at its
possession--stood up for Mrs. Tretherick, and averred that they were
jealous of her because she was "bretty." The climax was at last reached
in an open quarrel, wherein Mrs. Tretherick used her tongue with
such precision of statement and epithet, that the soprano burst into
hysterical tears, and had to be supported from the choir by her husband
and the tenor. This act was marked intentionally to the congregation
by the omission of the usual soprano solo. Mrs. Tretherick went home
flushed with triumph, but on reaching her room frantically told Carry
that they were beggars henceforward; that she--her mother--had just
taken the very bread out of her darling's mouth, and ended by bursting
into a flood of penitent tears. They did not come so quickly as in her
old poetical days; but when they came they stung deeply. She was roused
by a formal visit from a vestryman,--one of the music committee. Mrs.
Tretherick dried her long lashes, put on a new neck-ribbon, and went
down to the parlor. She staid there two hours,--a fact that might have
occasioned some remark, but that the vestryman was married, and had a
family of grown-up daughters. When Mrs. Tretherick returned to her room,
she sang to herself in the glass and scolded Carry--but she retained her
place in the choir.

It was not long, however. In due course of time, her enemies received a
powerful addition to their forces in the committee-man's wife. That lady
called upon several of the church-members and on Dr. Cope's family.
The result was, that, at a later meeting of the music committee, Mrs.
Tretherick's voice was declared inadequate to the size of the building
and she was invited to resign. She did so. She had been out of a
situation for two months, and her scant means were almost exhausted,
when Ah Fe's unexpected treasure was tossed into her lap.

The gray fog deepened into night, and the street-lamps started into
shivering life, as, absorbed in these unprofitable memories, Mrs.
Tretherick still sat drearily at her window. Even Carry had slipped away
unnoticed; and her abrupt entrance with the damp evening paper in
her hand roused Mrs. Tretherick, and brought her back to an active
realization of the present. For Mrs. Tretherick was wont to scan
the advertisements in the faint hope of finding some avenue of
employment--she knew not what--open to her needs; and Carry had noted
this habit.

Mrs. Tretherick mechanically closed the shutters, lit the lights, and