She seemed to like him to be with her, to look uneasily for his return; and though she seldom spoke to him, she was most contented when he sat by her, and held her tiny hand in his large protecting grasp.

But Oswald, _alias_ Ozzy, the broad-chested boy, was perhaps her most beneficial companion.

With something of his uncle's person, he had inherited also his uncle's early taste for a domestic menagerie, and was very imperative in demanding Tina's sympathy in the welfare of his guinea-pigs, squirrels, and dormice.

With him she seemed now and then to have gleams of her childhood coming athwart the leaden clouds, and many hours of winter went by the more easily for being spent in Ozzy's nursery.
Mrs.Heron was not musical, and had no instrument; but one of Mr.
Gilfil's cares was to procure a harpsichord, and have it placed in the drawing-room, always open, in the hope that some day the spirit of music would be reawakened in Caterina, and she would be attracted towards the instrument.

But the winter was almost gone by, and he had waited in vain.
The utmost improvement in Tina had not gone beyond passiveness and acquiescence--a quiet grateful smile, compliance with Oswald's whims, and an increasing consciousness of what was being said and done around her.
Sometimes she would take up a bit of woman's work, but she seemed too languid to persevere in it; her fingers soon dropped, and she relapsed into motionless reverie.
At last--it was one of those bright days in the end of February, when the sun is shining with a promise of approaching spring.