"Do you go and visit the sick?"
"Yes, it is just the sick I do visit."
"The sick? What can you do for them?"
"Oh, I help them as well as I can."
"You?" repeated Edward, with all the astonishment he was capable of. After a pause he went on. "But how do you help them? Do you take food to them?"
"Sometimes I do. I help them whenever they need it; I change the straw under them."
"Change the straw?"
"Why, yes, they lie upon straw, and then, don't you see, they would lie on there, no matter how dirty it got, for they are ill and cannot help themselves, and often in the daytime they are left quite alone when every one is out at work and the children are at school. So when I come in the afternoon, I go first to the boats just in from along the coast with straw, and there I buy what I need and carry it up and then take away the old straw."
"But, my dear fellow, have you got money to buy it with?" asked Edward.
"My aunt collects money for me, and so does Josephine too."