what a good, industrious, excellent girl she was; which, indeed, was
the truth.

No letter came from Luke, and there was no proof that he had received
hers. Lucy began gradually to despond; for work became slack, and at
times she only got enough to employ her half the day. Not to lose
ground, however, she hired herself to the neighbouring farmers' wives
to sew during her spare time, leaving Dame Damerel to the occasional
care of Susan Larkin. While she was sitting at work during one of
these engagements, she compared her own cheerless lot with the
happiness which surrounded her. The farmer was reading the newspaper,
his wife and daughter assisting her in the work she was doing. As she
made this comparison, and thought of Luke, banished as it were from
his home, and enduring perhaps severe hardships, she could scarcely
refrain from weeping. Now and then the farmer read a paragraph from
the paper, and presently exclaimed: 'Ah, our young squire has got
safe to his regiment in India.' At these words Lucy trembled, but
went on rapidly with her work, lest her emotion should be noticed.
She had previously heard that the son of a neighbouring proprietor
had bought a commission in Luke's regiment, and this was almost like
having news of Luke himself. Presently the reader went on with the
paragraph: '"We understand there has been a fatal disease which has
carried off many of the"'------ The farmer made a pause here, and
Lucy's heart sank within her. 'Oh, I see,' the old gentleman
ejaculated; 'the corner is turned down--"has carried off
many"--yes--"many of the----horses."'

This little incident produced such strong emotions in Lucy's frame,
that though she felt, upon the whole, much gratified by merely
hearing about Luke's regiment and its horses, yet she became too ill