Eve did not go with the party. They had started at three o'clock, intending to visit a hill from which there was an extensive view, before going on to the butter-woman's farm-house. At four she herself went out for a solitary walk. As she was passing a group of wretched shanties, beyond the outskirts of the town, a frightened woman came out of one of them, calling loudly, "Mrs. Halley! oh, Mrs. _Halley_, your _Lyddy is dying!_" A second woman, who was hanging out clothes, dropped the garment she had in her hand and ran within; Eve followed her. A young girl, who appeared to be in a spasm, occupied the one bed, a poor one; the mother rushed to her. In a few minutes the danger was over, and the girl fell into a heavy sleep. "That Mrs. Sullivan--she's too sprightly," said Mrs. Halley, after she had dismissed her frightened neighbor. "I just invited her to sit here _trenquilly_ while I put out me clothes, when lo! she begins and screams like mad. She's had no education, that's plain. There's nothing the matter with my Lyddy except that she's delicate, and as soon as she's a little better I'm going to have her take music lessons on the peanner." Eve looked at Mrs. Halley's ragged, wet dress, and at the wan, pinched face of the sleeping girl. "It is a pity you have to leave her," she said. "Couldn't you get somebody to do your washing?" "I take in washing, miss; I'm a lady-laundress. Only the best; I never wash for the boats." "How much do you earn a week?" "Oh, a tidy sum," answered Mrs. Halley. Then, seeing that Eve had taken out her purse, her misery overcame her pride, and she burst forth, suddenly: "_Never_ more than three dollars, miss, with me slaving from morning to night. And I've five children besides poor Lyddy there." Eve gave her a five-dollar bill. "Oh, may the Lord bless you!" she began to cry. "And me with me skirt all wet, and the house not clean, when the chariot of the Lord descended upon me!" She sank into a chair, her toil-worn hands over her face, her tired back bent forward, relaxed at last, and resting. Eve pursued her investigations; she sent a boy to town for provisions, and waited to see a meal prepared. Mrs. Halley, still wet and ragged, but now refreshed by joy, moved about rapidly; at last there was nothing more to do but to sit down and wait. "She was the prettiest of all my children," she remarked, indicating the sleeping girl with a motion of her head. "She is still pretty," Eve answered. "Yet you never saw _her_ making eyes at gentlemen like some; there's a great deal of making eyes at Potterpins. Rose Bonham, now--she got a silk dress out of Mr. Tennant no longer ago as last March." "Mr. Tennant?" "Yes; the gentleman who superintends the mine. Not that I have anything to say against him; gentlemen has their priviluges. All I say is--_girls_ hasn't!" Eve had risen. "I must go; I will come again soon."