Ambrose, and being told with eulogistic comments to Mrs. Goddard, tended
to increase the interest she felt in the existence of John Short, so that
she began to long for a sight of him, without exactly knowing why.

Gradually, too, as she and her little girl passed many peaceful days in
the quiet cottage, the sad woman's face grew less sorrowful. She spoke of
herself more cheerfully and dwelt less upon the subject of her grief. She
had at first been so miserable that she could hardly talk at all without
referring to her unhappy situation though, after her first interview with
Mrs. Ambrose, no one had ever heard her mention any details connected
with her trouble. But now she never approached the subject at all. Her
face lost none of its pathetic beauty, it is true, but it seemed to
express sorrow past rather than present. Meanwhile little Nellie grew
daily more lovely, and absorbed more and more of her mother's attention.




CHAPTER IV.


Events of such stirring interest as the establishment of Mrs. Goddard in
Billingsfield rarely come alone; for it seems to be in the nature of
great changes to bring other changes with them, even when there is no
apparent connection whatever between them. It took nearly two years for
Billingsfield to recover from its astonishment at Mrs. Goddard's arrival,
and before the excitement had completely worn off the village was again
taken off its feet by unexpected news of stupendous import, even as of
old Pompeii was overthrown by a second earthquake before it had wholly
recovered from the devastation caused by the first. The shock was indeed