existence doubly delightful. The
anxiety was needless; never was child more pleased with play-house
than the young bride with her new home.

Life glided peacefully on for many months, then the clouds began to
gather in the sky of the financial world. Business men were anxious,
and retrenchment was the order of the day. Among others to draw in
sail was the well-established firm whom Mr. Vincent had served for
many years. The salaries of their employe's were cut down, in some
instances to a mere pittance. Upon none did the blow fall more
heavily than these two inexperienced ones who had made no provision
for any such change in their affairs. They were dismayed; Mr. Vincent
tried in vain to secure some more lucrative position, but he soon
began to feel that he was most fortunate in such times to have any
assured income. The outgo was greater than the income, and it was
plain that they must seek a less expensive home. They made many trips
to the suburbs in the hope of obtaining board at a price that would
be within their means, in some pleasant rural home, but no such home
opened its doors; evidently the dwellers in the suburbs, when they
did take boarders, meant to make it "pay." Then they searched the
papers and read all the advertisements under the head of "Boarding"
within the city. They climbed long flights of stairs, and interviewed
landladies, and looked at rooms with the customary faded carpets and
shabby wall-paper and musty smell, in narrow streets withal, that
seemed to Faith like prisons. In vain they tried to make their tastes
and their purse agree. They had to come to it, a third-story room,
faded carpet, shabby paper, and hard bed. It was a great change,
especially when they descended three dark stairways into a
comfortless basement dining-room, and were served with sour bread and
strong butter, muddy coffee and tough, steak. It tried their
fortitude sometimes severely, but they were young and brave; they had
each other and dear little Daisy; that was almost enough for this
world.

One can't have everything, so Faith stirred the fire and put a bright
spread on the bare table, and another bit of bright colour on the
wooden rocking-chair, so that if they had not been forced to live by
eating, things would not have been so bad after all. Spring, though,
brought troubles; the sun shining squarely upon them through the
winter had served to brighten up things and save coal; but now he
became an enemy, pouring h