'thou drooping sick man, bless the guide

that checked, or turned thy headstrong youth.'

the thought of her brother's kindness, and the effect of his consolation, made lilias awake that morning in more cheerful spirits; but it was not long before grief and anxiety again took possession of her.

the first sound that she heard on opening the schoolroom window was the tolling of the church bell, giving notice of the death of another of those to whom she felt bound by the ties of neighbourhood.

at church she saw that mr. devereux was looking more ill than he yet had done, and it was plainly with very great exertion that he succeeded in finishing the service. the mohun party waited, as usual, to speak to him afterwards, for since his attendance upon naylor had begun he had not thought it safe to come to the new court as usual, lest he should bring the infection to them. he was very pale, and walked wearily, but he spoke cheerfully, as he told them that naylor was now quite out of danger.

'then i hope you did not stay there all last night,' said mr. mohun.

'no, i did not, i was so tired when i came back from poor john ray's funeral, that i thought i would take a holiday, and sleep at home.'

'i am afraid you have not profited by your night's rest,' said emily, 'you look as if you had a horrible headache.'

'now,' said mr. mohun, 'i prescribe for you that you go home and lie down. i am going to raynham, and i will tell your friend there that you want help for the evening service. do not think of moving again to-day. i shall send claude home with you to see that you obey my prescription.'

claude went home with his cousin, and his sisters saw him no more till late in the day, when he came to tell them that mr. mohun had brought back dr. leslie from raynham with him, that dr. leslie had seen mr. devereux, and had pronounced that he had certainly caught the fever.

lily had made up her mind to this for some time, but still it seemed almost as great a blow as if it had come without any preparation. the next day was the first sunday that mr. devereux had not read the service since he had been rector of beechcroft. the villagers looked sadly at the stranger who appeared in his place, and many tears were shed when the prayers of the congregation were desired for robert devereux, and thomas and martha naylor. it was announced that the daily service would be discontinued for the present, and lily felt as if all the blessings which she had misused were to be taken from her.

for some time mr. devereux continued very ill, and dr. leslie gave little hope of his improvement. mr. mohun and claude were his constant attendants--an additional cause of anxiety to the miss mohuns. emily was listless and melancholy, talking in a maundering, dismal way, not calculated to brace her spirits or those of her sisters. jane was not without serious thoughts, but whether they would benefit her depended on herself; for, as we have seen by the events of the autumn, sorrow and suffering do not necessarily produce good effects, though some effects they always produce.

thus it was with lilias. grief and anxiety aided her in subduing her will and learning resignation. she did not neglect her daily duties, but was more exact in their fulfilment; and low as her spirits had been before, she now had an inward spring which enabled her to be the support of the rest. she was useful to her father, always ready to talk to claude, or walk with him in the intervals when he was sent out of the sickroom to rest and breathe the fresh air. she was cheerful and patient with emily, and devoid of petulance when annoyed by the spirits of the younger ones rising higher than accorded with the sad and anxious hearts of their elders. her most painful feeling was, that it was possible that she might be punished through her cousin, as she had already been through agnes; that her follies might have brought this distress upon every one, and that this was the price at which the child's baptism was to be bought. yet lily would not have changed her present thoughts for any of her varying frames of mind since that fatal whitsuntide. better feelings were springing up within her than she had then known; the church service and sunday were infinitely more to her, and she was beginning to obtain peace of mind independent of external things.

she could not help rejoicing to see how many evidences of affection to the rector were called forth by this illness; presents of fruit poured in from all quarters, from lord rotherwood's choice hothouse grapes, to poor little kezia grey's wood-strawberries; inquiries were continual, and the stillness of the village was wonderful. there was no cricket on the hill, no talking in the street, no hallooing in the hay-field, and no burst of noise when the children were let out of school. many of the people were themselves in grief for the loss of their own relations; and when on sunday the miss mohuns saw how many were dressed in black, they thought with a pang how soon they themselves might be mourning for one whose influence they had crippled, and whose plans they had thwarted during the three short years of his ministry.

during this time it was hard to say whether lord rotherwood was more of a comfort or a torment. he was attached to his cousin with all the ardour of his affectionate disposition, and not one day passed without his appearing at beechcroft. at first it was always in the parlour at the parsonage that he took up his station, and waited till he could find some means of getting at claude or his uncle, to hear the last report from them, and if possible to make claude come out for a walk or ride with him. and once mr. mohun caught him standing just outside mr. devereux's door, waiting for an opportunity to make an entrance. he could not, or would not see why mr. mohun should allow claude to run the risk of infection rather than himself, and thus he kept his mother in continual anxiety, and even his uncle could not feel by any means certain that he would not do something imprudent. at last a promise was extracted from him that he would not again enter the parsonage, but he would not gratify lady rotherwood so far as to abstain from going to beechcroft, a place which she began to regard with horror. he now was almost constantly at the new court, talking over the reports, and quite provoking emily by never desponding, and never choosing to perceive how bad things really were. every day which was worse than the last was supposed to be the crisis, and every restless sleep that they heard of he interpreted into the beginning of recovery. at last, however, after ten days of suspense, the report began to improve, and claude came to the new court with a more cheerful face, to say that his cousin was munch better. the world seemed immediately to grow brighter, people went about with joyful looks, lord rotherwood declared that from the first he had known all would be well, and lily began to hope that now she had been spared so heavy a punishment, it was a kind of earnest that other things would mend, that she had suffered enough. the future no longer hung before her in such dark colours as before mr. devereux's illness, though still the new court was in no satisfactory state, and still she had reason to expect that her father and eleanor would be disappointed and grieved. thankfulness that mr. devereux was recovering, and that claude had escaped the infection, made her once more hopeful and cheerful; she let the morrow take thought for the things of itself, rejoicing that it was not her business to make arrangements.