She was getting much excited. "I think I had better leave her now," said I to Bessie，who stood on the other side of the bed.

"perhaps you had，Miss: but she often talks in this way towards night- in the morning she is calmer."

I rose. "Stop!" exclaimed Mrs. Reed，"there is another thing I wished to say. He threatens me- he continually threatens me with his own death，or mine: and I dream sometimes that I see him laid out with a great wound in his throat，or with a swollen and blackened face. I am e to a strange pass: I have heavy troubles. What is to be done? How is the money to be had?"

Bessie now endeavoured to persuade her to take a sedative draught: she succeeded with difficulty. Soon after，Mrs. Reed grew more posed，and sank into a dozing state. I then left her.

More than ten days elapsed before I had again any conversation with her. She continued either delirious or lethargic; and the doctor forbade everything which could painfully excite her. Meantime，I got on as well as I could with Georgiana and Eliza. They were very cold，indeed，at first. Eliza would sit half the day sewing，reading，or writing，and scarcely utter a word either to me or her sister.

Georgiana would chatter nonsense to her canary bird by the hour，and take no notice of me. But I was determined not to seem at a loss for occupation or amusement: I had brought my drawing materials with me，and they served me for both.

provided with a case of pencils，and some sheets of paper，I used to take a seat apart from them，near the window，and busy myself in sketching fancy vignettes，representing any scene that happened momentarily to shape itself in the ever-shifting kaleidoscope of imagination: a glimpse of sea between two rocks; the rising moon，and a ship crossing its disk; a group of reeds and water-flags，and a naiad"s head，crowned with lotus-flowers，rising out of them; an elf sitting in a hedge-sparrow"s nest，under a wreath of hawthorn-bloom.

One morning I fell to sketching a face: what sort of a face it was to be，I did not care or know. I took a soft black pencil，gave it a broad point，and worked away. Soon I had traced on the paper a broad and prominent forehead and a square lower outline of visage: that contour gave me pleasure; my fingers proceeded actively to fill it with features. Strongly-marked horizontal eyebrows must be traced under that brow; then followed，naturally，a well-defined nose，with a straight ridge and full nostrils; then a flexible-looking mouth，by no means narrow; then a firm chin，with a decided cleft down the middle of it: of course，some black whiskers were wanted，and some jetty hair，tufted on the temples，and waved above the forehead. Now for the eyes: I had left them to the last，because they required the most careful working. I drew them large; I shaped them well: the eyelashes I traced long and sombre; the irids lustrous and large.