"Nothing. I read a little and draw a little, but I do nothing useful. I mean it to be different now." "You shall do as you please, Ayala." "Oh, but I mean it. And you must tell me. Of course things have to be different." "We are not rich like your uncle and aunt Tringle." "Perhaps it is better not to be rich, so that one may have something to do. But I want you to tell me as though you really cared for me." "I will care for you," said Aunt Dosett, sobbing. "Then first begin by telling me what to do. I will try and do it. Of course I have thought about it, coming away from all manner of rich things; and I have determined that it shall not make me unhappy. I will rise above it. I will begin to-morrow and do anything if you will tell me." Then Aunt Dosett took her in her arms and kissed her, and declared that on the morrow they would begin their work together in perfect confidence and love with each other. "I think she will do better than Lucy," said Mrs. Dosett to her husband that night. "Lucy was a dear girl too," said Uncle Reginald. "Oh, yes;--quite so. I don't mean to say a word against Lucy; but I think that I can do better with Ayala. She will be more diligent." Uncle Reginald said nothing to this, but he could not but think that of the two Lucy would be the one most likely to devote herself to hard work. On the next morning Ayala went out with her aunt on the round to the shopkeepers, and listened with profound attention to the domestic instructions which were given to her on the occasion. When she came home she knew much of which she had known nothing before. What was the price of mutton, and how much mutton she was expected as one of the family to eat per week; what were the necessities of the house in bread and butter, how far a pint of milk might be stretched,--with a proper understanding that her Uncle Reginald as head of the family was to be subjected to no limits. And before their return from that walk,--on the first morning of Ayala's sojourn,--Ayala had undertaken always to call Mrs. Dosett Aunt Margaret for the future. CHAPTER XI. TOM TRINGLE COMES TO THE CRESCENT.