cent I was nearly crazy. I
gave old Sparks such a lecture as he will never forget, and I fairly
hugged that primpy old maid when she came to tell me where you were.
Now, dear, take this ten dollars from your sister Ailsa, and use it in
time of need. No, you shall not refuse it, or you may be sorry for it if
Miss White should turn you out in the streets some day as heartlessly as
old Sparks did."

She had not the least idea of such a thing happening again, but she
wanted to frighten Dainty into taking the gift, and she succeeded, after
which she left, promising to see her friend often.

The weeks came and went, and Dainty toiled at her sewing with aching
limbs and a heavy heart filled with dire forebodings that she dare not
utter aloud to any human being, even gentle Ailsa, and at night her
lonely pillow was wet with tears, and her piteous cry was ever:

"Oh, mother, mother, if only you were with me now to pity and help me in
my trouble!"

For awhile Miss White was quite kind, for at the bottom of her heart she
felt secretly grateful to the girl for having in a way brought about her
acquaintance with Sparks--an acquaintance that she prosecuted with much
vigor, running in and out daily for trifles from the store, till her
broad flatteries and fondness for the children awakened a warm sentiment
in his heart, and he began to pay her such pleasing attentions as
calling on Sunday evenings for social chats, Dainty always keeping out
of the way, reluctant to meet him again, and quite unaware that in his
spite he was doing all he could to turn Miss White's heart against her
hapless _protege_.

March came with its bleak winds and occasional hints of spring, but
Dainty's heart sank heavier day by day, her cheeks grew more pale, her
eyes more heavy, as she drooped over her work shivering, with the thick
cape always wrapped about her form, and looking as if death would soon
claim her as its own.

They were dark, sad days for Dainty, for the gay young girls, Miss
White's assistants, began to shun her, and to look askance at the form
always bundled up so closely from the winter cold. Two hands quit work
abruptly and never returned, and the three others held private
conversations with their employer, after which she came straight to
Dainty, saying harshly:

"You wicked girl, you have imposed on me!"

Dainty was putting away the tea-things, and she started so violently
that a china cup fell through her thin fingers and crashe