After a time he married. His wife, a widow with a little girl, was no comfort to him; but the child soon became his inseparable and devoted companion. When work was over she used to read a newspaper to him. She uttered no sound, but sat with the paper in her lap, whilst her little fingers fluttered about his hand like the wings of a bird, and his slow monotonous voice followed her, repeating words and sentences, or telling her to go on to something else.
One day Bessie, who was often accompanied by a friend, took with her Miss Elizabeth Wordsworth, daughter of the late Bishop of Lincoln, to have a chat with A.
Miss Wordsworth sent her the following poem in memory of the visit:
A Ministry of Love to One Blind and Deaf.
Near him she stands, her fingers light
In quick succession go
Across his yielding palm, as white,
As swift, as flakes of snow.
The diamond on her hand, that gleams