Feeling that his presence, under all circumstances, could not but be embarrassing, Mr. Lawson, after taking two or three dollars from his pocket and placing them on the table with the remark—­“Take this in advance for work,” retired and left the poor sisters in a different frame of mind from what they were in when he entered.  Shortly after they received a basket, in which was a supply of nourishing food.  Though no one’s name was sent with it, they were not in doubt as to whence it came.

Mr. Lawson was not an unfeeling man, but, like too many others in the world, he did not always “think.”

TAKING BOARDERS.

CHAPTER I.

A lady, past the prime of life, sat thoughtful, as twilight fell duskily around her, in a room furnished with great elegance.  That her thoughts were far from being pleasant, the sober, even sad expression of her countenance too clearly testified.  She was dressed in deep mourning.  A faint sigh parted her lips as she looked up, on hearing the door of the apartment in which she was sitting open.  The person who entered, a tall and beautiful girl, also in mourning, came and sat down by her side, and leaned her head, with a pensive, troubled air, down upon her shoulder.

“We must decide upon something, Edith, and that with as little delay as possible,” said the elder of the two ladies, soon after the younger one entered.  This was said in a tone of great despondency.

“Upon what shall we decide, mother?” and the young lady raised her head from its reclining position, and looked earnestly into the eyes of her parent.

“We must decide to do something by which the family can be sustained.  Your father’s death has left us, unfortunately and unexpectedly, as you already know, with scarcely a thousand dollars beyond the furniture of this house, instead of an independence which we supposed him to possess.  His death was sad and afflictive enough—­more than it seemed I could bear.  But to have this added!”

The voice of the speaker sank into a low moan, and was lost in a stifled sob.

“But what can we do, mother?” asked Edith, in an earnest tone, after pausing long enough for her mother to regain the control of her feelings.

“I have thought of but one thing that is at all respectable,” replied the mother.

“What is that?”

“Taking boarders.”

“Why, mother!” ejaculated Edith, evincing great surprise, “how can you think of such a thing?”

“Because driven to do so by the force of circumstances.”

“Taking boarders!  Keeping a boarding-house!  Surely we have not come to this!”

An expression of distress blended with the look of astonishment in Edith’s face.

“There is nothing disgraceful in keeping a boarding-house,” returned the mother.  “A great many very respectable ladies have been compelled to resort to it as a means of supporting their families.”