She laughed a sweet, amused laugh.
"I am used to all kinds of weather, Doctor Gardiner," she said. "I am always out in it. I make the first track in winter through the deep snows. I go for the work in the morning, and return with it at night. You know, when one is poor, one can not be particular about such little things as the weather; it would never do."
CHAPTER XI.
A SHADOW DARKENS THE PEACEFUL HOME OF THE BASKET-MAKER.
Sweet Bernardine Moore laughed to see the look of amazement upon the young doctor's face.
He who had been reared in luxury, pampered and indulged—ay, spoiled by an over-indulgent mother, what had he ever known of the bitter realities of life, the struggles many have to undergo for their very existence?
He looked at this delicate, graceful girl, and his lips trembled, his eyes grew moist with tears.
Oh, if he but dared remove her from all this sorrow! The thought of her toiling and suffering there was more than he could calmly endure.
He turned away quickly. In another moment he would have committed himself. He had almost forgotten that he was bound to another, and would have been kneeling at her feet in another minute but for the sound of her father's voice, which brought him to himself.
"Bernardine!" cried her father, fretfully, "what are you doing out there so long in the hall? Don't you know that Mr. Wilde is waiting here to talk with you?"