In this sober suit, with plain linen collar and cuffs, the Somerset dressed herself, and resumed her watching by the bedside.

She kept more than ever out of sight, for the patient was now beginning to mutter incoherently, yet in a way that showed his clouded faculties were dwelling on the calamity which had befallen him.
About noon the bell was rung sharply, and, on Polly entering, Rhoda called her to the window and showed her two female figures plodding down the street.

"Look," said she.

"Those are the only women I envy.
Sisters of Charity.

Run you after them, and take a good look at those beastly ugly caps: then come and tell me how to make one." "Here's a go!" said Polly; but executed the commission promptly.
It needed no fashionable milliner to turn a yard of linen into one of those ugly caps, which are beautiful banners of Christian charity and womanly tenderness to the sick and suffering.