flinch. Stand your ground, and be cut to pieces. That's what I'm going to do."
"Oh, mistress, don't talk so!" said Liddy, taking her hand; "but I knew you had too much sense to bide away. May I ask what dreadful thing it is that has happened between you and him?"
"You may ask; but I may not tell."
In about ten minutes they returned to the house by a circuitous route, entering at the rear. Bathsheba glided up the back stairs to a disused attic, and her companion followed.
"Liddy," she said, with a lighter heart, for youth and hope had begun to re-assert themselves; "you are to be my confidante for the present—somebody must be—and I choose you. Well, I shall take up my abode here for a while. Will you get a fire lighted, put down a piece of carpet, and help me to make the place comfortable? Afterwards, I want you and Maryann to bring up that little iron bedstead in the small room, and the bed belonging to it, and a table, and some other things.... What shall I do to pass the heavy time away!"
"Hemming handkerchiefs is a very good thing," said Liddy.
"Oh no, no! I hate needle-work—I always did."
"Knitting?"
