“’His eldest child, Ethel, the young lady you saw just now, was away from home at school when her mother died.  Think of what a coming back was hers!  My heart grows sick in trying to imagine it.  Poor child! she has my deepest sympathy.

“’Ethel did not return to school.  She was needed at home now.  The death of her mother and the unhappy fall of her father brought her face to face with new duties and untried conditions.  She had a little brother only six years old to whom she must be a mother as well as sister.  Responsibilities from which women of matured years and long experience might well shrink were now at the feet of this tender girl, and there was no escape for her.  She must stoop, and with fragile form and hands scarce stronger than a child’s lift and bear them up from the ground.  Love gave her strength and courage.  The woman hidden in the child came forth, and with a self-denial and self-devotion that touches me to tears when I think of it took up the new life and new burdens, and has borne them ever since with a patience that is truly heroic.

“’But new duties are now laid upon her.  Since her father’s fall his practice has been neglected, and few indeed have been willing to entrust him with business.  The little he had accumulated is all gone.  One article of furniture after another has been sold to buy food and clothing, until scarcely anything is left.  And now they occupy three small rooms in an out-of-the-way neighborhood, and Ethel, poor child! is brought face to face with the question of bread.’”

CHAPTER XX.

The voice of the speaker broke as she uttered the last sentence.  A deep silence fell upon the little company.  Mrs. Birtwell had turned her face, so that it could not be seen, and tears that she was unable to keep back were falling over it.  She was first to speak.

“What,” she asked, “was this young lady doing at the house of your friend?”

“She had applied for the situation of day-governess.  My friend advertised, and Ethel Ridley, not knowing that the lady had any knowledge of her or her family came and offered herself for the place.  Not being able to decide what was best to be done, she requested Ethel to call again on the next day, and I came in while she was there.”

“Did your friend engage her?” asked Mrs. Birtwell.

“She had not done so when I saw her yesterday.  The question of fitness for the position was one that she had not been able to determine.  Ethel is young and inexperienced.  But she will do all for her that lies in her power.”

“What is your friend’s name?” asked Mrs. Birtwell.

“The lady I refer to is Mrs. Sandford.  You know her, I believe?”

“Mrs. Sandford?  Yes; I know her very well.”