"How is Mattie looking, Ann?"
"Looking, sir!"
"Has all this watching, studying my eccentricities, affected her?"
"She's a little pale mayhap—but she has allus been pale since her last illness."
"I never gave a thought as to the effect which the constant study of a monomaniac might produce upon her," he said half abruptly; "but she's quit of me now, and will improve."
"Oh! she was well enough here—like a bird chirping about the house—Mattie likes something to do for some one. An extrornary girl, Master Sidney, as was ever sent to be a blessing unto all she took to."
"Yes—an extraordinary girl. Sit down."
"No—it isn't for the likes of me to do that here, sir."
"Sit down, and tell me what you think of her. We don't study appearances in trouble—and a blind man loves the sound of a woman's voice."
"Then you have altered werry much, sir."