14

Lucy's heart was so full of gratitude,
that she could talk of nothing but this charming family and she {pro-
posed} spoke of devoting her life to them, and of the love she already
felt and should forever feel, for both parents and children, especially
of the little Willy whom her heart already adopted as her own.
It was late before she had exhausted the delightful subject, and
wearied the patience of her auditors; Richard listened from pure
benevolence, and Becky with more interested views, promising herself
largely to partake in the good luck of Miss Lucy.
The next morning the sun rose as bright and warm as
the day before; but when Becky hastened to awake Lucy, she found
her in a high fever and her bones aching in every joint. It would be
hard to say, who felt the disappointment most bitterly, but as
Becky's new raised hopes now depended on Lucy, she applied
all the simple remedies she had, to relieve the suffering girl
from the violent cold she had taken. For some days however
her herb-teas and fomentations produced but little effect and more
than a week elasped before Lucy could walk about the room
and when she at last felt well enough to venture abroad, the
weather was so piercing cold, that Richard would not consent
to her exposing herself again, tho' Becky insisted on it, that
it was far wholesomer weather, than when it was so