"  Keep  steady — like  rock  !  "  and  he  was  steering
the  glass  to  her  lips  before  she  realised.  Two  or
three  mechanical  sips  she  took  ;  then  he  was  wise
enough  to  withdraw  the  glass  and  snatch  up  a
biscuit.  "  Now  this  ! — and  you'll  feel  tons  better.
And  here's  love  and  long  life  to  all  of  us  1  "

He  drained  down  his  own,  nearly  choked,  and
set  to  work  again  on  his  arrangement  of  the  table.
Funny  thing,  he  muttered  repeatedly,  if  he  couldn't
do  what  he  liked  with  his  own  money  at  Christmas-
time.
"There,"  he  said,  at  length.  "How's  that?
I  only  wish  he  could  hop  down  and  have  a  look  ;
do  him  more  good  than  all  the  med'cine.  As  he
can't,  I'll  hop  up.     Shan't  be  a  minnit."

This  he  said  with  careless  design — to  suit  his
own  ends,  and  because  she  had  the  look  of  a
woman  best  not  left  alone  too  long.  And,  almost
ere  Ella  had  time  to  rise  from  her  knees  after  a
mechanical  tidying-up  of  the  fireplace,  he  was
coming  hastily  dovm  on  tiptoe  again.  There  was
certainly  something  in  his  manner  that,  at  any
other  time,  must  have  set  her  wondering.
284  LOW    SOCIETY

"  Seems  drowsy  ;  I  wouldn't  spoil  that  on  any
account,"  he  said,  as  he  took  off  his  overcoat.
*'  The  doctor  was  right  enough — he's  a  lot  better.
