Sukie 



till she was really too old for any more 

 work. I was by this time a married man, 

 and, when on a visit to our old home, asked 

 her more than once when she was coming 

 up to London to see my family. 



"I'll come, sure enough, Master Harry," 

 was her invariable answer, "for I'd dearly 

 love to see you and Miss Lucy — (she 

 always called my wife by her maiden 

 name) — and the little ones. I'm only just 

 waiting till they take them nasty screech- 

 inof steam-eneine trains off the road, and 

 bring the coaches back ; then I'll come 

 sure enough, dear heart." 



Sukie's working days were over. She 

 went again to live with her brother, the 

 leather-breeches maker, and there by his 

 fireside she knitted and snapped and dozed 

 away the last and only leisure days of her 

 simple serviceable life. 



209 



