Hester found Mrs. Baldwin busy in the shop, and with a nod passed her, and went up the stair. But when she opened the door, she stood for a moment hesitating whether to enter, or close it again with an apology and return, for it seemed as if preparations for a party had been made. The bed was pushed to the back of the room, and the floor was empty, except for a cushion or two, like those of an easy chair, lying in the middle of it. The father and the three boys were standing together near the fire, like gentlemen on the hearth-rug expecting visitors. She glanced round in search of the mother. Some one was bending over the bed in the farther corner; the place was lighted with but a single candle, and she thought it was she, stooping over her baby; but a moment's gaze made it plain that the back was that of a man: could it be the doctor again? Was the poor woman worse? She entered and approached the father, who then first seeing who it was that had knocked and looked in, pulled off the cap he invariably wore, and came forward with a bashful yet eager courtesy. "I hope your wife is not worse," said Hester. "No', miss, I hope not. She's took a bit bad. We can't always avoid it in our profession, miss." "I don't understand you," she answered, feeling a little uneasy.--Were there horrors to be revealed of which she had surmised nothing? "If you will do us the honor to take a seat, miss, we shall be only too happy to show you as much as you may please to look upon with favor." Hester shuddered involuntarily, but mastered herself. The man saw her hesitate, and resumed. "You see, miss, this is how it was. Dr. Christopher--that's the gentleman there, a lookin' after mother--he's been that kind to her an' me an' all on us in our trouble, an' never a crown-piece to offer him--which I'm sure no lady in the land could ha' been better attended to than she've been--twixt him an' you, miss--so we thought as how we'd do our best for him, an' try an' see whether amongst us we couldn't give him a pleasant evenin' as it were, just to show as we was grateful. So we axed him to tea, an' he come, like the gen'leman he be, an' so we shoved the bed aside an' was showin' him a bit on our craft, just a trick or two, miss--me an' the boys here--stan' forward, Robert an' the rest of you an' make your bows to the distinguished company as honors you with their presence to cast an eye on you an' see what you can show yourselves capable of." Here Mr. Christopher--Hester had not now heard his name for the first time, though she had never seen him before--turned, and approached them. "She'll be all right in a minute or two, Franks," he said. "You told her, doctor, the boy ain't got the smallest hurt? It 'ud break my heart nigh as soon as hers to see the Sarpint come to grief."