her young figure were so graceful, that Jack stood still a long time to look at her. From that hour he fell in love. Jack himself was a good-looking fellow, very good-looking indeed. He had, besides, free, frank, good-natured ways, and was a great favourite in the village for his generosity, and his gay and lively manners. He could play the fiddle a little, sing a song with spirit, and dance as gaily as if all the blood within him were a current of joy. He became now a frequent visitor at the widow’s cottage. What he came for was soon plain enough to the mother and to Betsey, and indeed to any one that observed; but Jill—sly, blushing, little Jill—pretended not to know anything about it. One day, however, she knew all about it, because Jack told her; and oh! to see the little maiden then! It was well there was nobody by,—she could not have borne it. She lifted up that little apron of hers, and covered her pretty face with it, burning with blushes. Jack had put such an important question to her, that it was quite impossible she could answer it at once without consulting her mother; but the blushing brow, the sparkling eyes, the trembling little hand, were almost answer enough for him. [Illustration] The mother shook her head when she heard of what had passed between Jack and her daughter. She loved him for his generosity and liveliness, but she knew well his defects of character. Jack was not a thrifty fellow. He loved his pleasures better than his business. His cottage and garden were both in sad disorder. His fences, too, were broken down; the weeds grew in his fields; and, altogether, his affairs were in anything but a prosperous condition. Of course, the good mother could not think of such a suitor to her thrifty little daughter, until he altered his habits and gave some promise of becoming a steady and industrious man. Jack was told this—and his conscience, besides, whispered to him that he had been careless and indolent, and that it was nothing more than right that Jill’s little hand should be denied him till he had shown some proofs of care and frugality. But with such a reward to encourage him and urge him on, he felt a new life at his heart; he made a manful beginning of improvement, and probably would have gone successfully on, but for an accident which brought sorrow to both families, and for a time disabled Jack altogether. There had been long drought in the summer; a drop of rain had not fallen for a fortnight; the ponds in the neighbourhood were dried up, and the wells gave but a very scanty supply. The best of these was at some distance from the village at the top of a hill, with a well-worn path on one side, but covered with grass and underwood on all the others. One day, Jill, wanting water for her cows and for household purposes, proposed to go up the hill to fetch some. Jack readily offered to help her. He obtained a donkey cart, and filled it with buckets, and drove to the foot of the hill, with Jill in company.