before,
and always received more pay from them than from the shops in London,
where they would beat down the poor to the last penny.

Poor Lettice went to the old band-box and took out a shabby old
bonnet--she looked at it, and sighed, when she thought of the
appearance she must make; for she was going to Mrs. Danvers, and her
work was some very nice linen for a young lady about to be married.

Just at this moment she thought of the contrast between all the fine
things that young lady was to have, and her own destitution. But her
disposition was such as not to cause her to think hard of others who
had plenty while she was poor. She was contented to receive her pay
from the wealthy, for her daily needle work. She felt that what they
had was not taken from her, and if she could gain in her little way by
receiving her just earnings from the general prosperity of others, she
would not complain. And as the thought of the increased pay came into
her mind, which she was to receive that day, she brightened up, shook
the bonnet, pulled out the ribbons, and made it look as tidy as
possible, thinking to herself that after buying some fuel she might
possibly buy a bit of ribbon and make it look a little more spruce,
when she got her money.

Lettice now put on her bonnet, and Myra's shawl, and looking into the
little three-penny glass which hung on the wall, she thought she might
look quite tidy after all. The young lady for whom she made the linen
lived about twenty miles from town, but she had come in about this
time, and was to set off home at nine o'clock that very morning. The
linen was to have been sent in the night before, but Lettice had found
it impossible to finish it. This was why she was obliged to start so
early in the morning. She now goes to the bed to tell Myra about the
fire, and that she had borrowed her shawl, but Myra was sound asleep,
so she did not disturb her, but stepped lightly over the floor and
down stairs, for it was getting late, and she must be gone. Read the
next story, and you will be deeply interested in the result.

* * * * *

LETTICE AND CATHERINE,
OR THE UNEXPECTED MEETING.

I must tell you who were Lettice and Myra. They were the daughters of
a clergyman, who held the little vicarage of Castle Rising. But
misfortune, which sometimes meets the wise and good, reduced the
family to poor circumstances. After the parents' decease, Lettice and
Myra located i