"How relieved in mind Mr. Dawson must be!" exclaimed Mrs. John. She was rubbing the contents of the plate-basket with a piece of chamois leather, her usual task on a Saturday afternoon. "Poor man, I sympathize with him greatly," she continued, "especially as Miss Dawson is his only child. How grateful he will be to your mother, Mavis, if she brings him back her patient restored to health!" "Mother will take good care of her," Mavis responded. "She's a capital nurse, every one who knows her says that; but only God can make Miss Dawson well." "That's so," agreed Jane, with a nod, as she returned to her stove. "I don't believe that child ever forgets that God's above all," she remarked, as Mavis left the kitchen to look for Bob, to impart her news to him. "It's to be hoped she'll always remember it." "She's a strange little thing," her mistress answered, "so very childish in some ways, and in others thoughtful beyond her years." CHAPTER VII A GREAT GIFT THE heavy rains had ceased, and there had been several nights of hard frost, which had covered the flooded meadows surrounding W— with a thick coating of ice. "The ice will bear to-day," remarked Mr. Grey, one morning at breakfast. "I believe we're in for a spell of dry weather. You must look to your skates, children, for, if all's well, you'll get some skating now." By the following morning—a Saturday—the ice was in splendid condition, and the young people of the village spent nearly the whole day on it, as well as many of their elders. Mavis had been supplied with an old pair of skates which had belonged to Rose, who had bought a new pair the previous season. And during the morning, her uncle gave her, her first lesson in skating; but he was called away on business in the afternoon, and she was left to her own resources. She got on by herself fairly well, and managed to keep her feet unaided; but it was slow work, and she grew tired and cold long before her cousins were ready to leave the ice. By-and-by she divested herself of her skates, and declared to Rose her intention of going home. [Illustration: SHE WAS LEFT TO HER OWN RESOURCES.] "What, already?" cried Rose. "Why, how cold you look! I'm most beautifully warm. You don't want me to go with you, do you?" she asked. "Oh no," Mavis replied, "certainly not. I don't think I've got on badly. But I can't skate fast enough to keep warm like you, and my feet are so cold, there's no feeling in them. Otherwise I should like to stay and look on." Rose nodded, and skimmed away over the ice. Whilst Mavis left the meadow by the gateway, and turned into the road leading to the village, through which she had to pass on her way home, walking briskly to get herself warm.