never used to be, and when it deepens, I am sure he is in pain, or
has been kept awake."

"You are very odd, Ethel; how do you see things in people's faces,
when you miss so much at just the same distance?"

"I look after what I care about," said Ethel. "One sees more with
one's mind than one's eyes. The best sight is inside."

"But do you always see the truth?" said Richard gravely.

"Quite enough. What is less common than the ordinary world?" said
Ethel.

Richard shook his head, not quite satisfied, but not sure enough that
he entered into her meaning to question it.

"I wonder you don't wear spectacles," was the result of his
meditation, and it made her laugh by being so inapposite to her own
reflections: but the laugh ended in a melancholy look. "Dear mamma
did not like me to use them," she said, in a low voice.

Thus they talked till they arrived at Cocksmoor, where poor Mrs.
Taylor, inspirited by better reports of her husband and the hopes for
her daughter, was like another woman. Richard was very careful not
to raise false expectations, saying it all depended on Miss May and
nurse, and what they thought of her strength and steadiness, but
these cautions did not seem capable of damping the hopes of the
smooth-haired Lucy, who stood smiling and curtseying. The twins were
grown and improved, and Ethel supposed they would be brought to