386 PHCEBE ELLIOT. 



have of her ;" but with a laudable desire of making 

 the best of her, he added, " she's a good twenty 

 years younger than I am, and minds the cows and 

 all about the house, which is more than I could 

 do in my best days ; and now the gout takes me 

 so, that I am not fit for anything but just to 

 hobble about with my stick when the fit goes off. 

 While it lasts, I am obliged to keep to my great 

 chair, and a heavy time I have of it, when I cannot 

 get out of the sound of that woman's tongue." 



It was impossible not to pity him, and I en- 

 quired whether he had any children to console 

 him hi his troubles, and to nurse him in sickness. 

 I had touched a chord which vibrated to his very 

 heart. 



" Sir," said the poor man, and his eyes ap- 

 peared fixed on the strong hand which rested on 

 his staff " I had, Sir, a daughter," and while 

 he grasped the stick with a convulsive movement, 

 an exclamation, bordering on an imprecation, on 

 the step-mother of his darling child, escaped his 

 lips. She had stricken her young heart with de- 

 spair, and been the means of bringing her to an 

 untimely grave. 



The tears chased each other down the old man's 

 furrowed cheeks. He had, probably, been little 

 used to sympathy, and he appeared to feel those 

 expressions of kindness which it was impossible 

 not to offer him. There was something very strik- 



