"How dreadful to be lame like that!" Muriel whispered to Marigold, as, the first day after her arrival, the cripple girl joined them on the sea-wall. "Oh, poor thing, will she be able to get down on the beach, I wonder!" And it was Muriel who ran to Molly's assistance and helped her down the flight of steps with a care and a tenderness that surprised her friend. "We have made you such a beautiful seat with a nice back," Muriel said. "Do try it!"
Molly willingly complied, looking with a grateful smile at the pretty, blue-eyed child who seemed so eager for her comfort.
"Well?" Muriel asked. "Is that right?"
"Oh yes, indeed, thank you! How good you are to me!"
"Oh no!" shrinking back a trifle abashed. "It was Marigold's idea!"
The lame girl smiled as she looked from one face to the other.
"Thank you both!" she said. "How delightful it is here! How fresh the air smells! It seems to blow new life into one!"
"Yes," agreed Miss Holcroft, joining them at that moment. "We shall soon have you looking as brown as these two children, Molly! Did you ever see such a pair of gipsies? They are out-of-doors from morning till night."
"We will try to catch you some shrimps when the tide is farther out," Marigold told Molly. "Come along, Muriel. Let us go and ask one of the fishermen what time it will be low water." And the two children went off together, whilst Molly looked after them with eyes that were moist with tears, for she was in that weak condition when it is easier to weep than to smile. During the last few weeks she had gone through a great deal, but she still had faith to say: "Thy will be done," though the thought of her dead father brought such anguish to her heart as only God in His good time could heal.