ch was then
prevailing to some extent in the neighboring towns.

That afternoon it was told at Terrace Hill that Mrs. Johnson was very
sick, and half an hour later the Richards carriage, containing the
doctor and his Sister Anna, wound down the hill, and passing through the
park, turned in the direction of the cottage, where they found Mrs.
Johnson even worse than they had anticipated. The sight of distress
aroused Anna at once, and forgetting her own feebleness she kindly
offered to stay until night if she could be of any service. Mrs. Johnson
was fond of Anna, and she expressed her pleasure so eagerly that Anna
decided to remain, and went with Alice to remove her wrappings.

"Oh, I forgot!" she exclaimed, as a sudden thought seemed to strike her.
"I don't know as I can stay after all, though I might write it here, I
suppose as well as at home; and as John is going to New York to-night he
will take it along."

"What is it?" Alice asked; and Anna replied:

"You'll think me very foolish, no doubt, but I want to know if you too
think so. I'm so dependent on other's opinions," and, in a low tone,
Anna told of the advertisement seen early last winter, how queerly it
was expressed, and how careless John had been in tearing off the name
and address, with which to light his cigar. "It seems to me," she
continued, "that 'unfortunate married woman' is the very one I want."

"Yes; but how will you find her? I understand that the address was
burned," Alice rejoined quickly, feeling herself that Anna was hardly
sane in her calculations.

"Oh, I've used that in the wording," Anna answered. "I do not know as it
will ever reach her, it's been so long, but if it does, she'll be sure
to know I mean her, or somebody like her."

"I dislike writing very much," she said, as she saw the array of
materials, "and I write so illegibly too. Please do it for me, that's a
dear, good girl," and she gave the pen to Alice, who wrote the first
word, "Wanted," and then waited for Anna to dictate.

"WANTED--By an invalid lady, whose home is in the country, a young
woman, who will be both useful and agreeable, either as a companion
or waiting maid. No objection will be raised if the woman is
married, and unfortunate, or has a child a few months old. Address,

"A.E.R., Snowdon, Hampden Co., Mass."

Alice thought it the queerest advertisement she had ever seen, but Anna
was privileged to do queer things, and folding the paper, she went