trength under the ordeal that it seemed, to all human
calculation, must destroy them.

So it was with Mrs. Lee. Although she suffered much from debility and
weariness, occasioned by excessive toil for one all unaccustomed to
hard labour, yet she did not, as she feared, sink rapidly under it. By
taking in as much washing and ironing as she could do, and going out
two days in the week regularly, she managed to procure for herself and
child the bare necessaries of life. This she had continued for about
two years at the time when first introduced to the reader's attention,
as returning with her child to her comfortless home.

The slight movement near her door, which Mrs. Lee had thought to be
only an imaginary sound, was a reality. While little Jane spoke of her
father, and wondered at his absence, a man, comfortably clad in coarse
garments, stood near the door in a listening attitude. Once or twice he
laid his hand upon the latch, but each time withdrew it and stood
musing in seeming doubt. "Oh, I wish father would come home!" fell upon
his ear, in clear, distinct, earnest tones.

He did not hear the low reply, though he listened eagerly. Only for a
moment longer did he pause. Then swinging the door open, and stepping
in quickly, he said in an earnest voice, "And I have come home at last,
my child!--at last, my dear Alice! if you will let me speak to you thus
tenderly--never, never again to leave you!"

Poor Mrs. Lee started and turned pale as her husband entered thus
abruptly, and all unexpected. But she saw a change in him that was not
to be mistaken; and all her former love returned with overwhelming
tenderness. Still she restrained herself with a strong effort, and
said--

"Edward, how do you come?"

"As a sober man. As a true husband and father, I trust, to my wife and
child; to banish sorrow from their hearts, and wipe the tears from
their eyes. Will you receive me thus?"

He had but half finished, when Mrs. Lee sprang towards him, and fell
sobbing in his outstretched arms. She saw that he was in earnest, she
felt that he was in earnest, and once more a gleam of sunshine fell
upon her heart.

Years have passed, and no cloud has yet dimmed the light that then
dawned upon the darkness of Mrs. Lee's painful lot. Her husband is fast
rising, by industry and intelligence, towards the condition in life
which he had previously occupied; and she is beginning again to find
herself in congenial associations. May the l