pressure 
 of her hand. Grace did not seem inclined to speak. 
 Katie wondered whether she might venture to say 
 more, and decided to wait. 
 
 " Kath will be coming home soon, I suppose ? " 
 she said presently. 
 
 " Yes. Katie, won't you get a chair ? You will 
 be stiff with kneeling." 
 
 " Oh, I like it ; I am very strong. Do you feel 
 a little more rested now?" 
 
 " Yes, a little. You hold me so nicely," Grace 
 said in her grateful way. " I have such a feeling 
 of sinking to-day, as if I wanted holding up; but 
 don't tell Kath ; it makes her unhappy." 
 
 " Would Kath wish you to have the party, if she 
 knew it would be too much for you ? " asked Katie.
 
 FROM KATIE'S FATHER. 105 
 
 " She thinks it will do me good. They all say I 
 
 want cheering up. And perhaps if I am pretty 
 
 strong that day, only I do get so very tired now. 
 
 I think it must be the weather." 
 
 Gracie closed her eyes and lay still, with her 
 head on Katie's shoulder, seeming to sink into a 
 doze.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 THE BLUE DRESS. 
 
 FTEE a short time, during which there was 
 no sound but that of the flickering flames, 
 steps were audible outside, but Grace did 
 not stir, and Katie could not attempt a change of 
 position. Kath came in smilingly. 
 
 "Well, dearie, how are you?" she began. Then 
 she stopped short, and a look came into her face 
 which Katie had seen there before, and had learnt 
 to understand. 
 
 " I think Gracie was almost asleep," said Katie. 
 
 " I hope not. She will lie awake all night," said 
 Kath shortly. 
 
 " Have you had a nice time at Mrs. Prince's, 
 Kath dear ? " asked Grace, releasing her cousin by 
 a slight movement. 
 
 " Pretty well," Kath said, in the same tone. 
 
 " Katie has been taking care of me while you were 
 
 106
 
 THE BLUE DRESS. 107 
 
 away, part of the time. Kath, won't you show her 
 my new dress, now it is finished ? " 
 
 " There is no need. Katie saw it this morning, 
 and I have not worked much since. Besides, 
 I can't tell whether it is really done till you have 
 tried it on." 
 
 " Would you like me to try it on now ? " 
 
 "Oh, not to-day; you are not well enough," 
 began Katie ; but a slight touch from Grace's hand 
 checked further remonstrance, and Kath at once 
 took the opposite side. 
 
 " Of course, the sooner the better. I have Katie's 
 dress to do next, and I don't know how in the world 
 to manage it." 
 
 " Oh, but " Katie began. 
 
 " I should like to try on mine now, very much," 
 said Grace cheerfully. " It will do me good. I have 
 been lying quiet till I am stupid. Where is the 
 dress ? I am sure Katie will fetch it." 
 
 No ; Kath went off for it herself. Grace gave one 
 sigh, and murmured, " Poor Kath ! " Almost imme- 
 diately Kath returned. 
 
 " It was in the spare room," she said, with more of 
 her usual pleasantness. " You are sure you would 
 like to put it on now ? Well, we must have one or 
 two more lights." 
 
 Katie was glad to be allowed to procure extra
 
 io8 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 candles. Then they both helped Grace to stand up, 
 and arrayed her in the pretty pale-blue silk, with 
 cream-lace ruffles round throat and wrists. 
 
 The dress certainly did suit her very well. A slight 
 flush had come to her cheeks, and a brightness to the 
 blue eyes. Katie had never seen her look prettier. 
 Kath was delighted with the results of her toil, and 
 she walked round, surveying Grace's tall slender 
 figure from all points, noting the need for a slight 
 change here, or suggesting a possible improvement 
 there, becoming perfectly good-tempered herself once 
 more. 
 
 " Gracie, you are just lovely ! " she cried. " I do 
 believe you will be more admired this birthday than 
 ever before." 
 
 A faint smile crossed Grace's face. 
 
 " I must get a little fatter before that will be 
 possible, Kath. People don't admire skin and 
 bones." 
 
 " You are not ' skin and bones.' Nonsense ! 
 Your face never looks so very thin, and it has 
 plenty of colour sometimes ; and I have put any 
 amount of wadding into the bodice. Katie, doesn't 
 she look sweet ? " 
 
 Katie tried to say "Yes," and failed. Grace's 
 fair and fragile beauty struck to her heart with a 
 keen pain.
 
 " Grade, you are just lovely ! " she cried. Page 108.
 
 THE BLUE DRESS. ill 
 
 " Why, Katie, dear ! " Grace said in surprise. 
 
 Kath stepped behind Grace and gave Katie a 
 furious look of reminder. Katie mastered with 
 haste her momentary agitation, and said, " I never 
 saw anybody prettier." 
 
 " You are both trying your best to make me very 
 conceited. If I did not know it to be all owing to 
 Kath's work " 
 
 " You're not the only person I make dresses for, 
 my dear Gracie," said Kath. " But the after-effect 
 isn't always the same." She turned away to pick 
 up some scraps of lace, laying them on a table. 
 " I am glad that is satisfactory. Katie will have 
 to work hard with me at her dress now. I have 
 an immense amount to do, getting up the charades. 
 Father declares he won't have dancing, or anything 
 else in which you can't join. I am going now to call 
 mother to look at you." 
 
 A faint sigh, and Grace spoke in an altered tone: 
 " Kath, please wait ; I almost think " 
 
 Kath was moving towards the door, but she 
 stopped at once, and turned. "Why, Gracie, are 
 you tired ? " 
 
 " I don't know. I feel so strange. Kath ! " 
 
 Katie's arm was already round Grace, supporting 
 her in the few steps to the sofa. There was a slight 
 cough, as Grace lay back, and she sat up again with
 
 ri2 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 her handkerchief pressed to her mouth. White one 
 instant, a red stain showed through it the next, 
 and the handkerchief had not been whiter than was 
 Grace's terrified face now, as she looked towards 
 her sister. 
 
 " Kath ! O Kath ! " came in agonised appeal, 
 and again the cough sounded, with renewed flow 
 of blood. 
 
 Colourless to the lips as Grace herself, Kath 
 seemed at the instant stunned with horror. It 
 was Katie, not Kath, who with firm grasp laid back 
 the almost fainting girl. 
 
 " Gracie, hush ! don't move, don't speak," she 
 implored. " Kath, keep her still, while I call some 
 one!" 
 
 But Grace's fingers clutched Katie's hand con- 
 vulsively, and she could not stir. It was no time 
 for discussion. Kath rushed away.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 NIGHT-WATCHING. 
 
 had never so felt her own helplessness 
 as during the long hours of the following 
 night. 
 
 Gracie lay on the very brink of the Death-river ; 
 and they all knew it. The flow of blood was 
 checked; but at any moment it might recur; and 
 if it did, there was little or no hope. 
 
 The doctor, Mr. Willoughby, was long in the 
 house ; and when he left, it was with a promise to 
 return soon. A nurse had been telegraphed for, but 
 was not expected to arrive before morning. 
 
 Mrs. Balfour proved hysterically useless, and 
 though in and out of the room, she could not be 
 depended on. Elizabeth, admitted for half-an-hour, 
 seemed vague and helpless, and looked so wretched, 
 that the effect upon Grace was manifestly depress- 
 
 "3
 
 H4 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 ing, and she had soon to be banished. Winnie was 
 judged too young and inexperienced to be of any 
 service. 
 
 The work of nursing therefore fell upon Kath 
 and Katie. Together they watched beside the bed 
 through the long hours of darkness. Young as 
 Katie was, she had seen much of illness, including 
 this particular form of illness, in her father's parish ; 
 and although Kath had been absent from home at 
 the beginning of Grace's former attack, she was by 
 nature capable. 
 
 Grace lay in absolute silence, forbidden to move 
 or speak. But the sad frightened eyes wandered 
 anxiously from one to another, as if trying to read 
 the truth in faces round ; and the thin fingers clung 
 persistently to Katie's hand. If Katie left the room 
 for five minutes, Grace seemed restless and impatient 
 until her return. Kath would not have liked this 
 generally, but it was a time when jealousy could 
 have no place. 
 
 The slightest sound of a threatening cough sent a 
 shock of terror through the girls, as if it had been 
 Grace's possible death-warrant. Yet hour after hour 
 the haemorrhage kept off, and Katie's voiceless prayers 
 became mingled with silent thanksgivings.
 
 NIGHT-WATCHING. 115 
 
 Once only Gracie broke the long silence strictly 
 enjoined on her. 
 
 Kath had glided out of the room, saying only, " I 
 shall be back directly." No one knew why. She 
 seemed so cheerful and composed, that none could 
 have guessed how near the poor girl's heart was to 
 breaking, at the terrible thought that she might have 
 had a hand in bringing on this attack. But for 
 Kath's little fit of jealousy, she would have seen 
 that Grace was in no state that afternoon for any 
 needless exertion. The haemorrhage might have 
 taken place in any case ; but on the other hand it 
 might be that standing about to try on the new dress 
 was just the one effort too much. Kath hardly knew 
 how to endure such a possibility. She did endure it 
 for hours, without a sign ; but at length the passion of 
 distress rose so high, that a few minutes of solitude 
 became an absolute necessity, if she would conquer. 
 
 The parlour-maid, Ann, was in the room, nearly 
 asleep beside the fire, and no one else. Practically, 
 therefore, Katie found herself alone with the sick 
 girl. Hardly had the door closed behind Kath, when 
 a faint voice uttered one word : " Pray." 
 
 " Gracie, darling, I am praying for you all the 
 time every moment."
 
 n 6 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 Katie spoke calmly, leaning over the bed. She 
 knew that there must be no agitation. The blue 
 eyes looked up into hers beseechingly, and again 
 there was the low utterance : " Pray." 
 
 Katie could not hesitate. She knelt down, and 
 softly uttered words which she had often so used 
 before words which have gone up from thousands 
 of sick-beds through centuries past : 
 
 " Lord, look down from heaven, behold, visit 
 and relieve this Thy servant. Look upon her with 
 the eyes of Thy mercy, give her comfort and sure 
 confidence in Thee, defend her from the danger of 
 the enemy, and keep her in perpetual peace and 
 safety ; through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 It seemed to Katie, as she prayed, that all 
 Gracie's needs were comprised in these few beau- 
 tiful petitions. Gracie clasped her hand with silent 
 grateful pressure. Katie stood up and bent over 
 her again. 
 
 " Gracie, darling, Jesus has heard, and He will 
 answer," she said very gently. " He always hears, 
 always answers ; and He loves you so dearly." 
 
 Again the slight fingers closed round hers. 
 
 " Yes, you must do that, instead of speaking," 
 Katie went on. " I shall know what it means.
 
 NIGHT-WATCHING. 117 
 
 And there's no need to speak, darling. There's 
 only need just to look up to Him. He never 
 refused to help anybody who wanted His help. 
 And He died for you. That means everything, 
 all the pity and comfort we can ever want. Shall 
 I say you one short hymn now ? Don't speak ; only 
 squeeze my hand if you would like it." 
 
 The response was very decided, and Katie began, 
 softly and slowly still, those lines by Hetty Bow- 
 man: 
 
 " Now at Thy feet I lie, 
 
 Savi.our dear ; 
 Let Thine own healing touch 
 Fall on me here. 
 
 Nought can I do but cling : 
 
 Tears will not come : 
 Thoughts float away from me ; 
 
 Words I have none. 
 
 Only, 'Thou knowest, Lord,' 
 
 This I can say : 
 This my one resting-place, 
 
 All through my way ; 
 
 All that I cannot tell 
 
 Even to Thee, 
 Straight through my silence, Lord, 
 
 Thine eyes can see.
 
 Ii8 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 All my wrong-doing, Lord, 
 
 Clear in Thy sight ; 
 Nothing that I would hide v 
 
 E'en if I might. 
 
 Pain, too, and suffering, 
 
 None near to heed : 
 Jesus, my Brother, Friend, 
 
 Thou takest heed. 
 
 Thy blood can cleanse me, Lord, 
 
 Whiter than snow ; 
 Many a truth I miss, 
 
 This one I know. 
 
 So I will cling to Thee, 
 
 So wilt Thou keep, 
 E'eu when I cannot cling 
 
 Thy weakest sheep ! " 
 
 Before the close of the second verse, Kath came 
 in. Katie could hardly subdue a nervous tremor; 
 but Gracie lay intently listening, and Katie went 
 on without any apparent hesitation. At the 
 
 words 
 
 " Pain, too, and suffering, 
 None near to heed ! " 
 
 Grade's eyes went from one to another in evident 
 protest ; but when the last verse came, they filled 
 with tears. Her hand pressed Katie's anew. Kath
 
 NIGHT- WA TCHING. 1 19 
 
 was standing gravely on the other side of the 
 bed. 
 
 " Gracie ought to be quiet now," she said. Katie 
 could not understand the tone. She noted Kath's 
 pale cheeks and reddened eyes, both of which 
 Kath was evidently at pains to conceal from the 
 invalid. 
 
 Grace looked more peaceful, and presently she 
 sank into a doze. Mr. Willoughby found her thus 
 when he called before breakfast to see how she was 
 getting on; and the opinion he expressed was on 
 the whole favourable. But Katie noted that there 
 was no mention of real recovery. 
 
 Two hours later the nurse arrived; not too soon, 
 for the girls were getting worn-out. She seemed 
 thoroughly efficient, fitting into her place at once, 
 and advising both Katie and Kath to obtain rest 
 without further delay. Gracie had fallen asleep, 
 and Elizabeth promised to wait in the adjoining 
 room, and to call them in a moment, if they should 
 be required. 
 
 " You will come with me to my room, Kath, won't 
 you ? " asked Katie, as they stood outside. 
 
 Kath looked white and dazed, as if scarcely 
 knowing what she was about. Katie took her
 
 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 arm, and led her upstairs, making her lie down 
 on the bed; and Kath submitted without a word. 
 But neither of them could sleep. Katie, lying 
 beside Kath, knew she was not meant to hear the 
 smothered sounds of long low weeping. She dared 
 not seem to hear, lest she should drive Kath away. 
 No word passed Kath's lips which might have given 
 Katie a clue to the self-reproach weighing so heavily 
 upon her.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 THE BIRTHDAY. 
 
 ijHE birthday party had to be given up ; and 
 the blue silk dress was put away. Katie's 
 Indian muslin lay unmade in a drawer; 
 and friends were one and all put off. 
 
 Gracie was rallying in some degree from her 
 attack; but all manner of excitement was strictly 
 forbidden. That she would be able even to leave 
 her bed was more than they had ventured to hope. 
 Yet when the day came, she really seemed brighter ; 
 and in the afternoon she was lifted to the sofa, 
 to lie there, smiling, with all her birthday gifts 
 around her. 
 
 Katie had been struck with the sweet grave look 
 on her face, as some of those gifts were presented. 
 A gold filagree bracelet from her father; a white 
 opera-cloak from her mother ; would these ever be 
 worn by Gracie ? Katie asked the question of her-
 
 122 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 self; and she fancied that the same question had 
 come to her cousin. 
 
 Since the first night after the haemorrhage, it hap- 
 pened that Katie had never once, even for a minute, 
 been left alone with Gracie. She could not but 
 think that Kath carefully arranged this. Either 
 Kath, or Mrs. Balfour, or the nurse, was always 
 there. 
 
 But for Grace's own evident wish to have Katie 
 with her, she would probably have been more seldom 
 admitted to the room. No second opportunity had 
 occurred, however, for any more such words as Katie 
 had been able to speak once, and only once. Did 
 Gracie wish for them ? 
 
 Katie's own present to Grace had been a small 
 copy of the " Christian Year." She thought no ex- 
 ception could possibly be taken to this; and she 
 judged rightly. Bessie's chosen gift of a volume of 
 "Sermons for the Sick" had a different reception. 
 Mr. Balfour " pshawed ; " Mrs. Balfour shrugged her 
 shoulders; while Kath tossed the book contemp- 
 tuously out of Grace's reach. Bessie was evidently 
 pained; and not even Grace's kind thanks could 
 drive the cloud from her face. Under the circum- 
 stances, Bessie had not made a wise selection. 
 
 Mrs. Carrington called that afternoon, and by 
 Grace's own wish she was admitted.
 
 THE BIRTHDAY. 123 
 
 "I'm not going to tire you out, my dear," she 
 said, stooping to kiss Grace with a tenderness 
 which Katie hardly expected from her. " Just two 
 minutes " 
 
 "To wish her 'many happy returns,'" Kath said 
 
 gaily. 
 
 " Yes ; just so many as God wills for you, Gracie," 
 Mrs. Carrington responded; "and not a single one 
 beyond." 
 
 "/should like a heartier wish than that on my 
 birthday," said Kath. 
 
 " Would you, Kath ? What, better than to have 
 God's loving will for you ? " 
 
 Kath looked up defiantly, and then her eyes fell. 
 " Well, we needn't get into a discussion," she said. 
 " People see things differently. Just look what 
 pretty presents Gracie has had to-day." 
 
 " I have brought my quota, though birthday 
 keeping isn't much in my line. I had a fancy that 
 you would like these, Gracie." 
 
 " These" were several exquisite rosebuds, pink and 
 creamy, nestling among delicate fronds of maiden- 
 hair fern. A light handkerchief thrown over the 
 bunch had concealed it hitherto. Grace's pleasure 
 was unmistakable. She seemed as if she could 
 never be weary of looking and inhaling. 
 
 " Katie, will you spend to-morrow afternoon at
 
 124 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 my house ? I am expecting Harold," Mrs. Carringtou 
 said, when she rose to go. 
 
 Nobody made any objection, and Katie accepted 
 the invitation, though conscious of a certain some- 
 thing in Kath's face which certainly was not pleasure. 
 
 " That's a compliment," said Winnie, after Mrs. 
 Carrington's departure. "Fancy asking you there 
 to meet Harold ! Why, she generally seems to want 
 him all to herself. I believe she thinks none of 
 us good enough ! " Winnie spoke derisively, and 
 marched away. 
 
 " Katie has the sort of cant at command which 
 suits Aunt Chattie," said Kath in a hard voice. 
 No one now was present, besides herself and Grace 
 and Katie. 
 
 One low " Kath ! " escaped Katie's lips. She 
 sat silent then, putting a strong restraint upon her- 
 self. For this was neither kind nor true. 
 
 Grace's eyes were lifted to her sister in grave 
 reproach. " Kath, dear, you don't really mean it," 
 she said. " You know Katie never talks cant." 
 
 " She knows it wouldn't go down with us. I've 
 no doubt there is any amount of it, when she is 
 at the ' Nutshell.' " 
 
 " Kath ! " Grace's tone was full of pain. " How 
 can you talk so ? Would you call it cant, if / spoke 
 to you of such things ?"
 
 THE BIRTHDAY. 125 
 
 " What things ?" 
 
 " Religion," Grace said, with an effort. 
 
 " It wouldn't be your way to talk for the sake 
 of talk like some people. Gracie, we needn't go 
 on about this. For my part, I hate religious talk, 
 and anything that worries you. I want you to look 
 bright, and not to think." 
 
 One of Grace's thin hands drew Kath down over 
 herself. 
 
 " But I must think, and I ought to speak," she 
 said gently. " It has been a bad attack this time ; 
 and suppose I had another." 
 
 " Well I hope that wouldn't be so bad a one," 
 said Kath hardily. 
 
 " And if it were ? If I did not get through ?" 
 
 Kath burst into an indignant protest. 
 
 " But, Kath dear, it would be childish of me 
 to refuse to see the truth," said Grace, in a quiet 
 tone. " I must look it in the face ; and I must look 
 forward." 
 
 " Katie has been putting this into your head ! " 
 
 " No, not Katie. I could not help knowing how 
 ill I was. I saw it at the time in your eyes, darling. 
 You could not hide what you felt. And although 
 you all say I am better, I can't help knowing that 
 it may come again. And I do so want to be able to 
 look forward without fear."
 
 126 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " If any one can, you can, so good as you are ! " 
 
 " Oh no ! If you knew me really, you could not 
 say that. If you knew what it is to stand on the 
 very brink, and not to be sure not to know 
 Kath, don't try to hinder me ! I must think 
 more and learn more. You must help me, and 
 Katie ! I want Katie's help." 
 
 Kath raised herself hastily, turned away, and left 
 the room, shutting the door behind her. 
 
 " Is she vexed, or only upset ? " asked Grace. 
 
 "I don't know. I should think only upset," 
 said Katie. "Gracie, this excitement is not good 
 for you." 
 
 " No, not very ; but I could not help it. Now 
 this is our first chance. I want to hear that sweet 
 hymn again. Say it to me, please, dear." 
 
 Katie obeyed at once, though not without a secret 
 dread of interruption. But no one came. 
 
 " So will I cling to Thee, 
 So wilt Thou keep," 
 
 murmured Grace at the end. Then a troubled look 
 came into her face. " I have been wanting to ask 
 you something," she said. " I don't see what I am 
 to do. I want to love Christ, but I can't. I can't 
 make myself. I have tried and tried, and it is of 
 no use." 
 
 " Father has often spoken about that to me,"
 
 THE BIRTHDAY. 127 
 
 said Katie. " I used to be unhappy, at one time, 
 because I could not feel that I loved as I 
 should; and so I couldn't feel safe. And father 
 said I was beginning at the wrong end. He said 
 we must never expect to be saved because of our 
 love to Him, but only because of His love to us. 
 And he said I could never make myself love Christ. 
 I could only ask Him to show Himself to me ; and 
 then love must come, because nobody can ever know 
 Christ without loving Him." 
 
 " But I want to feel safe, whatever happens," 
 said Grace. 
 
 " Yes ; that was what I wanted. I was always 
 thinking how it would be, if I fell ill and died 
 suddenly. For, after all, people in good health are 
 not any more certain of life than people who are ill. 
 And my father told me I mustn't be too impatient 
 to feel safe. He said the great thing was to be safe/' 
 "But how?" 
 
 " He said I must just put myself at the foot of 
 the Cross, and wait there. He said that was safety ; 
 for nobody could ever be lost, waiting at the foot 
 of the Cross, even though one might be kept wait- 
 ing a little while, without having any feelings of joy. 
 It isn't a question of feeling happy, but just of 
 trusting all to Jesus just clinging to His hand, or 
 
 even touching the hem of His garment. My father 
 
 I*
 
 128 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 said that it wasn't at first a question of our loving 
 Him, but only of our believing that He loves us, 
 and that He has died for us. The love grows later, 
 when one learns what He really is in Himself." 
 
 " I think I see," Grace said, her face brightening. 
 " But isn't there anything to do first ? " 
 
 " Nothing, before coming to Him coming to the 
 Cross," Katie answered earnestly. " One must be 
 willing to leave off what is wrong, and to be taught 
 His will, and to obey Him in everything. But the 
 first step is just coming." 
 
 "I think I must have come to Him that night, 
 when you helped me," Grace whispered, flushing. 
 " I have not felt so frightened since. Katie, I do 
 think He must be teaching me." 
 
 The door opened, and Kath came in smiling. 
 "Look!" she cried, "more flowers yet, you Queen 
 of the Day ! Mrs. Prince has sent this splendid 
 bouquet. Aunt Chattie's buds will have to hide 
 their diminished heads." 
 
 " Oh, but there are no flowers prettier than roses," 
 said Katie. 
 
 Kath gave her a look, and vouchsafed no reply. 
 
 "And here are letters for you by post. Will you 
 read them now, or are you tired ? I don't like to 
 see you so flushed. What have you been talking 
 about ? "
 
 THE BIRTHDAY. 129 
 
 " Will you read my letters to me, Kath ?" 
 
 " Presently;" and there was so meaning a glance 
 in Katie's direction, that she stood up. 
 
 " Don't go, Katie," said Grace. 
 
 " Perhaps I have been here long enough," said 
 Katie. " Have I, Kath ?" 
 
 No answer again. Katie would not put the ques- 
 tion a second time. She bent over Grace for a loving 
 kiss, and left the room.
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 AN INVITATION. 
 
 )HE marked displeasure shown in Kath's 
 manner to Katie continued all that even- 
 ing. Nor was there any change at break- 
 fast next morning. If Katie addressed her, she 
 either made no reply, or answered with cold curt- 
 ness. Katie could hardly understand this treatment 
 from one who at times seemed so warm-hearted; 
 and she could not but be much pained by it. 
 Yet her heart was full of thankfulness on Grace's 
 account. 
 
 Kath had evidently spoken to her parents of 
 what had passed; for Mrs. Balfour's air was far 
 from pleasant; and Mr. Balfour seemed to be in 
 a general state of discomfort as to everything and 
 everybody. 
 
 About an hour after breakfast, he accosted Katie 
 
 in a passage, putting an abrupt question. 
 
 130
 
 AN INVITATION. 131 
 
 " Has your aunt told you of Chattie's invitation 
 Mrs. Carrington's, I should say ? " 
 
 " No," Katie answered in surprise. 
 
 
 
 " Saw her last night, had some business in that 
 direction," said Mr. Balfour rapidly, as if wishing 
 to hurry through what had to be said. " She would 
 be quite willing gratified, I mean to take you in 
 for two or three weeks." 
 
 Katie made no response. 
 
 " You won't have any dislike to the plan, I sup- 
 pose ? I believe it was understood from the first, 
 as possible, I mean," said Mr. Balfour. 
 
 " I should like to pay Aunt Chattie a visit very 
 much, if she really wants me," said Katie gravely. 
 " Only just now, with Gracie so ill, could I not be 
 useful here ? " 
 
 " That's just it," said Mr. Balfour, lowering his 
 voice, and glancing round suspiciously. " My wife 
 and Kath think she is better quiet. You see, 
 she is rather apt just now to get on depressing 
 subjects, and perhaps not being very old or 
 experienced, you know perhaps you don't quite 
 know the best way of meeting her at such times. 
 Any kind of excitement is bad for the poor dear. 
 So, on the whole, no doubt it will be best I 
 mean your going to Chattie's. You won't think
 
 132 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 us unkind, I am sure. Just until Gracie is a little 
 stronger." 
 
 " May I not coine in and see her sometimes ? " 
 asked Katie, much more distressed than was ap- 
 parent. 
 
 " Yes, yes, certainly, as often as you like. Only 
 make a point of talking cheerfully when you do. 
 She mustn't have dismal notions put into her 
 head bad for an invalid, you know. Not that 
 you meant to do it, of course. But we have to be 
 careful. You will see Aunt Chattie this afternoon, 
 and you can arrange with her about going. I 
 believe she mentioned to-morrow. She is a good 
 creature, and you'll enjoy being there though she 
 has some little peculiarities." 
 
 Mr. Balfour hurried away, and Katie passed on 
 to the drawing-room, looking and feeling dejected. 
 
 " Mother says you are going to stay at ' The 
 Nutshell' for a month," was Winnie's greeting. 
 " Glad it isn't I." 
 
 " Hush, Winnie ! How you meddle ! " said Mrs. 
 Balfour. " Mrs. Carrington sent an invitation to you 
 yesterday evening, Kate, by my husband. She would 
 be pleased if you could stay with her for a little 
 while two or three weeks, perhaps. I believe she 
 expects a visitor in a month, but her spare room is
 
 AN INVITATION. 133 
 
 free till then; so it is a good time. And really it 
 would be a kindness to poor Chattie. Harold is 
 so seldom at home, that she must be fearfully dull. 
 She has wished for some time to propose this, but 
 has not liked to do so sooner." 
 
 One possible answer after another flashed through 
 Katie's mind, but she only said, "Uncle has just 
 told me." 
 
 " Oh he has ! Just after asking me to explain ! " 
 Mrs. Balfour looked uncomfortable, perhaps from a 
 sense of possible discrepancies in the two reports. 
 " Well, I believe you will enjoy a month with Chattie, 
 as much as anything." 
 
 " I am very fond of her," said Katie gravely. 
 " Aunt Euth, may I come and see Gracie every 
 day?" 
 
 " Of course you may come as often as you like," 
 said Mrs. Balfour. "That is to say she can see 
 you when she is well enough. Grace has had too 
 much talking lately, and we think she ought to be 
 kept more quiet." 
 
 Katie understood, and she went to her own room, 
 heavy-hearted. 
 
 Mrs. Carriugton's version of affairs, that after- 
 noon, was short and simple. She held Katie's hands, 
 smiled quizzically, and said
 
 I 3 4 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " So they want to get rid of you already, iny 
 dear ! " 
 
 Katie's lips were unsteady. Mrs. Carrington bent 
 to kiss her forehead. 
 
 " Poor little woman ! But don't be distressed ; 
 it means nothing. Some fancy of Kath's probably. 
 Thornton said they wished to keep Grace more quiet. 
 Generally the tide sets the other way." 
 
 " I think I know the real reason," said Katie, in 
 a husky tone, when she had removed her jacket, 
 and taken a seat, and Mrs. Carrington recurred to 
 the subject. " Should I be wrong to tell you, Aunt 
 Chattie? Gracie and I have had one or two little 
 grave talks. Kath came in once, when I was saying 
 a hymn to Gracie. And yesterday, Gracie told Kath 
 plainly that she might at any time be worse, and 
 that she ought to think; and she said she wanted 
 me to help her." 
 
 " That brought matters to a point, I suppose. 
 Well, I had my hopes. Poor lamb ! and they want 
 to cut her off from your help." 
 
 " It wasn't much. I couldn't do much," Katie 
 said very low. " Aunt Chattie, it will be all right 
 with Gracie." 
 
 " One may not doubt it, my dear. The lost lamb 
 seeking the Shepherd, and the Shepherd seeking His
 
 AN INVITATION. 135 
 
 lost lamb, He will soon have her in His loving 
 arms." 
 
 " If she isn't there now. I think she is," Katie 
 whispered. 
 
 " And you have been able to bring her a little 
 help, Katie?" 
 
 " Not much. It was only just a few words." 
 
 " That's about as much as most of us are good 
 for. Better few words than many, in most cases. 
 But, Katie, Katie, you ought to be singing a song 
 of thankfulness, not looking sad and down-hearted. 
 The very angels in heaven rejoice when a wander- 
 ing lamb is sought and found. I dare say your 
 feelings have been a little hurt ; but what does 
 that matter ? Cheer up. You will come here to- 
 morrow, and we shall learn to know one another 
 thoroughly." 
 
 " Shall I not be in the way ? " 
 
 " Not in the least. I should have asked you 
 sooner, but it seemed wise to wait. Now the 
 thinf has been taken out of our hands, and I am 
 
 O ' 
 
 much pleased to have you. I hope you will have 
 
 no objection to living in a Nutshell." 
 
 " I have been doing that for some weeks." 
 
 " A walnut- shell ! But this is a very much smaller 
 
 description of nut, my dear. However, life itself
 
 136 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 need not be small, because one's surroundings are 
 small; and the mere fact of living in a large house 
 doesn't make one's life great." 
 
 " Oh no ! " Katie said involuntarily. 
 
 So bright an hour of conversation followed, that 
 Katie went back really happy in the thought of 
 her proposed visit ; only there was the remem- 
 brance of Grace. That " only " weighed on her 
 heavily. She loved Grace very much ; and she could 
 read sorrow in Grace's wistful eyes that evening. 
 
 No words alone were permitted them. Only 
 when Katie went into Grace's room for a good-bye 
 kiss, Grace pressed her hand, and said, " You must 
 come very often and see me, dear." 
 
 " I shall try to come every day," Katie said. 
 " And I shall always be thinking of you." 
 
 " It will be nice for Aunt Chattie to have you," 
 said Grace, in a quiet tone. " One must not be 
 selfish." 
 
 " I would much rather have stayed here, with 
 you," escaped Katie. 
 
 Kath made an impatient movement. 
 
 " Would you ? " Grace asked. " Oh no ; that would 
 not be right. But come often, Katie. And take 
 care of yourself there. It is a draughty little house, 
 I am afraid."
 
 AN INVITATION. 
 
 137 
 
 " Gracie will be tired," said Kath. 
 
 " Good-bye, darling," Katie whispered, and she 
 went away with moist eyes not expecting that 
 daily, for a fortnight to follow, she would be denied 
 admittance to Grace's room.
 
 CHATTER XV. 
 
 KEPT APART. 
 
 jJjOILED again, Katie?" asked Mrs. Car- 
 rington. 
 
 More than two weeks had passed since 
 Katie first came to " The Nutshell." It had been 
 a very happy fortnight, peaceful and quiet, but full 
 of interest. Mrs. Carrington could be a fascinating 
 companion when she chose ; and with Katie she 
 did choose. 
 
 Moreover, Harold was often in and out ; much 
 oftener than Katie had expected. She liked him 
 increasingly ; and at present she did not in the 
 least realise how very much he liked her. Only 
 Harold's own mother was aware of his growing 
 attachment. He and Katie were on easy cousin- 
 like terms, though they were not really cousins. 
 
 The one drawback to Katie's enjoyment was the 
 constant recollection of Grace. Day after day she 
 went to " The Walnuts ; " and day after day she
 
 KEPT APART. 139 
 
 vainly asked admission into the sick-room. One 
 afternoon the invalid \vas asleep; another, she was 
 fatigued ; another, she had talked too much already. 
 Katie was grieved, dreading lest Grace should mis- 
 understand her non-appearance. She had, however, 
 to submit to Kath's dictation. 
 
 This afternoon her absence had lasted longer than 
 usual. Mrs. Carrington greeted her on her return 
 with the almost daily question, " Foiled again ? " 
 
 " No ; I saw Gracie for a few minutes." 
 
 " How does she seem ? " 
 
 " I thought her very ill ; but Kath calls her 
 better." 
 
 " Did Gracie seem to think herself better ? " 
 
 " I don't know. I could hardly tell," Katie 
 said soberly, yet with a light in her eyes. "We 
 had not many words. Gracie seemed so weak, 
 and Kath was trying all the time to hurry me 
 away. I don't think I should have seen Gracie 
 even to-day, only I met Uncle Thornton outside, 
 and when I said I had not seen her for a whole 
 fortnight, he was vexed, and took me straight into 
 her room. I hope I have not done harm by saying 
 that to him." 
 
 " Does Gracie understand why you have not been 
 before ? " 
 
 " I couldn't ask her ; but I said how sorry I
 
 140 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 was that she had not been well enough to see me 
 and I think she understood, from her manner. 
 I do think she looks happier, not excited, but so 
 peaceful" 
 
 " Dear child ! " 
 
 " She had the little copy of the Christian Year 
 lying by her," continued Katie, speaking not quite 
 easily " the one I gave her on her birthday. And 
 she said, 'I like this so much, Katie. 1 wonder 
 whether any of my favourites are your favourites 
 too.' And then she gave it to me open I think 
 it must have been opened there on purpose, and 
 two lines were marked underneath with a pencil, 
 
 " Lo, at Thy feet I fainting lie, 
 
 My eyes upon Thy wounds are bent, ' ' 
 
 Katie's voice failed. 
 
 " Yes, yes, I know," said Mrs. Carrington. " They 
 belong to Good Friday. Yes ; I know : 
 
 " ' Upon Thy streaming wounds my weary eyes 
 Wait, like the parched earth on April skies.' 
 
 That is how it goes on." 
 
 " There were only the two lines marked." 
 
 " Enough, too. That is a safe position to be in. 
 
 Did anything more pass ? " 
 
 "No; Kath began talking of other things, and 
 
 then she said Gracie ought to be quiet, and I had
 
 KEPT APART. 141 
 
 to cuuie away. I don't think she or Aunt Ruth 
 want to have me back." 
 
 " Perhaps not. And I am by no means anxious 
 to part with you. But, my dear, I cannot feel that 
 I should be right to make your staying here longer 
 than the month a possible matter. If Gracie needs 
 your help and it is very evident that she does turn 
 
 to you " 
 
 Katie looked up with distressed eyes. 
 "But that is just it," she said. "What am I 
 to do ? Aunt Ruth and Kath will be so vexed, 
 and yet, if Gracie speaks to me of such things, I 
 can't refuse to answer." 
 
 " I think you would be refusing to do your 
 Master's work if you did. I know it is a difficult 
 position. But you do not stand alone. You will be 
 guided." 
 
 " Only " Katie murmured. 
 
 " Only, of course, it is painful to be where one 
 feels one is not welcome. It hurts one's pride. 
 Must you give in to that? The fact is, I have a 
 visitor coming in a fortnight ; and I have told your 
 aunt that you must go back to 'The Walnuts' 
 then. It would not be convenient to me to 
 defer my visitor. She has long looked forward to 
 spending this New Year with me ; and I know 
 that all her arrangements are made. I don't say
 
 142 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 it would be an absolute impossibility to put her 
 off, though, for her sake, T should be very sorry. 
 If I felt it to be right, I would propose delay; 
 but I do not. I feel that Gracie needs you, and 
 ought to have you. And I think you ought to 
 be willing, for Gracie's sake, to disregard feelings 
 and to go." 
 
 " Yes, I will. I will do what you think best, 
 and indeed, I should not like you to put off your 
 friend. But I am so happy with you; and it is 
 different at ' The Walnuts.' " 
 
 " That is a good hearing for me," said Mrs. 
 Carrington, smiling, " so far as your happiness 
 here is concerned, I mean. Well, we have an- 
 other fortnight together, and, I hope, a happy 
 Christmas." 
 
 Katie's appeal to her uncle took effect, and she 
 was no longer denied admittance to Gracie's room ; 
 though Kath shortened her visits as much as pos- 
 sible, and took care to be always present. 
 
 Towards Christmas came a spell of inild weather, 
 not usually accounted healthy in December, but it 
 seemed to suit the invalid better than the cold spell 
 preceding. She rallied considerably, and was able 
 once more to come downstairs, even to take her 
 place at meals amid the family circle.
 
 KEPT APART. 143 
 
 How far the improvement was genuine, or likely 
 to prove lasting, might well be doubted. But Kath 
 was in gay spirits, and everybody talked much of 
 Grade "getting well again;" everybody except 
 Bessie and the inmates of " The Nutshell." 
 
 Gracie herself gave no opinion on the subject, 
 one way or another. When Kath told her merrily 
 that she was soon to be " quite strong, and able to 
 take a four-miles' walk," she only smiled. 
 
 Katie found Kath so much pleasanter and more 
 lovable, these brighter days, that she began to 
 wonder how much of past petulance and coldness 
 had not sprung from sheer depression and unhappi- 
 ness. Some people do show sorrow through the 
 medium of ill-temper. 
 
 To her astonishment, two days before Christmas, 
 she came upon Kath in the morning-room of " The 
 Walnuts," hard at work upon her cream-coloured 
 muslin. Grace was on the sofa, with a book, and 
 Elizabeth was busy at a side-table over her never- 
 ending accounts. 
 
 " Don't look so astonished," Kath said in her 
 gayest and sweetest manner. " I fished it out from 
 one .of your drawers. You shouldn't have known 
 anything about it, till it was done ; but I am afraid 
 a little trying on is needful. Can you spare twenty 
 minutes presently ? "
 
 144 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " How kind of you," Katie said gratefully. "But, 
 Kath, I meant to make it for myself, some time. 
 I didn't think there was any hurry. Can't I help 
 you now ? " 
 
 " It will be finished by the time you come home. 
 The fact is, Mrs. Prince has asked some of us to a 
 musical At-Home one evening, the 2nd of next 
 month, and my father particularly wishes you to 
 go in this dress. She crowds her rooms, and there 
 will be very good music, glees, most likely, and a 
 first-rate violinist." 
 
 " I wonder she thought of asking me." 
 
 " Oh, it seems she knew your mother years and 
 years ago, when they were both girls. My father 
 wants you to make a good impression." 
 
 " And are you going ? " 
 
 " I'm not sure. Two of us are asked ; but it will 
 depend on how Gracie is." 
 
 " I shall stay with Gracie," Bessie said from her 
 corner. 
 
 " But father particularly says you are to go, 
 Bessie. Mrs. Prince complained to him the other 
 day that she never saw you now. And Winnie will 
 be at home ; so, if Gracie is pretty well, you and I 
 can both be away, perhaps." 
 
 " I can't go, I don't think it right." 
 
 Bessie spoke sharply, and Kath's eyebrows went up.
 
 KEPT APART. 145 
 
 " 1 shouldn't have thought it right to disobey my 
 father," she said. 
 
 " I must decide for myself in matters of right and 
 wrong. I can't do what I know to be wrong," Bessie 
 rejoined, in the same tone as before. 
 
 " Somehow, modern martyrs are not so interest- 
 ing as historical ones," said Kath, with a light 
 laugh. 
 
 " You don't understand anything about it, of 
 course," said Elizabeth, flushing. 
 
 " Bessie need not decide yet. I don't think we 
 shall do any good by discussion," Grace interposed ; 
 and the matter was allowed to drop.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 BY THE FIRESIDE. 
 
 JHE Nutshell drawing-room, though small, 
 was pretty in shape, and gracefully ar- 
 ranged. It looked especially cosy on 
 Christmas Eve, with a bright fire blazing, and a 
 slender wreath of holly round the mirror over the 
 mantelpiece, as well as round two or three picture- 
 frames. Harold and Katie had pricked their fingers 
 in company over that wreath. 
 
 The afternoon proved dull and rainy, and curtains 
 had to be drawn sooner than usual. 
 
 Harold found himself able to come home for a 
 whole week at Christmas, to his mother's no small 
 pleasure. Katie certainly shared that pleasure, and 
 the little "Nutshell" was made sunny by the addition 
 of his cheery face and voice. 
 
 It had been a busy day many Christmas gifts 
 and remembrances being sent out by Mrs. Carringtou 
 
 to friends and neighbours, rich and poor. A good 
 
 146
 
 BY THE FIRESIDE. 147 
 
 many people came to see her also, dropping in irre- 
 gularly, some on business, some only to express kind 
 wishes. Business now was over, and calls seemed 
 at an end. Mrs. Carrington sat on one side of the 
 fire, knitting, and often looking at Katie, who sat 
 on a stool at the other side. Katie was not doing 
 anything. She appeared lost in thought; the fire- 
 light dancing on her brown head, one cheek leaning 
 on one hand, and a pair of serious eyes bent on the 
 red coals. Nobody else was present, Harold having 
 gone for a walk. 
 
 Mrs. Carrington began to wonder whether a 
 long letter from Katie's father, received some hours 
 earlier, could have contained any worrying infor- 
 mation. 
 
 " Katie, you are intensely grave," she said at 
 length. 
 
 Katie looked up with a smile. " Am I ? I was 
 only thinking." 
 
 " What about ? Christmas ? " 
 
 " No, I'm afraid not. Oh no only I was only 
 thinking of of Bessie and other things." 
 
 " I should hardly have described Bessie as a 
 ' thing.' But let that pass. What has Bessie been 
 doing ? " 
 
 " It isn't exactly anything that she has done. 
 I had a talk with her this morning. She told me
 
 148 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 one thing I was very glad of. Mr. Hamilton has 
 been twice to see Gracie, and he is going again. 
 Did you know ? " for Mrs. Carrington showed no 
 surprise. 
 
 " Yes ; but I thought it best that you should 
 hear it from themselves. Your aunt and Kath 
 would not have admitted him did not, indeed 
 but Gracie appealed to your uncle, saying she 
 wished to see him, and he insisted that she should 
 have her own way. Was that what you are so 
 grave about ? " 
 
 " Oh no. But Bessie doesn't think I am right 
 to go to Mrs. Prince's musical evening on the 2nd. 
 I told Bessie I felt sure my father would not 
 wish me to stay away. Mrs. Prince knew my 
 mother years ago, and Uncle Thornton particularly 
 wants me to be there. Aunt Chattie, you don't 
 think I shall be wrong to go ? " asked Katie, lifting 
 an anxious face. 
 
 Mrs. Carrington smiled. " My dear Katie, you 
 are asking me to decide for you a question which 
 you must of necessity decide for yourself." 
 
 " But would you mind going if you were 
 me?" 
 
 ''If I were Katie Balfour, I should have to view 
 the question from Katie's standpoint. Being Chattie 
 Carrington, I have to view the question from Chattie
 
 BY THE FIRESIDE. 149 
 
 Carrington's standpoint. The answer need not be 
 the same in the two cases." 
 
 " Then I don't see how one is ever to know what 
 to do," sighed Katie. 
 
 " Here comes Harold. Shall we ask him ? " 
 
 Katie assented shyly, and Mrs. Carrington entered 
 into an explanation. 
 
 " I was trying to make Katie see that, in these 
 matters, we have generally to decide for ourselves," 
 she said in conclusion. 
 
 Harold had gone to a seat in front of the fire, 
 whence he had a good view of Katie's brown head. 
 Before responding, he took the poker in hand, and 
 cleared the lower bars of ashes. 
 
 " That's better. You looked dull when I came in. 
 Well, Katie, has my mother made you see it ?" 
 
 Katie looked doubtful. Harold glanced from her 
 to his mother, and back again. 
 
 " One command is clear, at all events," he said. 
 " ' Love not the world.' The gist of the whole matter 
 lies there in the heart's affections ; in the loving or 
 the non-loving." 
 
 " But what is really and truly meant by ' the 
 world ? ' " asked Katie. 
 
 " You might get various answers to that question," 
 Harold said, smiling. " In an ordinary way, people 
 count ' the world ' to mean all those who are a little
 
 150 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 more gay than themselves all those who allow what 
 they themselves do not allow." 
 
 " Yes, I know. It is most dreadfully puzzling. 
 If one could only be quite sure what the Bible 
 exactly means by ' the world ! ' ' 
 
 " I should say that first there is the simple and 
 every-day meaning of this actual world in which 
 we live the earth and the things contained in it. 
 We are not to love this world as our home. It is 
 not to be first in our hearts. As citizens of heaven, 
 we are 'strangers and pilgrims' on earth, and the 
 things of earth are to be secondary used and en- 
 joyed, but not loved with any absorbing affection, 
 and held at all times loosely." 
 
 " Yes, and " 
 
 " There is also the meaning of ' the world ' in the 
 sense of all that is in opposition to God. ' Love 
 not the world, neither the things that are in the 
 world. If any man love the world, the love of 
 the Father is not in him. For all that is in the 
 world ... is not of the Father, but is of the 
 world.' You see the true dividing-line. What- 
 ever a man thinks, says, does, allows, is either ' of 
 the Father ' or ' of the world.' " 
 
 Katie said " Yes " slowly. 
 
 " In the days when St. John wrote, the matter 
 was comparatively an easy one. A sharp dividing-
 
 BY THE FIRESIDE. 151 
 
 line then existed between the persecuted Church 
 and the fashionable heathen world. But things now 
 are much more complicated and puzzling, for the 
 Church glides into the world by gradual stages. 
 So far as we have power to see, there is no sharp 
 visible line of demarcation." 
 
 " It is just all that which makes everything so 
 dreadfully difficult," said Katie. " How is one ever 
 to know what is really right ? " 
 
 " First of all, make up your mind distinctly, 
 that your decision is to be, not merely your own, 
 but under the leading of the Holy Spirit. You must 
 ask Divine guidance, and wait for it. Secondly, 
 make up your mind no less distinctly that your 
 decision is to be for yourself individually, not for 
 your friends and acquaintances. For yourself you 
 must decide for others you need not. You and 
 I have each to draw a line' for ourselves .between 
 things harmful and harmless guided Toy certain 
 rules ; but we are not called upon to apply our rules 
 to all around." 
 
 Katie raised her face and asked, " What rules ? " 
 
 There was a little pause, and then Harold said 
 
 " '!F THY PIIESENCE GO NOT WITH us ' " Another 
 
 break before he added, " When the answer can be, 
 ' MY PRESENCE SHALL GO WITH THEE,' one need have 
 no more fear."
 
 152 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " And if one can't be sure ? " 
 
 " Then be on the safe side and abstain." 
 
 " What other rules ? " asked Katie. 
 
 " There are minor tests to be applied, such as 
 what is healthy for ourselves ? what does or does 
 not hinder spiritual advance ? Also, we have to 
 weigh the possible effect of our example on other 
 people perhaps on weaker natures, led easily into 
 what might be perilous for them. We need more 
 of St. Paul's loving self-abnegation, and readiness 
 to give up what is even harmless, rather than risk 
 drawing another into danger. And I think it 
 would be better if we were all less eager to go 
 to the extreme verge of what is allowable. The 
 safe side in doubtful matters is best. But one must 
 always come back to one simple question, What 
 does God will us to do ? If we are led by His 
 Spirit, if we follow steadfastly in the steps of Christ, 
 we shall not be allowed to yo far wrons."
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 SOMETHING GONE WRONG. 
 
 I was just looking for you," said 
 Mrs. Balfour. 
 
 "Yes, mother." Bessie had on hat and 
 jacket, and carried a big pile of small books. 
 
 " You are not going out ? " 
 
 " I am going to look up some of my Sunday 
 scholars. Mr. Hamilton told me - " 
 
 " That can wait. I want you to sit with Grace 
 this afternoon." 
 
 Elizabeth's low forehead wrinkled. " But, 
 mother - " 
 
 " It is the first fine afternoon we have had for 
 nearly a week, and Kath must come for a round 
 of calls with me. It is of no use to look vexed, 
 Bessie. I am getting terribly behindhand in my 
 calls, and I do not mean to put them off any longer. 
 You were out the whole of this morning surely 
 
 that is enough." 
 
 153
 
 154 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " I was only at the school. If I had known " 
 
 "It was a pity you wasted your time, whether 
 you knew or not," Mrs. Balfour said, arranging 
 her mantle. " At all events, you cannot go this 
 afternoon. Grace is not well enough to be left 
 alone." 
 
 " Why can't Winnie ? " 
 
 " Winnie has her classes. Don't be absurd," said 
 Mrs. Balfour, with a look which showed whence 
 Elizabeth's frowns were inherited " German, and 
 drawing as well." 
 
 " Katie would come. I'll leave word on my 
 way." 
 
 " No, you will not, I choose you to stay at home 
 yourself. Aunt Chattie has friends to afternoon tea, 
 and she would not like Kate to be away. Besides, 
 it is ridiculous. Why are you to be the only one 
 never of any use in the house ? Now mind, I shall 
 start in half-an-hour with Kath ; and you must be 
 with Grace until we come home." 
 
 Mrs. Balfour swept away, and Bessie stood still, 
 vexed and unhappy. It was part of her character 
 to dislike exceedingly having plans upset. Another 
 afternoon would no doubt do equally well for visit- 
 ing her Sunday scholars, but Bessie had set her 
 heart on using this particular afternoon for the 
 purpose; and she had no idea of yielding grace-
 
 SOMETHING GONE WRONG. 155 
 
 fully to her mother's wishes. Anybody could take 
 care of Grace, she said to herself, and those 
 children did need looking after. What a shame it 
 was ! " Mother always liked to hinder anything 
 good." Poor Bessie did not discriminate at all be- 
 tween the doing of good and the pleasing of self, 
 in such matters ; nor did she attempt to weigh the 
 comparative claims upon her leisure of the cottage 
 children and of her own suffering sister. 
 
 " Hallo, Bessie ! you're looking most awfully 
 glum." So spoke Winnie, dashing downstairs, with 
 a big drawing portfolio -in her arms. She stood still 
 to draw on a pair of gloves, gazing critically at 
 Elizabeth. " What's gone wrong ? " 
 
 " Mother wants me to stay with Grace." 
 
 " I shouldn't have thought that such a tremen- 
 dous penance. I wish mother would let me off my 
 classes, and I'd stay with her gladly enough, poor 
 dear." 
 
 " You ! Yes, of course," Bessie said, with a touch 
 of contempt for the said classes. " That is different, 
 I have work that ought to be done." 
 
 " So have I," responded Winnie. " Why not ask 
 Katie to come ? She'd be delighted." 
 
 " Mother said I must not," hovered on Bessie's 
 lips ; but she did uot utter the words. Sharp temp- 
 tation came over her, and she was taken unawares.
 
 156 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " I don't see why she shouldn't only Aunt Chattie 
 has somebody going to tea." 
 
 " Oh, only the two old Miss Finches. Katie 
 won't care about that. She'd like nothing better 
 than to come ; and Gracie would much rather have 
 her than you, if you are going to be grumpy all 
 the time." 
 
 " Mother said I was not to go out. I wish you 
 would call at ' The Nutshell,' Winnie, and propose 
 Katie's coming." 
 
 " I shall tell her it will be a charity to you and 
 Gracie too. You'd give anybody the dismals." 
 
 Ordinarily, Bessie would have taken offence at 
 Winnie's freedom of speech, but her mind was set 
 now on one aim, and she scarcely took in the full 
 meaning of the words uttered. Winnie hurried off, 
 banging the door behind her ; and Elizabeth slowly 
 removed hat and jacket, leaving them with her pile 
 of books inside the dining-room. She hoped to be 
 soon released. 
 
 Grace was in the drawing-room, able to come 
 downstairs still, though not so bright as a few days 
 earlier. Kath was standing by her, dressed to go 
 out, when Bessie appeared. " We shall not be so 
 very long, Gracie," she said. "Everybody is sure 
 to be out this fine afternoon. Mind you take care 
 of yourself, darling ; and don't talk too much.
 
 SOMETHING GONE WRONG. 157 
 
 Your cough is so naughty to-day." Kath's fresh 
 cheek was laid lovingly against Grace's pale brow. 
 Kath was looking her prettiest, in a brown winter 
 costume, with brown jacket and hat to match, 
 relieved only by a little crimson neck-tie. 
 
 " Kath, somebody will want to steal you," Grace 
 said playfully. 
 
 " Kath, are you ready ? " Mrs. Balfour swept 
 imposingly forward, with a great deal of silk flounce 
 and rustle. She had too much the air of a " special 
 get-up " for the occasion. 
 
 Kath followed her mother from the room, and 
 Elizabeth stood listlessly about near a window, 
 gazing out in persistent style. Gracie spoke once 
 or twice, and received answers so short, that she 
 made no more remarks. A quarter of an hour crept 
 by in silence. 
 
 " I can't imagine why Katie does not come," 
 Bessie remarked then. 
 
 " Were you expecting her ? " asked Grace. 
 
 " Yes, at least I am not sure. I thought she 
 might, if she knew Kath would be out." 
 
 " I don't suppose she does know it," Grace said, 
 somewhat wistfully. She, too, would have been glad 
 to see Katie enter. Bessie looked out of the window 
 again, and sighed audibly. 
 
 " Do you want to go out, Bessie ?" asked Grace.
 
 158 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " It can't be helped." 
 
 " But it can. I don't in the least mind being 
 alone, if you will just tell Ann to let in no callers, 
 and to be sure to come directly if I ring." 
 
 " Oh, no ; mother would be angry," said Bessie. 
 
 " I don't see why she should. I really do not 
 mind in the least, Bessie ; really I do not. Where 
 do you want to go ? " 
 
 " Oh, only to look up my Sunday scholars. 
 Some of them have been so irregular lately, and 
 Mr. Hamilton wants me to call on them all at their 
 homes. And I don't see how I am to do it this 
 week if not to-day. To-morrow and next day are 
 quite full." 
 
 " I suppose children are apt to be irregular at 
 Christmas time," said Grace. 
 
 " Yes ; only we can't pass it over. If mother 
 had told me at breakfast time that she wanted me 
 to stay in this afternoon, I might have seen some 
 of them this morning. But she never tells one till 
 the last moment." 
 
 " I think you had better go now," said Grace. 
 
 " I don't suppose I must," said Bessie reluctantly. 
 " But if you don't mind being a few minutes alone, 
 I could just go into the front room and watch for 
 Katie. I sent a message by Winnie, so she is 
 almost sure to come. One can't see down the
 
 SOMETHING GONE WRONG. 159 
 
 road here. You could ring the bell for me any 
 moment." 
 
 " Yes, certainly," Grace said, with kind cheerful- 
 ness. "Don't hurry back. I am so sorry to be a 
 clog on you." 
 
 Bessie vanished, and Grace lay quietly, feeling, it 
 must be confessed, a little lonely and sad. The sense 
 of being a hindrance is always trying. 
 
 " A few minutes " may mean little or much. 
 They grew to the number of twenty, then thirty. 
 Grace knew that she ought to take her medicine, 
 and she touched the hand-bell gently, but no response 
 came. A cord fastened to the downstairs bell-handle 
 should have been placed within her reach, and had 
 not been. Grace was scarcely up to the exertion 
 of rising without a helping hand, this being one of 
 her weak days. She closed her eyes and waited 
 patiently. 
 
 Suddenly the door burst open, and a maid rushed in. 
 " Miss Bessie ! Miss Bessie ! Oh ! " and she stopped 
 short, seeing only Grace. " I thought Miss Bessie 
 was here." 
 
 " Is anything wrong ? " asked Grace, startled into 
 rapid heart-beating. 
 
 " I'm afraid at least if I could see Miss Bessie," 
 stammered the girl. 
 
 Grace raised herself to a sitting position, and
 
 160 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 spoke resolutely. " Tell me at once what has hap- 
 pened." 
 
 " I don't know exactly, miss," the girl faltered ; 
 " only it's something gone wrong with the carriage, 
 and Miss Kath's got hurt."
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A CRASH. 
 
 ie late again for her drawing," 
 rs - Balfour, as the pony-carriage went 
 swiftly down the valley. 
 
 " It is not three o'clock yet. She will be almost 
 in time," said Kath easily. 
 
 " Not if - What is she going into ' The Nut- 
 shell ' for ? I shall stop that." 
 
 A word to the young coachman, and the pony- 
 carriage drew sharply up, outside the gute, just as 
 Winnie reached the door of Mrs. Carringtou's small 
 house. " Winnie ! " In her mother's voice sounded 
 a recall. 
 
 " Yes, mother." 
 
 " What are you wasting time here for ? Your 
 class begins at three." 
 
 " Bessie wanted me to ask - " 
 
 " Come here. I can't speak so loud. Well, 
 Bessie wanted what ? " 
 
 161
 
 162 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " She thought Katie wouldn't mind going to take 
 care of Gracie while you are out. Bessie wants to 
 go somewhere." 
 
 " Of course," Mrs. Balfour said shortly. " Bessie 
 generally does want to go somewhere. Anything 
 rather than sit down and be useful at home. 
 I suppose she didn't think it worth her while to 
 inform you that I had desired her to stay indoors, 
 and that I had said Katie was not to take her 
 place." 
 
 Winnie's eyes opened considerably. " No, mother." 
 
 "That is the state of the case. Now you may go 
 straight to your class." 
 
 Winnie hurried off without another word ; and at 
 the same instant Mrs. Carrington appeared in the 
 doorway, a light shawl over her head and shoulders. 
 
 " Coming in, Kuth ? " 
 
 "No, I have not time. We stopped for a word 
 with Winnie." 
 
 " I saw Winnie." 
 
 " She is late for her drawing already, so I told her 
 not to delay. Girls like any excuse for loitering," 
 said Mrs. Balfour. "Kath and I have a round of 
 calls to pay." 
 
 " How is Grace ? " 
 
 " Much the same as usual." 
 
 " Not wanting Katie, in Kath's absence ? "
 
 A CRASH. 163 
 
 " No, thanks." 
 
 " Because, if she did, Katie will be in soon, and I 
 could send her." 
 
 " No, thanks," repeated Mrs. Balfour, and the car- 
 riage went on. " That is a good thing," Mrs. Balfour 
 said. " We were only just in time. Katie alone with 
 Grace all the afternoon is just what I don't wish." 
 
 " Katie conies home in three days, mother." 
 
 " Well, we shall have to keep a sharp look-out. 
 Chattie might just as well have put off her other 
 visitor for a few weeks ; but she won't, so there's an 
 end of it. There never was anybody more obstinate 
 than Chattie can be on occasions." 
 
 " I suppose she is as anxious for Katie to be with 
 Gracie as we are for her not to be," said Kath. 
 
 " Very likely. I wish your father had not been 
 so absurdly yielding about those visits of Mr. 
 Hamilton. He has been twice in the course of the 
 last week, as if once a week would not have been 
 enough and too much ! " 
 
 Kath was silent for a second or two. " Mother, 
 I don't think really that Gracie has been the more 
 depressed for seeing him," she said. "He has a 
 cheerful manner, and doesn't go on too long. I 
 would rather not have had him in and out so often ; 
 but still, if Gracie wishes it so much " 
 
 " That does not make a thing good for her," said
 
 164 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 Mrs. Balfour. " I believe she is perpetually think- 
 ing now about dying. Nothing could be worse for a 
 person in her state." 
 
 Kath made no answer to this perhaps could not. 
 A close watcher might have seen her clasp her 
 hands tightly, half under the fur rug ; and her lips 
 worked. 
 
 "As for Bessie, I shall have to complain to your 
 father. She thinks nothing of going against rny 
 wishes. As if I had not spoken plainly enough ! I 
 should have thought Oh ! " 
 
 A scream broke from Mrs. Balfour. The little 
 carriage had rounded a sharp curve, driving rapidly. 
 Just beyond the curve, a large cart with two horses 
 was advancing towards them at a quick pace, the 
 heavy-faced countryman who held the reins keeping 
 very much to the wrong side of the road. His wrong 
 side was of course the right side to a vehicle coming 
 the other way; and in an instant cart and carriage 
 were vis-d-vis. 
 
 A collision might perhaps have been avoided had 
 the driver of the cart been a less stolid individual, 
 or had Mrs. Bal four's young driver been a more expe- 
 rienced " whip." As it was, the former did nothing 
 but stare, and the latter lost his head. One strong 
 pull to the right, and the accident might have been 
 averted, though but by a hair's-breadth. No such
 
 A CRASH. 165 
 
 pull was even attempted. There was a momentary 
 shriek from Mrs. Balfour a momentary start from 
 Kath and the crash came. 
 
 Crowds always collect like magic on such occa- 
 sions. When the pony carriage appeared round the 
 curve, not half-a-dozen people were in sight. Ten 
 minutes later, when Katie, who had been execut- 
 ing some little errand for Mrs. Carrington since 
 luncheon, happened to draw near, a dense mass of 
 lookers-on surrounded the scene of the disaster. 
 
 Katie's first impulse was to avoid a crush by 
 going round another way. Then she hesitated, and 
 asked of a woman, " Has anything happened to 
 anybody ? " 
 
 " There's been a haccident, miss a carriage and 
 cart run into each other," was the answer, " and 
 two ladies half killed." 
 
 "How dreadful!" Katie said involuntarily. "Are 
 they in the crowd ? " 
 
 The woman nodded assent. " I haven't got a 
 sight of 'em yet," she said, " but I mean to, afore I 
 go. It's Mr. Bal four's carriage a gentleman living 
 up on the hill all a smash, and the pony killed." 
 
 For one moment Katie felt sick with the shock. 
 Then she rallied, and pressed steadily into the 
 densest of the throng. " Let me pass, please ! You 
 must, please, let me pass !" she reiterated again and
 
 r 66 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 again, sometimes adding, "They are my aunt and 
 cousin ; please let me go on." 
 
 The people yielded, even helping her forward. 
 She reached at length the central space, round 
 which stood a gazing circle. In that space lay the 
 pony-carriage, a mere heaped-up wreck; and the 
 pony on his side, motionless. The young coach- 
 man was attending to the pony, moving himself 
 with a decided limp, and assisted by one or two 
 other men. 
 
 Mrs. Balfour, seated on a low grass bank at one 
 side of the road, was talking fast and crying in 
 hysterical fashion ; and Kath, white as a sheet, 
 lay, half on the ground, half against a kind-faced 
 woman, who was trying to force some water between 
 her teeth. 
 
 " Aunt Euth ! " Katie said tremblingly, coming 
 close, "Oh, Aunt Euth, are you and Kath much 
 hurt?" 
 
 Katie was rather astonished to find her hand 
 clutched, and her appearance hailed with evident 
 relief. " Hurt ? I should think so," sobbed Mrs. 
 Balfour. " Oh dear ! I'm so glad somebody has 
 come at last. Why isn't your uncle here ? He 
 must know by this time. Such a frightful accident ! 
 I shall never get over it. My leg is frightfully crushed 
 I believe it is broken, but nobody will listen to
 
 ' Kath, as white as a sheet, lay on the ground." Page 166.
 
 A CRASH. 169 
 
 me. The cart wheels must have gone over it. 
 And Kath looks stunned. I don't know what we 
 are to do. I can't think why something isn't done. 
 And the pony killed ! If only we could get home ! 
 or even to ' The Nutshell.' If only that horrible 
 crowd would stop staring at us. Kate, can't you 
 do something ? Can't you send the people away ? 
 Oh dear dear dear my poor leg ! I don't know 
 how to bear it." Mrs. Balfour burst anew into 
 violent sobbing, and a man standing by said respect- 
 fully to Katie, " A cab '11 be here directly, miss." 
 
 "Where is the cart that did the harm?" asked 
 Katie, hardly knowing what she said. 
 
 " It's gone on, miss, not much the worse, except 
 that the horses were a good bit cut and scared. 
 The carriage came off worst, being so small, and 
 one of the shafts took the pony right in the chest. 
 I'm afeared he's past doing anything for him. 
 Farmer Hodges '11 have heavy damages to pay." 
 
 " Did the wheels go over Mrs. Balfour ? " asked 
 Katie, in a low voice. 
 
 The man shook his head. He had not been on 
 the spot till after the collision, but he didn't see 
 how they could have done so, judging from the posi- 
 tion in which the lady was found. Mrs. Balfour 
 had been tossed clean out with the shock, while 
 the younger lady had had to be extricated from
 
 1 70 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 the ruins of the pony-carriage. "It's a wonder 
 she wasn't killed outright on the spot/' he said 
 significantly. " I doubt but she's much the worst 
 of the two." 
 
 Katie moved a few paces, and hung over Kath, 
 uttering her name. Kath's eyes opened, and looked 
 at her. 
 
 " Kath, are you in pain ? " 
 
 The " Yes " was faint. Then there came a low, 
 " Don't tell Gracie ! " 
 
 " No," Katie answered ; and then a wonder shot 
 across her mind, would the news be kept from 
 Grace? Only Bessie was at home; and Bessie had 
 no presence of mind. 
 
 A cab drove furiously up at this moment, dividing 
 the crowd; and Mr. Balfour sprang out, in -a state 
 of great excitement. He wanted to hear all about 
 everything, and yet seemed capable of listening to 
 nobody. Mrs. Balfour sobbed, and Mr. Balfour 
 talked, and Kath lay again with shut eyes and 
 white lips, till Katie put firm fingers on her uncle's 
 arm, and drew his attention to Kath's state. " Could 
 they not go home at once, and leave everything else 
 till afterwards ? " 
 
 Mr. Balfour submitted to the hint, and the ladies 
 were helped in, Mrs. Balfour calling out at every 
 movement. Kath made no sound. She only grew
 
 A CRASH. 171 
 
 whiter with each touch. Once inside the cab, she 
 said imploringly to Katie, "Please conie too!" 
 and Katie obeyed at once. Kath's one other re- 
 mark through the drive was a whispered " I must 
 walk into the house, not to startle Grade."
 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 AT "THE WALNUTS" AGAIN. 
 
 i ESSIE had not meant to remain so long 
 away from Grace; but it was a habit of 
 hers to become very much absorbed in 
 any present occupation, and to lose sight of the 
 flight of time. She ought to have been well aware of 
 this tendency, and to have kept guard over herself. 
 Bessie, however, was not great in self-knowledge. 
 
 Having watched for ten or fifteen minutes at the 
 front window in vain, she began to fear that Katie 
 was unable to come. It occurred to her that if she 
 were to spend a little while over certain Clothing 
 Club accounts, which were falling into arrears, the 
 afternoon would not be quite " thrown away." It 
 did not occur to her that the afternoon would be 
 still less thrown away, if spent beside Grace's couch. 
 Bessie no sooner thought of this, than she acted 
 upon it. Before five minutes had passed, everything 
 
 else was forgotten in the mysteries of columns which 
 
 172
 
 AT "THE WALNUTS" AGAIN. 173 
 
 would not " add up right." Half-au-liour went 
 swiftly, a, she added and re-added, calculated and 
 re-calculated, rounding her shoulders and knitting 
 her brows, with not a thought of the invalid in the 
 drawing-room. 
 
 " Miss Bessie ! Miss Bessie ! " outside the door did 
 not reach her hearing. Had it done so, and had she 
 responded promptly, Grace would have been spared 
 a sharp shock. The speaker passed on, and Bessie 
 still sat over her accounts, unconscious of neglected 
 duty. 
 
 "Miss Bessie! Miss Bessie!" The summons 
 sounded again, hurried and alarmed, and in another 
 voice. Bassie began to be vaguely aware that 
 somebody wanted her, and she looked up slowly. 
 
 " Seventy-two and six, seventy-eight ; and four, 
 eighty-two ; and three, eighty-five ; eighty-five pence 
 are seven shillings and " 
 
 o 
 
 "Miss Bessie, you're wanted, quick," Ann said, 
 bursting into the room flurried and breathless. " Come 
 to Miss Balfour, please, Miss." 
 
 Bessie stood up with rather a startled air. " Grace ! 
 Isn't she so well ? " 
 
 " There's been an accident, Miss, and Miss Kath's 
 hurt, they say; and that goose of a Jane couldn't find 
 you, and went and told Miss Balfour straight out ; 
 and she do look bad."
 
 174 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 Bessie hurried into the drawing-room hardly 
 understanding, yet dismayed. Grace was sitting up 
 on her couch, with widely-opened blue eyes, and 
 breathing in struggling gasps. Bessie looked help- 
 lessly at Ann, and Ann caught up a bottle of salts, 
 bringing it to Grace ; but it was put aside. 
 
 "No, no, Kath Kath," panted Grace. "Ob, 
 tell me ! " 
 
 " I don't know much indeed, Miss," said Ann, 
 frightened at Grace's face. " I shouldn't wonder if 
 
 o 
 
 it isn't much after all. Them stories always do grow 
 so. Only the carriage ran into a cart, and the pony's 
 killed, and Missus and Miss Kath's thrown out. But 
 we'll hear more soon. Master's gone off to see about 
 it all; and I shouldn't be surprised if it was just to 
 turn out to be nothing I shouldn't, really. Couldn't 
 you lie down and keep still, Miss, and maybe you'll 
 feel better ? " 
 
 " Yes, do, Gracie," added her sister. " I don't 
 believe it means anything, after all. So stupid of 
 Jane to come and frighten you like this. And I was 
 close at hand." 
 
 " She says she couldn't find you anywhere, Miss 
 Bessie," rather resentfully observed Ann, indignant 
 for Grace, who was a universal favourite. " Couldn't 
 you lie down, Miss Balfour ? " 
 
 " I can't just yet," Grace said gently, trying to
 
 AT "THE WALNUTS" AGAIN. 175 
 
 smile, as the hard gasps for breath went on. " When 
 this is better. Please find out more." 
 
 Ann went at once, and Bessie stood by her sister's 
 side, feeling very helpless, not at all realising how 
 serious a matter was such a shock for one in Grace's 
 state, but aware that she would herself be blamed, 
 and therefore sufficiently uncomfortable. 
 
 " I suppose I must have been longer in the next 
 room than I meant to be," she said. ' " I really didn't 
 think time had gone so fast. I was just doing one 
 or two accounts." 
 
 " I can't talk. Kath ! " was the only answer. " If 
 I could know " 
 
 " I don't believe it is anything. As Ann says, an 
 accident is always exaggerated. Most likely the 
 pony is bruised, and nobody else hurt." 
 
 "Please, hush, I want to listen," entreated 
 Grace. 
 
 Bessie obeyed, feeling slightly injured; and no 
 further sound broke the stillness, except Grace's 
 quick panting. The palpitation had become a little 
 less violent, and she was able presently to lean back 
 on her pillows, with eyes and ears intent. Ann did 
 not return, and Bessie sat silently beside the couch. 
 Minutes followed minutes in slow succession, till the 
 front door could be heard to open. 
 
 " Bessie, go ! " Grace whispered. 
 
 M
 
 1 76 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " I don't think I ought to leave you." 
 
 " Yes, please, go quickly. I can't wait." 
 
 Bessie hesitated, then stood up, and moved towards 
 the door, wondering whether it would be right to 
 obey. But the door opened from outside, and Katie 
 came in. 
 
 " Gracie " 
 
 " Oh, Katie, tell me aU ! " 
 
 Katie was terrified at Grace's changed look, but 
 she did not show what she felt. She spoke quietly, 
 holding Grace's hand 
 
 " Darling, you mustn't be so frightened. The car- 
 riage ran into a cart, and was broken up. Aunt 
 Euth's leg is very much bruised, I think, but that 
 seems all; and Kath was faint at first. Yes, she is 
 hurt a little, I think, and we want her to lie down 
 in the spare room and keep quiet till Mr. "Willoughby 
 comes ; but she says she must come in for a moment 
 to give you a kiss." 
 
 "Don't let her. I'll go to Kath," said Grace. 
 
 " Oh, no, I am sure she would not like that." 
 
 The door opened again, and Kath entered slowly, 
 yet with a smile on her white lips. 
 
 "Kath! Kath, you are not fit for it," gasped 
 poor Grace. " How could they let you ! " 
 
 " Gracie ! " The one startled sound broke from 
 Kath, as her eyes fell on her sister, and then again
 
 AT "THE WALNUTS" AGAIX. 177 
 
 she looked resolutely bright. "Of course I have 
 come. I ani not to be so easily kept away." 
 
 " And you are not hurt, Kath, not really hurt ? " 
 entreated Grace. 
 
 " Nothing much," replied Kath cheerfully. " They 
 say I am to keep quiet for a few hours ; and Katie 
 will take my place with you meantime. I am going 
 to lie down on the spare-room sofa. You won't be 
 worried, now you have seen me." 
 
 " If only you didn't look so pale." 
 
 Kath gave a little laugh. " One can't go through 
 
 o o o o 
 
 a break-down like that, and not be the least bruised 
 and shaken. It wouldn't be reasonable. Where am 
 I hurt ? Oh, I fancy I am a degree black and blue 
 here and there, not at all wonderful if it is so! Now, 
 dearie, I am going to obey orders, and have a rest, 
 just for an hour or two. Katie will come back to you 
 directly." She bent to kiss Grace, twice, thrice ; .and 
 then walked away, slow in movement still. Grace 
 made no effort to detain her. At the door Kath 
 glanced back, smiling, " Good-bye, Grace." 
 
 Grace's answering look was strangely sweet. The 
 distressed excitement had vanished since Kath's 
 appearance. "Good-bye," Kath repeated, gazing 
 wistfully. 
 
 "Good-bye, sweet Kath," Grace answered. 
 
 Katie followed her cousin from the room ; and
 
 1 78 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 outside the door Kath turned to her a face of 
 anguish. " Kath, dear, you are in pain. Take my 
 arm." 
 
 " Yes. It isn't only that ! " 
 
 No other word passed Kath's lips, till she had 
 reached the spare-room sofa; and then she broke 
 into one passionate moan, " It will kill her ! " 
 
 " No," Katie began, only to be interrupted. 
 
 " It will kill her ! Could you not see ? Mr. 
 "Willoughby has so dreaded any shock, and this 
 this she was told so suddenly no warning. Ann 
 says so. Bessie away, and she alone ! So mad of 
 me ever to leave her." 
 
 "If I had but known, I would have come to 
 Gracie," Katie said sorrowfully, unknowing how the 
 words added to her cousin's self-reproach. 
 
 " Don't mind me ; never mind about me," urged 
 Kath. " Go back to Gracie, and don't leave her. 
 Don't trust to Bessie. Nobody else knows how to 
 do anything. And you do love Gracie ; I know you 
 do. Never mind about me. I shall be better by- 
 and-by. If only it didn't turn me so queer all over, 
 I could stay with Gracie, and I should mind nothing 
 then. I'll just lie here till Mr. Willoughby comes. 
 Oh, go to Gracie, and don't let her be worried, or 
 think me ill." 
 
 Katie did as she was desired, and within five
 
 AT "THE WALNUTS" AGAIN, 179 
 
 minutes Mr. Willoughby arrived. He spent a con- 
 siderable time with Katli, and bestowed shorter 
 attention upon Mrs. Balfour ; after which he came 
 to Grace ; and Katie knew in a moment that he 
 thought ill of her. 
 
 " You are not to make yourself unhappy, by 
 fancying things worse than they are," he said 
 seriously to Grace, after asking a few questions. 
 " Your cousin will look after you to-night in Kath's 
 place. No, I can't let Kath do anything to-night. 
 She must keep from any exertion for two or three 
 days. I don't think she is so much hurt as one 
 might have expected, but the bruises are severe ; 
 and there seems to be something of a strain. I have 
 ordered her to lie still. Winnie and one of the 
 maids will help her to bed presently. Bessie is busy 
 with Mrs. Balfour, nothing wrong there, except a 
 rather painful leg. Now, Miss Balfour, I should 
 like to give you one or two directions." 
 
 " Kate is a beautiful nurse," Grace said, as he 
 offered her his hand. She seemed reassured, and 
 smiled into his face. Mr. Willoughby was an old 
 family friend, and had known the girls from child- 
 hood. 
 
 " That is right. Of course you don't mean to lie 
 awake, or to keep her awake ; but still, I am going 
 to "ive her a little hint or two beforehand. When
 
 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 she comes back you are to be wheeled iuto your 
 room, and to go to bed, as quietly as possible." 
 Outside the door he turned to Katie, and said in 
 a significant low tone, " She is worse." 
 
 "Much worse?" Katie asked anxiously, as they 
 neared the hall door. 
 
 " Yes. Nothing was more to be feared for her 
 than such a shock. The effects may pass off; 
 I cannot tell yet. I shall be here again to-morrow 
 early; meantime, if there should be any cliange, 
 send for me at once no matter what hour."
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 PASSING A WA Y. 
 
 I think I must be stronger than 
 was J 113 * 1 a ^ktle stronger," said Grace. 
 She spoke wistfully, lying in bed, with 
 Katie by her side. 
 
 " Do you, darling ? " 
 
 " I don't want to make too much of it ; but 
 I don't think I could have borne bein: startled 
 quite so well a few weeks back. I mean I should 
 most likely have been the worse for it afterwards." 
 
 " I think we shall have to take extra care of you 
 now, for a day or two." 
 
 " Perhaps. I don't mind that. But it would be 
 nice to feel that I was getting on a little, perhaps. 
 It isn't wrong to wish to get well, is it, Katie ? " 
 
 " No," Katie answered at once. " Im a sure it 
 is not wrong, darling. Only I suppose we ought 
 to be willing to go when Jesus calls." 
 
 " Yes, willing. I think I am willing," Grace
 
 1 82 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 said calmly. "I don't feel afraid now, as I did. 
 He docs love me." 
 
 Katie could only whisper " I am so glad." 
 
 " I have wanted to tell you often. Everything 
 is so different now. Kath will never let me speak of 
 Him poor sweet Kath. She can't bear to think 
 of losing me. But it would be happier for her 
 by-and-by, perhaps, if she could let me speak a 
 little now. I have often longed for you, Katie." 
 There was an echo of past loneliness in Grace's sigh. 
 All Kath's loving tendance had not sufficed. One 
 need had been unmet. 
 
 " I mustn't let you talk too much." 
 
 "'No, not too much ; but a little will not hurt. 
 I have had nobody to understand me lately, and 
 you do so well understand. Katie, dear, it would be 
 very nice to get well again ; but, if I don't, you will 
 know that I am not afraid now. And I suppose 
 that, when Jesus calls, no one who loves Him can 
 be really sorry to go." 
 
 " Oh, no ; impossible ! " Katie said earnestly. 
 
 " I like that," responded Grace. " I like you to be 
 so sure. It sounds real. And He is very real to 
 me now more every day, I think. It must be so 
 wonderful to see Him face to face ! I think one 
 ought to be able to wish for that most more than 
 anything in this world."
 
 PASSING AWAY. 183 
 
 "If we loved Him as He loved us!" whispered Katie. 
 
 " Yes, I suppose it is more love that we want. If 
 I am pretty well to-morrow, I should so like to have 
 Mr. Hamilton asked to come for Holy Communion. 
 Do you think he would ? He did once, a fortnight 
 ago, and I wanted you to be here too ; but it could 
 not be managed." 
 
 " If you are well enough in the morning. Try to 
 rest now, Gracie darling." 
 
 Grace smiled and shut her eyes, lying for awhile 
 very quietly. Nearly half-an-hour passed before 
 she stirred suddenly, coughed, and tried to raise her- 
 self in the bed, with a hurried, "Katie!" 
 
 "Do you want anything, dear?" asked Katie. 
 
 "I think I think not so well! Katie help 
 I can't breathe ! " 
 
 Katie flew to ring the bell, and was back imme- 
 diately, holding up the struggling girl. Grace had 
 never in her presence had so terrible an attack of 
 breathlessness, and instead of yielding to the usual 
 remedies, it grew worse. Bessie and Ann were 
 speedily in the room, and Mr. Balfour himself hur- 
 ried off for the doctor. Before Mr. Willoughby could 
 arrive, deadly fainting had set in. When he came, 
 it was to remain long. One remedy after another 
 was tried, and tried in vain. There seemed to be no 
 rallying power.
 
 1 84 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 For a while every precaution was taken to hide 
 from Kath the state in which Grace lay. But the 
 spare room was too near, and all sounds could not 
 be hushed. Kath's inquiries grew so urgent that 
 evasion became impossible, and Winnie at length 
 had to admit that Grace was worse. All Mr. Wil- 
 loughby'a authority could hnrdly restrain her then 
 from coming to Grace's side. 
 
 " I can't stay away from her how can I ? " Kath 
 cried passionately. " I am always with Gracie when 
 she is ill. Why should I not go ? It would not 
 hurt me." 
 
 " That is the question," Mr. Willoughby said. He 
 had been brought in to reason with her, Winnie's 
 efforts at restraint proving ineffectual. "A little 
 over-exertion now might make a serious matter of 
 what would not otherwise be serious." 
 
 " I don't mind. If only I can be with Gracie now, 
 I am willing to pay for it afterwards." 
 
 "But it is not a question of payment on your 
 part only. You have to think of others," said Mr. 
 Willoughby. " And there is another point to be 
 considered. If you went to Grace, you could not 
 stay with her. You are not in a state for sitting or 
 standing about." 
 
 " I could lie on the sofa " 
 
 " And let Grace have the anxiety "
 
 PASSING A IV AY. 185 
 
 Kath could oiily sob. " Oh, it is so hard so hard 
 to be kept away. Will Gracie be better soon ? Is 
 she worse than usual ? " 
 
 " I am afraid it is a worse attack than she has had 
 yet; but there may be an improvement presently. 
 Kath, you could do no good by coming," said Mr. 
 Willoughby. " You shall know the truth. Grace's 
 state is very critical, and the slightest agitation 
 might turn the scale, not in her favour. I think a 
 rally is by no means impossible, even now; but that 
 is all I can say. I cannot give you leave to go to 
 her at present, for her sake even more than for your 
 own. She would distress herself about you." 
 
 Kath hid her face. 
 
 " You understand me. At present I dare not risk 
 it. But if there should be a marked change for the 
 
 worse 
 
 " You would call me then ? " muttered Kath. 
 " Yes; if necessary, you should be carried in." 
 " Promise," she said, with fast-falling tears. 
 " So far as lies in my power, I promise." 
 And he went. Kath uttered not another word, 
 but only lay, looking, listening, waiting. 
 
 Not many in the house could sleep that night. 
 . Towards three o'clock there seemed to be an 
 improvement. The breathlessness lessened, and 
 Gracie was more like her usual self. Katie felt
 
 186 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 surprised that Mr. Willoughby did not look better 
 satisfied. Instead of going home, he only proposed 
 to have an hour's rest on the dining-room sofa. 
 
 Mr. Balfour, who had been in and out constantly, 
 went back to his wife. Winnie and Ann both went 
 to bed. Kath was told of the change for the better, 
 and fell into a doze, a smile on her lips. 
 
 Katie and Bessie watched still beside Grace. 
 Neither of the two would confess to weariness ; and, 
 indeed, there was no one to take their place. 
 
 Grace seemed drowsy now, and disinclined to pay 
 attention to anything; but after some repose she 
 opened her eyes and said softly, " If I could have 
 lived to serve Him ! " 
 
 Katie was leaning over her instantly. "To serve 
 Jesus, darling ! " 
 
 " Yes ; He died for me, and I have never done 
 anything for Him." 
 
 " I think you have borne pain patiently for Him. 
 That isn't nothing." 
 
 " It seems so little. And all those years before ! 
 I would work now for Him if I could." 
 
 " But He understands that you can't." 
 
 " Oh, I know. So loving and kind, isn't He ? " 
 
 The large blue eyes looked earnestly from one to 
 the other. 
 
 " Tell Kath of Jesus what He is. I shall want
 
 PASSING AWAY. 187 
 
 her there, too. Tell her He is so satisfying. 
 Nothing worth having doing living for except 
 Jesus ! " 
 
 " Gracie, you do believe in Him ? " asked Bessie 
 anxiously. 
 
 Grade's smile was exceedingly sweet. " He has 
 shown Himself to me," she said. " Bessie dear, 
 try try to honour Him more. You don't mind 
 my saying just that." 
 
 " No ; but I do try to honour Him," replied 
 Bessie. 
 
 Gracie's eyes were bent on her. 
 
 " Yes, I am sure. Only, perhaps in little every- 
 day things perhaps there might be more of Christ 
 not self and not judging others." 
 
 " I will try," Bessie said, quite humbly. 
 
 There came a slight pause, during which Katie 
 watched Grace intensely. Was there something 
 unusual in her look ? 
 
 " If 1 had but known sooner ! I do wonder 
 now that I haven't thought more cared more 
 only for Christ ! . . . One can't do much ever. 
 But what one can . . ." 
 
 " Gracie, you are tired," said Katie. 
 
 Another sweet calm smile answered her. 
 
 " Won't you rest now ? " 
 
 " Yes I think now. Good-uumt." And the
 
 1 88 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 blue eyes closed, with one short sigh. The still- 
 ness following seemed strange. No breath broke it. 
 
 " Bessie, Bessie ; call Mr. Willoughby." 
 
 Katie stayed herself, alone beside the silent figure 
 lying there asleep. 
 
 " Our friend Lazarus sleepeth," the Master Him- 
 self said of one whom He loved. And that was the 
 manner of Grace's sleep. Only she would not 
 awake again to this life before the Eesurrection 
 Day. 
 
 When Mr. Willoughby came in, one look at Gracie 
 told him, and one look at him told Katie what had 
 come upon them all. And the two words which 
 broke from Mr. Willoughby broke at the same instant 
 from Katie" Poor Kath ! "
 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 KATH'S LOSS. 
 
 'S doze lasted long, broken only by pain 
 of moving. She stirred uneasily often, 
 and muttered now and then; but though 
 perhaps never sound asleep, she was never quite 
 awake, till after early dawn. 
 
 She did not know that Katie was lying on the 
 sofa. Katie had come by her own wish, and Mr. 
 Willoughby would not refuse consent. Bessie had 
 broken down, and could not be depended on for 
 composure. Winnie was asleep, and it had been 
 decided that she should be allowed to sleep on until 
 morning. Mr. and Mrs. Balfour of course knew the 
 sad blow which had fallen upon them. But there 
 seemed no one fitted to undertake poor Kath ; and 
 Katie, in her own grief, felt that her best comfort 
 would be in tending Kath " for Grade's sake." Yet 
 how Katie dreaded the moment when she would 
 
 have to tell Kath, no one knew but herself. 
 
 189
 
 190 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 When Kath at length stirred and looked up, 
 Katie was beside her, in her dressing-gown, with 
 unbound hair, pale cheeks, and tearful eyes. 
 
 " Katie ! you should not have left Gracie," Kath 
 said reproachfully, sitting up in bed. " Please go 
 back to her directly. Just tell me how she is now, 
 and then don't wait a moment. I shall do alone, I 
 assure you." 
 
 " How are you this morning ? " faltered Katie. 
 
 " I don't know. About the same, I suppose. I 
 am dreadfully stiff all over. But I mean to get up 
 this morning, and go to Gracie. Mr. Willoughby 
 shall not keep me from her any longer. Just tell me 
 how she is, and go. Don't wait. She will want you." 
 
 " No, Kath not now." 
 
 The tone, more than the words, said much. A thrill, 
 as if from an electric shock, passed through Kath. 
 
 " If Gracie is worse Mr. Willoughby promised 
 
 promised to call me." 
 
 " Dear Kath, we could not. He wasn't even in 
 the room. It carne so suddenly there was no time. 
 Only Bessie and I were with her." 
 
 Kath shuddered. " You don't mean ? Katie ! " 
 she said hoarsely. 
 
 Katie's sobs were the only answer. She had kept 
 up well hitherto, but the long strain of the night 
 had been too much for her.
 
 KATH'S LOSS. 191 
 
 " You don't mean ! tell me- 
 
 Then, when Katie would have taken her hand 
 and tried to speak comfortingly, she snatched the 
 hand away, as if a touch were unbearable, and buried 
 her face in the pillows. Silence for a while might 
 be best, and Katie would not break it. She sat 
 waiting, mastering her own distress with difficulty. 
 No word or sound came from Kath, only now and 
 then a writhing movement. 
 
 " Kath, dear, wouldn't you like me to tell you 
 more ? " Katie asked at length. 
 
 No response was given, and she waited again, 
 till Kath turned up a white fixed face, and said 
 passionately, " He promised to call me ! " 
 
 " No one knew no one could tell," said Katie. 
 " It came almost in a moment." 
 
 Then, without asking leave anew, she gave a few 
 particulars, telling of Grace's calm sweetness, and 
 of her message to Kath, and of the sudden peaceful 
 end. Katie's tears fell fast, and her voice faltered 
 often, while Kath's face was again hidden. 
 
 " Mr. Willoughby seemed to be so thankful that 
 there was not more suffering," Katie added. " He 
 said there might have been, it might have been so 
 different. Kath, darling, it must be such rest to her, 
 after all she has borne. Don't you think we ought 
 
 to be a little glad for her sake, even if " 
 
 N
 
 1 92 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " You ! " Kath broke out wildly. Poor Katie had 
 made the very common mistake of offering too soon 
 words which might, perhaps, later on, have brought 
 a comforting thought, but which as yet could only 
 rasp the new wound. " You ! what is it to you ? 
 Only a cousin ! and only with her a few weeks ! 
 She was mine ! my darling my own all I care 
 for in the world ! Oh, I can't bear it ! " and Kath 
 burst into an agony of weeping. " Grade ! 
 Gracie ! Gracie ! I can't live without her ! I can't ! 
 Oh, go away, leave me alone ! She was nothing 
 to you." 
 
 Poor Katie's loving heart was sorely wounded, 
 though she could well excuse the bitterness of 
 Kath's first grief. She sat patiently on, making no 
 rejoinder, till Kath so vehemently insisted on soli- 
 tude, that Katie had no choice but to obey. She 
 begged Bessie to take her place, and then went to 
 her own room to wash and dress, feeling very sad 
 and weary, but determined to be in readiness to give 
 help when it might be needed. 
 
 A long letter from her father by the early post 
 was an unspeakable comfort to Katie. In losing 
 Gracie, she had lost the only one in the house from 
 whom she had received unvarying kindness, and 
 ou whose affection she could really depend; and 
 a sense of loneliness pressed upon her. While
 
 KATH'S LOSS. 193 
 
 sorrowing with all around, she was counted by them 
 as only an outsider ; but every word of Mr. Balfour's 
 letter breathed tenderness and sympathy. 
 
 "Dear, dear father!" Katie murmured. "If I 
 haven't anybody else in the world, I have him ! " 
 
 But it was not Katie's way to spend time in 
 thinking about herself. Breakfast proved a mournful 
 meal; only Mr. Balfour and Winnie being present, 
 beside herself. Both of them were much over- 
 come. " Ah, Katie ! sad, isn't it ? my poor girl ! " 
 Mr. Balfour said brokenly. " And you were with her 
 to the last, we shall not forget that ! " The next 
 moment, to her surprise, Winnie was clinging to 
 her, sobbing violently ; and Katie found attempts at 
 comfort by no means spurned in that direction. 
 
 A little later, Katie went back to Kath, and found 
 her lying with closed eyes, refusing to speak or to be 
 spoken to. Mr. Willoughby coming in, could obtain 
 little or no response. " Keep her quiet," was his 
 brief order. " It is a severe shock ; and she is not 
 up to much." 
 
 The Old Year went out, and the New Year came in, 
 gravely and sadly for the Balfours. 
 
 Katie found herself able to be increasingly helpful. 
 With the exception of Kath, all in the house more 
 or less turned to her in their trouble. It seemed 
 as if all she had been able to do for Gracie towards
 
 194 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 the last, had drawn her into closer contact with the 
 family as a whole. Mr. Balfour liked to have Katie 
 to walk with him; and Mrs. Balfour liked to have 
 Katie to sit with her. The latter, though almost 
 recovered, counted herself a semi-invalid still, and 
 made much use of her niece, to Katie's great 
 pleasure. Bessie often talked to Katie of Grace ; 
 and "Winnie, from that first morning, clung to her 
 strangely, perhaps finding in Katie just the warmth 
 of affection which she had never till now felt the 
 want of, but which no one else in the house could 
 or would give to her. Only Kath held aloof. 
 Only Kath was cold and ungracious. It might have 
 been partly from sorrow, and partly from illness ; 
 but Katie could not be sure. For Kath was ill yet ; 
 she seemed too hopeless and miserable to get well. 
 The strain was better, and the bruises disappearing ; 
 but Kath made no effort to be up and about again. 
 Mr. "Willoughby grew really anxious about her, as 
 time went on. Her one great interest in life gone, 
 she appeared to care for nothing else. He feared 
 that she might sink into a condition of permanent 
 ill-health, from sheer lack of energy to get well. 
 
 It did sometimes seem strange to Katie that 
 Bessie should not suffer more from self-reproach. 
 There could be no doubt that the shock which had 
 brought on Grade's last and fatal attack was, partly
 
 KATH'S LOSS. 195 
 
 at least, due to Bessie's thoughtlessness, Bessie's 
 wilfuluess. But Bessie was one of those people who 
 do not suffer greatly from self-blame. She had by 
 nature a complacent belief in her own actions. If 
 not always intrinsically right, they had, at all 
 events, "seemed right at the time." This was 
 enough for Bessie's peace of mind. 
 
 This, however, was not enough for Kath. Much 
 of remorse mingled with the pain of loss. If Bessie 
 by nature would blame herself too little, Kath by 
 nature would blame herself too much. She had 
 never forgotten the slight gust of temper which had, 
 perhaps, in some measure, caused Gracie's severe 
 attack of hemorrhage several weeks earlier, had 
 never forgiven herself for it. And she could not 
 now forget, or forgive herself for having left Gracie 
 alone, still more for having left her in Bessie's 
 charge, and for not having summoned Katie. But 
 while haunted day and night by these recollections, 
 Kath would not speak of them. Pride sealed her 
 lips. 
 
 Kath might perhaps have been more ready to 
 turn to Katie, but for another ingredient in her 
 distress. Though on the one hand fully aware of 
 Katie's usefulness in the sick-room, and really grate- 
 ful for it, on the other hand, Kath could not forgive 
 Katie for having, at the last, filled her place with
 
 196 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 Gracie. Moreover, she felt that in one sense, Katie 
 had been actually more to Gracie than she herself 
 could have been. This was the bitterest drop of 
 all. Kath made no mention of it ; but the thought 
 rankled. And thus it came to pass that, as weeks 
 went on, Katie strove still to win her way into 
 Kath's love and confidence, and strove, or seemed 
 to strive, in vain.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 A QUESTION. 
 THERE goes a 'king's ransom!' Whew!" 
 
 shivered Harold, as he dashed through "The 
 Nutshell" garden, and into the small house, 
 just escaping a renewed rush of March wind and 
 March dust. " It is cold, and no mistake ! Well, 
 mother dear, pretty well?" He stooped to kiss 
 her affectionately; then pulled off his coat, and took 
 refuge near the fire. " Haven't felt such an icy 
 blast all the winter. I suppose this is a parting flap 
 from the coat-tails of King Frost, before he takes his 
 final departure. By-the-bye, I saw Kath just now, 
 driving with Aunt Ruth. So my uncle has found a 
 pony at last ? " 
 
 "Mr. Willoughby ordered daily drives for Kath, 
 and there was no more delay." 
 
 " I wonder they venture to take her out on a day 
 like this. She looked shrivelled up, notwithstanding 
 110 end of furs."
 
 198 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " She gets so depressed indoors, aud yet seems to 
 have no energy for walking." 
 
 " Poor Kath ! She and Gracie always seemed to 
 be one. Well, I don't like her look now," Harold 
 said gravely. 
 
 " It was a good deal worse six weeks ago. But 
 she doesn't get on as she should. There seems a 
 resolute unhappiness about her, a determination to 
 care for nothing in life acrain." 
 
 o *j 
 
 " Somebody else doesn't look unhappy," Harold 
 said, as a bright girlish face flashed along the road. 
 " Mother ! I never saw Katie with such a colour. 
 Not coming in ! Why didn't she give one look in 
 this direction ? " 
 
 "Katie seems to be enjoying the March breezes," 
 said Mrs. Carrington. 
 
 "Norfolk has inured her to cold blasts. Why 
 couldn't she come in ? " repeated Harold. 
 
 " I dare say she is on an errand for somebody. 
 They are learning how to make use of Katie at ' The 
 Walnuts.' Well, it will not be much longer," mused 
 Mrs. Carrington. " Harold, iny dear, I have a letter 
 this morning, and there is an enclosure for you." 
 
 " From Uncle Stephen ? " and Harold's hand was 
 extended. 
 
 " Yes. You may read mine as well as yours." 
 
 The clock ticked for a while in uninterrupted
 
 A QUESTION. 199 
 
 silence. Harold was entirely absorbed iii the two 
 letters ; and Mrs. Carrington was entirely absorbed 
 in watching him. A smile grew upon her face, as 
 the healthy glow in his cheeks deepened. 
 
 " Satisfied, my boy ? " she asked at length. 
 
 " No, mother," Harold said, looking up. " Not 
 till I have Katie's own answer." 
 
 He put both sheets on her knee, adding, " Eead 
 mine too," and she obeyed. 
 
 " It is a very hearty consent," she said quietly, at 
 the end. " I never knew Stephen Balfour express 
 himself more warmly. But, as he says, he is taking 
 you on trust. It is natural that he should wish you 
 to wait till he comes home." 
 
 " Mother, I don't think I can." 
 
 " Three weeks only ! " 
 
 "Three or four. I don't think I can wait." 
 Harold spoke steadily, but his mother could see a 
 brown hand clenched till it grew white. " I can't 
 tell you what the suspense is to me. I have no 
 
 peace day or night, thinking of her, and if No, 
 
 I don't think I can wait. I must put it to the test 
 soon, and learn the best or worst. I am not like 
 most people, you know. Perhaps it is impatience ; 
 but I can't work well under suspense. And Uncle 
 Stephen does not forbid me to speak to Katie. He 
 takes me on trust, he says, from what you and
 
 200 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 Katie say, as well as my own letter. What Katie 
 says, mother, so she must have spoken kindly of 
 me. But that may mean nothing, and she is so 
 simple, I don't know what to make of her manner. 
 Only I do not think I can wait much longer." 
 
 " You always were an impatient boy," Mrs. Car- 
 rington answered, letting her hand rest on his arm. 
 She had made no attempt to interrupt him earlier. 
 " You might be wiser now to wait awhile, for your 
 own sake, I mean, apart from Stephen's wish. But 
 it is true that he leaves you free ; and I cannot, of 
 course, decide for you. How would it do if I asked 
 Katie to spend the next three weeks with us ? " 
 
 " Mother, will you ? " 
 
 Mrs. Carrington smiled at his eagerness. Before 
 she could speak again, there was a light tap at the 
 door, and a bright face peeped in. 
 
 " May I come in, Aunt Chattie ? " 
 
 " Come in, my dear." 
 
 "Oh, I didn't know Harold was here!" Katie 
 gave him her hand demurely, and then turned to 
 Mrs. Carrington for a second kiss, her eyes dancing 
 with delight. 
 
 " Aunt Chattie, oh, such good news ! " she cried. 
 " I have a letter from my father this morning ; and 
 he is coming home in three weeks. And he is so
 
 A QUESTION. 201 
 
 much stronger, quite a different man, he says ; and 
 his cough really gone. To think of only three weeks 
 more ! " 
 
 " I have had a letter from him too, Katie, and he 
 tells me the same good news." 
 
 " And you are glad ! Oh, I know you and Harold 
 are glad." 
 
 "I ought to be, but I don't feel at all glad," 
 Harold responded gravely. " It may be nothing to 
 you to leave us all, Katie ; but it is by no means 
 nothing for us to lose you." 
 
 Was the tone one of real pain ? Katie could not 
 make out. She looked at him wistfully, and the 
 shadow on his face grew lighter. 
 
 " The time hasn't gone so very slowly, child, after 
 all," said Mrs. Carrington. 
 
 " Hasn't it ? I don't know. Yes, I think it has," 
 said Katie. " So much has happened, and I have 
 seen so much more of people and things. I feel years 
 older than last autumn. But I wouldn't undo it, if 
 I could now. I shouldn't like not to know you all, 
 and not to have known dear sweet Gracie." 
 
 " Norfolk life will seem strange again, after Pens- 
 hurst," said Harold. 
 
 " Oh, lovely ! " Katie answered, and again his face 
 fell. Then she stopped, and seemed to be consider-
 
 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 ing. " Yes, because it will be home. And having 
 dear father again ; yes, that will be lovely. But I 
 am almost afraid Eckham will seem just a little dull 
 and lonely at first. I've no friends there, and I 
 shall want you all so much." 
 
 Unconsciously or instinctively her eyes went to 
 Harold. Mother and son both marked this, and 
 Harold's spirits rose. 
 
 It was not at all Mrs. Carrington's wish that 
 matters should come to a point just then. She was 
 very doubtful as to I^atie's state of feeling about 
 her son, and she counted that delay would be wisest, 
 as she had said, for Harold's own sake. But at 
 this moment the maid came to the door, and said, 
 " Please 'm, Mrs. Smart wants to see you, in a ter- 
 rible hurry. Her little boy's gone and scalded 
 himself, and she don't know what to do." 
 
 Mrs. Carrington was accustomed to such appeals, 
 and she went at once, though wishing that the little 
 boy might have chosen some other time for the feat. 
 Mrs. Smart's cottage lay only a minute's walk dis- 
 tant, and the description of the child's condition 
 was such as to make her hurriedly slip on warm 
 wraps, and set off with the distressed mother. 
 Once there, Mrs. Carrington could not quickly get 
 away again.
 
 A QUESTION. 203 
 
 So it came to pass that Katie was left with Harold 
 for a good half-hour ; she waiting for Mrs. Carring- 
 ton's return, not even knowing her to have left the 
 house; he, bent upon making the most of this unex- 
 pected opportunity. 
 
 "Well, Katie, my dear, I hope you have not 
 thought me very rude," Mrs. Carrington said, re- 
 appearing at length in bonnet and cloak. " I found 
 there was nothing for it but to see Tommy Smart 
 myself, and to persuade the mother to call in Mr. 
 Willoughby. Badly scalded, poor little boy. What 
 have you two been talking about ? " 
 
 She paused a moment, looking from one to the 
 other. Harold's face was glowing with hopefulness ; 
 and Katie's was crimson. 
 
 "So that is it, children," she said slowly. 
 " Harold ! Harold ! you wilful boy. You never 
 had a grain of patience. Well, Katie ? " 
 
 Katie gave one shy look up ; then flung herself 
 into a pair of motherly clasping arms. 
 
 " Why, Katie ! Harold, you have spoken too 
 hastily, and frightened the little woman." 
 
 " No, mother, it's not that," Harold answered. 
 
 " Then what is it ? " 
 
 And from the face hidden on her shoulder came a 
 smothered sound of " Father."
 
 204 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " Ah, yes," said Mrs. Carrington. " But Harold 
 has told you that your father consents." 
 
 " Oh, yes, only only " 
 
 " Only you think he would be lonely. Time enough 
 for such considerations," said Mrs. Carrington, 
 stroking the smooth head. " One step is all that can 
 be taken at a time, Katie. And there may be a long 
 waiting season before you both. If your father 
 would consent and he would not to marriage on 
 a hundred and thirty pounds a year, Harold's mother 
 could not." 
 
 That brought Katie to an upright position. " Oh ! 
 as if " she said. 
 
 Mrs. Carringtou laughed, and made her sit down. 
 " Yes, yes, I understand," she said. " But you see 
 it is no immediate question of having to leave your 
 father." 
 
 " If I know that Katie is mine, I can wait," said 
 Harold. 
 
 " Till a living drops from somewhere," added Mrs. 
 Carrington. 
 
 " And when it does, why should not our home 
 be Uncle Stephen's too ? " 
 
 " True, why not ? " echoed Mrs. Carrington. 
 " Norfolk may not always suit his health, perhaps." 
 Then she asked softly, " Is that the only barrier in
 
 A QUESTION. 
 
 205 
 
 the way of Katie's answer such an answer as 
 Harold and I wish for ? " 
 
 Another pause, and Harold seemed almost to hold 
 his breath. Katie lifted her eyes, looked at him, and 
 said, "Yes."
 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 THE LAST THREE WEEKS. 
 
 [AS Katie come home yet ? " asked Mr. Bal- 
 four. hurrying into the drawing-room of 
 " The Walnuts." 
 
 Mrs. Balfour was seated before a blazing fire, with 
 feet propped on the fender, reading a novel. Kath 
 lay upon one of the sofas, not that used always by 
 Gracie during her illness, listless, white-cheeked, 
 and unoccupied. Winnie bent over a small drawing 
 at a side-table. Nobody else happened to be present. 
 
 " She looked in just for a moment. She's upstairs 
 in her room," said Winnie. 
 
 "I've a piece of news for you all, about Katie. 
 Guess what it is ! " 
 
 Mr. Balfour advanced to the middle of the room, 
 and stood there, beaming with the importance of his 
 secret. 
 
 " It's no news," said Mrs. Balfour. 
 
 " What ! did Katie tell you herself ? " 
 206
 
 THE LAST THREE WEEKS. 207 
 
 " Of course. She had the letter this morning. I 
 don't half know what we shall do without her now, 
 for my part," said Mrs. Balfour. "Whatever her 
 faults may be, she's always ready to do anything 
 for anybody ; and that's more than I can say for my 
 girls." 
 
 " Mother ! " protested Winnie, from her corner. 
 
 " Oh, you are talking of Stephen coming back 
 in three weeks. But I don't mean that. I have 
 another piece of news." 
 
 "What is it, father?" asked Winnie, and even 
 Kath glanced up with languid interest. 
 
 " Guess." 
 
 "Anything to do with ' The Nutshell ' ? " 
 
 Mr. Balfour nodded. 
 
 "Harold has come in for a fortune," hazarded 
 Winnie. 
 
 Mr. Balfour seemed very much amused. 
 
 "I wish he had. Couldn't be anything more 
 appropriate at the present moment. But no doubt 
 he counts what he has come in for, to be worth 
 any number of fortunes." 
 
 "Anybody engaged to be married? Harold!" 
 cried Winnie, clapping her hands. "And who's 
 she ? Father, you don't mean to say it's Katie ? " 
 
 " Just that exactly," said Mr. Balfour. 
 
 Mrs. Balfour was frowning. "Absurd choice of 
 
 o
 
 208 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 Harold's," she said. " Why, Katie has not a penny, 
 and will not have. What can Chattie be thinking 
 of ? Stephen will refuse his consent." 
 
 "Stephen has given his consent. Harold wrote 
 and asked for it, before speaking. Of course they 
 have no idea of immediate marriage. Katie could 
 not leave her father at present, and Harold's income 
 is not sufficient. However, they are both young, 
 and can well afford to wait for a few years." 
 
 " Absurd ! " murmured Mrs. Balfour. 
 
 "Well, I don't see that, if it makes them both 
 happy. Chattie wants to have Katie at 'The Nut- 
 shell' till her father comes home, quite natural, 
 too. I said we should be very sorry to lose her, but 
 she, of course, must go." 
 
 "When?" 
 
 "To-morrow, I believe, unless Katie prefers to 
 wait until next day. I declare, I shall miss her 
 face immensely. She always looks happy, and 
 never seems to be out of temper." 
 
 "I'm going upstairs to Katie," announced Winnie, 
 laying down her pencil, and springing to her 
 feet. 
 
 But at the same moment Kath was rising slowly. 
 "No, Winnie, by-and-by, please," she said. "I 
 should like to be the first." 
 
 Winnie immediately sat down again, not a little
 
 THE LAST THREE WEEKS. 209 
 
 astonished, but with no thought of resistance. Kath 
 was always allowed now to have her own way. 
 
 A soft tap presently sounded at Katie's door. 
 The softer footfall preceding had been unheard 
 within. Katie said, "Come in!" but Kath's sad 
 pale face was the very last that she would have 
 expected to see. 
 
 " Kath ! " escaped her lips, in a tone of surprise ; 
 and then a bright colour rushed into her cheeks. 
 " Oh, come," she said, as Kath seemed to hesitate on 
 the threshold. " Come, Kath dear." 
 
 " May I ? " Kath asked. 
 
 " Yes, please do. But this is too cold for you." 
 
 " Oh no ; it doesn't matter." 
 
 Kath shut the door, and came slowly across the 
 room. Katie was standing by the bed. Kath sat 
 down upon it, drew Katie down beside her, and 
 said, " I am glad " 
 
 Voice failed there. She put one arm round Katie, 
 and held her fast, trembling. 
 
 " Kath, 'you are cold," Katie said at first. " Oh, 
 don't, Kath darling, please don't." 
 
 " Katie, I don't know how to lose you." 
 
 The words seemed wrung from her. Katie heard 
 in amazement. " Why, Kath, I thought you didn't 
 care for me." 
 
 " Oh, how could One couldn't help loving
 
 210 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 you ! No, it hasn't been that. I have only been 
 miserable. And it will be worse now, now you 
 are going. The last of her my own, own Gracie! 
 and no hope no seeing her again. I don't know 
 how to bear it. Nothing to live for no looking 
 forward I don't know how to bear it. I have been 
 so unkind to you, but I thought you understood. 
 It was only all misery. And now you going too." 
 
 Incoherently as the sobbing sentences dropped 
 from her, Katie could not but gather the general 
 meaning. 
 
 " Would you rather I should stay here till father 
 comes home, and not go to ' The Nutshell ' ? " 
 
 "No," Kath said at once, speaking more calmly. 
 "It would not be right. Harold has a right to 
 expect " 
 
 "Harold will be there for a week," said Katie, 
 flushing. " Or perhaps ten days. Shall I come 
 back after that ? " 
 
 " Could you really ? Would you ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 Then, after a short silence, Kath whispered, "I 
 am glad, I am indeed. I ought to congratulate 
 you properly." 
 
 " I don't want that," Katie answered. " Yes, I 
 know you are glad you will be all of you. And 
 my father "
 
 THE LAST THREE WEEKS. 211 
 
 " Harold is really good. You and he will just suit 
 one another." 
 
 " Yes. Oh, I know ! Harold is " Katie was 
 
 smiling, yet her voice faltered. "I think I am silly. 
 It seems as if I couldn't quite believe it all yet." 
 
 " You deserve to be happy," murmured Kath. 
 
 " Oil no ; don't say that, please. It only makes me 
 feel how little you really know me. Kath, if only I 
 could see you a little brighter before leaving Pen?- 
 hurst, I should be so glad." 
 
 " I can't pretend to be bright," said Kath de- 
 jectedly. " There's nothing now that I care for, 
 since " 
 
 " But, Kath dear, I don't think Gracie would wish 
 you to give up all your life to sorrowing for her. I 
 am sure she would not." 
 
 "We were always together. Nothing is worth 
 doing without her." 
 
 "Yes, I know; I suppose one must have that 
 feeling at first. Only perhaps one oughtn't to give 
 way to it ; don't you think so 1 And there are 
 things worth doing." 
 
 Kath's lips moved. 
 
 " You know what Gracie wished so much at last, 
 that she had lived more for God." 
 
 Kath only sighed. 
 
 " If everything else in life were taken away, one
 
 212 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 might still have that," continued Katie. "I mean 
 one might have the love of God, and the Presence 
 of Christ, and His service " 
 
 "I did my very best to keep Gracie back from 
 God," said Kath, in a low voice. 
 
 " Yes ; but you weren't able. How thankful you 
 must be now," Katie answered. " Jesus was seeking 
 her, and no one could hinder His finding. Kath 
 darling, don't you think that perhaps He is seeking 
 you now ? " 
 
 Kath burst into fresh tears. " If I could care for 
 anything, I might care for that," she said. "I do 
 think you could help me, if you were to be here still 
 part of the time. But please don't tell anybody 
 what we have been saying." 
 
 Katie did not " tell anybody." She only arranged 
 quietly to spend the latter half of the remaining 
 three weeks at " The Walnuts." She was surprised 
 and touched to hear the many regrets expressed on 
 all sides about her coming departure. The time 
 sped quickly. The first ten days, spent at "The 
 Nutshell," were full of brightness ; and the last ten 
 days, spent at " The Walnuts," were full of usefulness. 
 Katie's "Life in a Nutshell'' whether walnut or 
 filbert was almost at an end. But before that end 
 came, she had the joy of seeing Kath really happier, 
 really less sad and hopeless.
 
 THE LAST THREE WEEKS. 213 
 
 Life to Katie herself looked anything but sad or 
 hopeless. She would rather have described it as all 
 sunshine. Yet her feelings were necessarily mixed 
 in kind. Between the prospect of seeing her father 
 once more, and the prospect of parting from Harold ; 
 between the pleasure of going back to her old home, 
 and the pain of quitting Penshurst; Katie did at 
 times find herself under a considerable strain. But 
 hers was a placid nature, and she possessed a happy 
 faculty for looking at the bright side of things.
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 TOGETHER. 
 
 CROWD of expectant people stood upon 
 the pier, and a steamer witli crowded deck 
 was drawing near. Small waves splashed 
 among the piles below, and sparkled in the sunlight. 
 A pleasanter day could hardly have been chosen for 
 Mr. Balfour's return to England. 
 
 Katie was there, among the waiting throng, stand- 
 ing between Mrs. Carrington and Harold. They 
 had brought her to welcome her father, unknown 
 to him. The cost was theirs. Katie herself could 
 not have ventured to incur it. 
 
 "I can't see him yet. He must be on board," 
 she said repeatedly. 
 
 " Patience, Katie ! All in good time," said Mrs. 
 Carrington. 
 
 " But if anything should have kept him ! Oh, I 
 do hope he is there, all right." 
 
 The big steamer was by this time alongside, and
 
 TOGETHER. 215 
 
 gangways were flung across the space between. A 
 stream of passengers poured landward. No signs, 
 however, were to be seen of Mr. Balfour. Katie's 
 bright face grew dull. 
 
 " Harold, he can't have come. What can be the 
 reason ? " she asked. 
 
 "Curious!" Harold remarked at length. "We 
 must wait a few minutes longer, Katie, till I can 
 get on board and inquire. Something may have 
 occurred to make him delay." 
 
 " But he has not written. Nothing would make 
 him put off, just at last, except illness. My father 
 is not given to changing his plans." 
 
 " Don't be too sure, Katie. Nobody knows yet," 
 said Mrs. Carrington. 
 
 Still the disembarking stream of passengers poured 
 on, blocking the gangways. Patience had to be 
 exercised. Harold drew Katie's hand within his 
 arm, and gave her a comforting look. 
 
 "Don't be afraid, my Katie. It will all come 
 right," he said. 
 
 " Only if anything should have happened to 
 him!" 
 
 Almost all the passengers had landed, when 
 suddenly a well-known venerable figure appeared 
 on the deck, walking towards the nearest way of 
 exit, now for a brief space almost clear.
 
 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " Father ! oh ! " Katie joyously exclaimed. 
 
 She drew her hand from Harold's arm, and ran 
 impetuously forward to join him. In a moment 
 she was close to the gangway, and at the same 
 instant two big men, carrying huge packages, dashed 
 over from the vessel, seeing little where they went, 
 and unconscious of Katie's vicinity. With a little 
 cry, Katie started back, avoiding thus what might 
 have been a really violent blow, but she did not 
 escape. The foremost man came into collision with 
 her, though not severely ; and the boards were slippery 
 with salt water. 
 
 Katie could never afterwards remember whether 
 she only slid, or was actually thrown to the very 
 edge of the pier, close beside the heaving gangway, 
 where nothing existed to keep her from going down 
 into the deep water, which splashed to and fro 
 between the steamer and the piles. She only knew 
 that there she found herself, kneeling, clutching 
 convulsively at something, one foot actually over 
 the abyss. 
 
 " Katie," Mrs. Carrington cried in terror, and 
 "Oh, my Katie!" sounded from the deck. But 
 almost before Katie had realised her danger, Harold's 
 two hands were grasping her firmly. 
 
 " Katie, are you hurt ? How was it ? How could 
 you ? " Harold asked hoarsely, and she saw him to
 
 TOGETHER. 217 
 
 be blanched and shaken, so that he could hardly 
 speak, even while he drew her back from the edge, 
 lifting her from the kneeling position. 
 
 " I don't know. It doesn'c matter. I'm all right," 
 Katie answered, speaking firmly. She was not even 
 pale or frightened herself ; the peril had been so 
 instantaneously at an end, also her mind was full 
 of Mr. Balf our. " I'm all right, indeed ; please let 
 ine go. Father is there." 
 
 " I can't trust you alone." Harold spoke huskily 
 still, and held her fast. "Wait one minute. Mr. 
 Balfour is coining." 
 
 " My dear Katie, you have alarmed us fearfully. 
 How did it happen ? " asked Mrs. Carrington's voice 
 by her side. 
 
 But Katie only looked up, and with an eager, " 
 father ! " was in his arms, regardless of spectators. 
 " Are you glad to be back, father ? Oh, it is delight- 
 ful," she murmured. 
 
 No response came at first, and then only, " I think 
 we had better get out of this crowd." 
 
 Katie looked up in his face, astonished to find him 
 pallid and hardly able to stand. " Why, father," she 
 said involuntarily, " father, dear, I thought you were 
 so much better." 
 
 "You have upset us all, Katie," Mrs. Carrington 
 said in a low voice. " Hush, don't spenk of it yer.
 
 218 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 Harold will see to the luggage, and we must get your 
 father to the hotel. Don't you understand ? " still 
 lower, in answer to Katie's look. "My dear, I 
 thought for a moment that nothing could stop your 
 going over, and he saw it too." 
 
 " Was I so near ? I didn't know," Katie answered 
 gravely. 
 
 She slipped an arm through Mr. Balfour's, and 
 helped his faltering steps. They lef c the pier behind, 
 crossed the road, and entered the hotel. A glass of 
 water had to be procured before Mr. Balfour could 
 manage to mount the stairs, but once in an easy 
 chair, in the little private sitting-room already 
 engaged, he seemed better. Katie was kneeling by 
 his side, with her head on his shoulder, when Harold 
 came in. 
 
 " All right and comfortable now ? " he asked in a 
 cheery voice. 
 
 " Harold has his natural colour again," Mrs. Car- 
 rington remarked. ' " Katie seems to have been less 
 alarmed than anybody." 
 
 " I suppose I had no time to think. Father, I am 
 so disappointed not to see you really well, as I 
 expected." 
 
 "I have been remarkably well. Not robust, 
 the doctors tell me I must not look for that, but 
 well. This is nothing, Katie, only the shock of
 
 TOGETHER. 219 
 
 seeing I don't think I can speak of it yet," he said, 
 with an effort. 
 
 " Don't, father, please. It is over now, and there's 
 no need. But what do the doctors think about 
 Norfolk for you ? " 
 
 Mr. Balfour made no immediate answer. Some- 
 thing in Harold's manner of standing beside Katie 
 had attracted his attention. He glanced from one 
 to the other questioningly, and Harold said, "Yes, 
 I have spoken. Was it wrong ? I could not 
 wait." 
 
 "This boy of mine has always been of an im- 
 patient nature, Stephen," said Mrs. Carrington. 
 Mr. Balfour smiled, and said only, " Well ! " 
 "Katie will put up with me," Harold said, as 
 Katie hid her face. 
 
 " Perhaps Katie thinks there isn't so very much 
 to put up with ! eh, darling ? " Mr. Balfour took 
 Harold's strong young hand into his own faded one, 
 and brought it close to Katie's. 
 
 " Are you sorry ? " she whispered. " I mean, do 
 you mind ? " 
 
 " So far as I yet know Harold, I am only glad. 
 I know Harold's mother, if not himself. And 
 it is a great comfort to me to feel that when 
 I am taken, my child will not be alone in the 
 world."
 
 220 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 " That will not be, I hope, for many a long year," 
 Mrs. Carrington said, as Katie murmured a depre- 
 cating, " Please, don't." 
 
 " It may not be ; but see the uncertainty of life, 
 even for the young." He was thinking of the scene 
 on the pier. " And if for the young, how much more 
 for the old ! " 
 
 "Young people are exposed to certain dangers 
 from their own impetuosity, which old people do 
 not incur," Mrs. Carrington observed rather drily. 
 " But I should like you to know more of my boy, as 
 soon as possible. Will you let him pay you a visit 
 at Eckham in the autumn for a month or so, when 
 he takes his holiday ? " 
 
 " If we are there," Mr. Balfour said, with a curious 
 look. 
 
 "You think of going abroad again next winter? " 
 inquired Harold. " But my holiday will be in 
 September." 
 
 " Yes. I did not mean exactly that. The fact 
 is, I do not expect to be much longer at Eck- 
 ham. I have had the offer of a living in Devon- 
 shire." 
 
 " Oh ! " Katie hardly knew whether to be glad 
 or sorry. 
 
 "The very climate for you, Stephen," said Mrs. 
 Carrington.
 
 TOGETHER. 
 
 "So my friend told ine. I met an old school 
 friend on board the steamer, coming home, a kind- 
 hearted good fellow. He has the gift of this living, 
 and it has fallen vacant. The stipend is about 
 fifty pounds more than my present stipend, and 
 the air of Devonshire is likely to suit my chest. 
 The village is small, so I need not fear the work 
 being too heavy. It seems just the place for 
 me; indeed, I have already accepted the offer. I 
 must run down for a look at the spot before going 
 home." 
 
 "And you will be able to stay in Devonshire 
 through the winter ? " asked Katie anxiously. 
 
 " I hope so, my dear. Until " 
 
 " Until Katie and I can offer you a home with us," 
 Harold suggested. 
 
 Mr. Balfour shook his head. 
 
 " Indeed, indeed, father, Harold always says 
 that. We could not let you live alone," Katie 
 pleaded. 
 
 " Well, dear child, we shall see. No need to 
 attempt looking forward. Harold has to wait a while 
 for a living, and you and I have to settle down in a 
 new nest a mercifully provided home, according to 
 our need," Mr. Balfour added musingly. " How 
 often one finds it so ! Why do we ever disquiet
 
 222 LIFE IN A NUTSHELL. 
 
 ourselves about the future? It is in a loving 
 Father's hands." 
 
 " You and I have learnt that lesson, Stephen," 
 Mrs. Carrington said. 
 
 Katie thought that she had learned it too. 
 
 THE END.
 
 
 
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