CHAPTER XIV.
KENNETH IS FRIGHTENED.
Lawyer Watson, unable to direct events at Elmhurst, became a silent spectator of the little comedy being enacted there, and never regretted that, as Uncle John expressed it, he "had a reserved seat at the show." Jane Merrick, formerly the most imperious and irrascible of women, had become wonderfully reserved since the arrival of her nieces, and was evidently making a sincere effort to study their diverse characters.
Day by day the invalid's health was failing visibly.

She had no more strokes of paralysis, but her left limb did not recover, and the numbness was gradually creeping upward toward her heart.
Perhaps the old woman appreciated this more fully than anyone else.

At any event, she became more gentle toward Phibbs and Misery, who mostly attended her, and showed as much consideration as possible for her nieces and her brother.

Silas Watson she kept constantly by her side.
He was her oldest and most trusted friend, and the only differences they had ever had were over the boy Kenneth, whom she stubbornly refused to favor.
Uncle John speedily became an established fixture at the place.

The servants grew accustomed to seeing him wander aimlessly about the grounds, his pipe always in his mouth, his hands usually in his pockets.