t, under her present range of expenses, she must go behind-hand with
great rapidity. Mr. and Mrs. Marion were to pay fourteen dollars a
weeks Thus far, nothing had been received from them; and now the
husband had gone off and left his family on her hands. She could not
turn them off, yet how could she bear up under this additional burden!

All this passed through her mind in a moment, and produced the sigh
which distracted her bosom.

"Do you not know where he has gone?" she asked, seeking to throw as
much sympathy and interest in her voice as possible, and thus to
conceal the pressure upon her own feelings which the intelligence had
occasioned.

Mrs. Marion shook her head. She knew that, in the effort to speak, her
voice would fail her.

For nearly the space of a minute there was silence. This was broken, at
length, by Mrs. Marion, who again wept violently. As soon as the
passionate burst of feeling was over, Mrs. Darlington said to her in a
kind and sympathizing voice--

"Do not grieve so deeply. You are not friendless altogether. Though you
have been with us only a short time, we feel an interest in you, and
will not"--

The sentence remained unfinished. There was an impulse in Mrs.
Darlington's mind to proffer the unhappy woman a home for herself and
children; but a sudden recollection of the embarrassing nature of her
own circumstances checked the words on her tongue.

"I cannot remain a burden upon you," quickly answered Mrs. Marion. "But
where can I go? What shall I do?"

The last few words were spoken half to herself, in a low tone of
distressing despondency.

"For the present," said Mrs. Darlington, anxious to mitigate, even in a
small degree, the anguish of the unhappy woman's mind, "let this give
you no trouble. Doubtless the way will open before you. After the
darkest hour the morning breaks."

Yet, even while Mrs. Darlington sought thus to give comfort, her own
heart felt the weight upon it growing heavier. Scarcely able to stand
up in her difficulties alone, here was a new burden laid upon her.

None could have sympathized more deeply with the afflicted mother and
deserted wife than did Mrs. Darlington and her family; and none could
have extended more willingly a helping hand in time of need. But, in
sustaining the burden of her support, they felt that the additional
weight was bearing them under.

CHAPTER VI.

THREE months more elapsed. Mrs. Marion was still an inmate of the
family.