hich the attempt to impose
upon her by an exorbitant charge had occasioned, when she was favoured
with a visit from Mrs. Brandon, who said familiarly, and with a smile,
as she entered--

"Ah, how do you do, Mrs. Lander? I have just corrected a mistake you
made a little while ago."

"Indeed! what is that?" asked Mrs. Lander, looking a little surprised.

"You only gave poor Mrs. Walton fifty cents apiece for the half dozen
of shirts she made for you, when the lowest price is seventy-five
cents. I always pay a dollar for Mr. Brandon's. The difference is a
very important one to her--no less than a dollar and a half. I found
her in much trouble about it, and her little boy crying with
disappointment at not getting a pair of shoes his mother had promised
him as soon as she got the money for the shirts. He has been from
school for want of shoes for more than a week. So I took out my purse
and gave Mrs. Walton the dollar and a half to make up the sum she had
earned, and told her I would see you about it. I acted right, did I
not? Of course, it was a mistake on your part?"

Mrs. Lander was never more completely out-generalled in her life. The
lady who had corrected her error was one in whose good opinion she had
every reason for desiring to stand high. She could grind the face of
the poor without pity or shame, but for the world she would not be
thought mean by Mrs. Brandon.

"I am very much obliged to you, indeed," she said with a bland smile.
"It was altogether a mistake on my part, and I blame the woman
exceedingly for not having mentioned it at the time. Heaven knows I am
the last person in the world to grind the faces of the poor! Yes, the
very last person. Here is the money you paid for me, and I must repeat
my thanks for your prompt correction of the error. But I cannot help
feeling vexed at the woman."

"We must make many allowances for the poor, Mrs. Lander. They often
bear a great deal of wrong without a word of complaint. Some people
take advantage of their need, and, because they are poor, make them
work for the merest pittance in the world. I know some persons, and
they well off in the world, who always employ the poorest class of
people, and this under the pretence of favouring them, but, in reality,
that they may get their work done at a cheaper rate than it can be made
by people who expect to derive from their labour a comfortable support."

Mrs. Lander was stung to the quick by these words; but she dared