Nor could she conceal from herself that she was happier in his company than she was at any other time.
Week after week, and month after month, passed quickly away, and Mary was rapidly acquiring a skill in the art she was learning, rarely obtained by any.

After the end of four months, she could turn off a dress equal to any one in the work-room.

But this constant application was making sad inroads upon her health.

For two years she had been engaged in active and laborious duties, even beyond her strength.

The change from this condition to the perfectly sedentary, was more than her constitution could bear up under, especially as she was compelled to bend over her needle regularly, from ten to twelve hours each day.