ed by this rare show of feeling "What is it, dear? You wish we were
rich, so do not I; I am quite content. I go among so very much poorer
people than myself, Lottie, that it always seems to me I have far more
than my fair share of life's good things; but, at any rate my Lottie,
crying won't make us rich, so don't waste your strength over it."

"I can't help it sometimes, Angus; it goes to my heart to see you
shivering in such a great-coat as you have just taken off, and then I
know you want better food, and wine; you are so tired this moment you
can scarcely speak. What a lot of good some port wine would do you!"

"And what a lot of good, wishing for it will do me! Come Lottie, be
sensible; we must not begin to repine for what we have not got, and
cannot get. Let us think of our mercies."

"You make me ashamed of myself, Angus. But these thoughts don't come to
me for nothing; the fact is--yes, I will tell you at last, I have long
been making up my mind. The truth is, Angus, I can't look at the
children--I can't look at you and see you all suffering, and hold my
peace any longer. We are poor, very--very--dreadfully poor, but we ought
to be rich."

"Lottie!"

Such a speech, so uttered, would have called for reproof from Angus
Home, had it passed the lips of another. But he knew the woman he had
married too well not to believe there was reason in her words.

"I am sorry you have kept a secret from me," he said. "What is this
mystery, Lottie?"

"It was my mother, Angus. She begged of me to keep it to myself, and she
only told me when she was dying. But may I just tell you all from the
very beginning?"

"Yes, dear. If it is a romance, it will just soothe me, for though I am,
I own, tired, I could not sleep for a long time to come."

"First, Angus, I must confess to a little bit of deceit I practised on
you."

"Ah, Lottie!" said her husband playfully, "no wonder you cried, with
such a heavy burden on your soul; but confess your sins, wife."

"You know how it has always fretted me, our being poor," said Charlotte.
"Your income is only just sufficient to put bread into our mouths, and,
indeed, we sometimes want even that. I have often lain awake at night
wondering how I could make a little money, and this winter, when it set
in so very severe, set my thoughts harder to work on this great problem
than ever. The children did want so much, Angus--new boots, and little
warm dresses--and so--and so--one day about a mont