"The fool saith, Who would have thought it ?" Winter had brought trouble with it to Warpington Vicarage.

A new baby had arrived, and the old baby was learning, not in silence, what kings and ministers undergo when they are deposed.

Hester had never greatly cared for the old baby.

She was secretly afraid of it.

But in its hour of adversity she took to it, and she and Regie spent many hours consoling it for the arrival of the little chrysalis up-stairs.
Mrs.Gresley recovered slowly, and before she was down-stairs again Regie sickened with one of those swift, sudden illnesses of childhood, which make childless women thank God for denying them their prayers.
Mrs.Gresley was not well enough to be told, and for many days Mr.
Gresley and Hester and Doctor Brown held Regie forcibly back from the valley of the shadow, where, since the first cradle was rocked, the soft feet of children have cleft so sharp an entrance over the mother-hearts that vainly barred the way.
Mr.Gresley's face grew as thin as Hester's as the days went by.