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"I have been so lonely, with no co the chair a little toward her, and bidding her sit near the fire, where she could dry her feet

Katy obeyed, and sat down so near to hiht have touched her head, which this day was olden hair coiving to her a very girlish appearance, as Morris thought, for he could see her now, and while she dried her feet he looked at her eagerly, wondering that the fierce storm she had encountered had left so few traces upon her face Just about the mouth there was a deep-cut line, but this was all; the reirlhood, and far more beautiful, just as her character was lovelier, and more to be admired

Morris had done well to wait if he could win her now Perhaps he thought so, too, and this hy his spirits beca at last that she should stay to tea The rain was falling in torrents when he o then, even had she wished it, and though it was earlier than his usual tea ti for Mrs Hull, and ordered that tea be served in there as soon as possible

"I ought not to stay It is not proper, and eted in her chair, and watched the girl setting the table so cosily for two, and occasionally deferring some debatable point to her as if she were mistress there

"Shall we have soo with the jelly?" she asked, looking at Katy, who answered in the affirain the absence of her cap

"You can go now, Reekie," Morris said, when the boiling water was poured into the silver kettle, and tea was on the table "If we need you ill ring"

With a vague wonder as to ould toast the doctor's bread and butter it, Reekie departed, and the tere left together It was Katy who toasted the bread, kneeling upon theher face and scorching the bread in her nervousness at the novel position in which she so unexpectedly found herself It was Katy, too, who prepared Morris' tea, and tried to eat, but could not She was not hungry, she said, and the custard was the only thing she tasted, besides the tea, which she sipped at frequent intervals, so as tomore than she was But Morris was not deceived, nor yet disheartened Possibly she suspected his intention, and if so, the sooner he reached the point the better So when the tea equipage was put away, and she began again to speak of going hoo yet till I have said what's inhis hand upon her shoulder he made her sit down beside him and listen while he told her the love he had borne for her long before she knew the le to keep that love in bounds after its indulgence was a sin, of his teret for Wilford, and of his deep respect for her grief, which made her for a time as a sister to him But that time had passed She was not his sister now, nor ever could be again She was Katy, dearer, more precious, more desired even than before another called her wife, and he asked her to be his, to co the rainy days brighter, bal hi for the poor and sick around them