shall be lost
without you. You needn't go till quite evening.'

Janet had dipped into the 'Life of Henry Martyn,' which Mrs. Pettifer had
from the Paddiford Lending Library, and her interest was so arrested by
that pathetic missionary story, that she readily acquiesced in both
propositions, and Mrs. Raynor set out.

She had been gone more than an hour, and it was nearly twelve o'clock,
when Janet put down her book; and after sitting meditatively for some
minutes with her eyes unconsciously fixed on the opposite wall, she rose,
went to her bedroom, and, hastily putting on her bonnet and shawl, came
down to Mrs. Pettifer, who was busy in the kitchen.

'Mrs. Pettifer,' she said, 'tell mother, when she comes back, I'm gone to
see what has become of those poor Lakins in Butchers Lane. I know they're
half starving, and I've neglected them so, lately. And then, I think,
I'll go on to Mrs. Crewe. I want to see the dear little woman, and tell
her myself about my going to hear Mr. Tryan. She won't feel it half so
much if I tell her myself.'

'Won't you wait till your mother comes, or put it off till tomorrow?'
said Mrs. Pettifer, alarmed. 'You'll hardly be back in time for dinner,
if you get talking to Mrs. Crewe. And you'll have to pass by your
husband's, you know; and yesterday, you were so afraid of seeing him.'

'O, Robert will be shut up at the office now, if he's not gone out of the
town. I must go--I feel I must be doing something for some one--not be a
mere useless log any longer. I've been reading about that wonderful Henry
Martyn; he's just like Mr. Tryan--wearing himself out for other people,
and I sit thinking of nothing but myself. I _must_ go. Good-bye; I shall
be back soon.'

She ran off before Mrs. Pettifer could utter another word of dissuasion,
leaving the good woman in considerable anxiety lest this new impulse of
Janet's should frustrate all precautions to save her from a sudden shock.

Janet having paid her visit in Butcher Lane, turned again into Orchard
Street on her way to Mrs. Crewe's, and was thinking, rather sadly, that
her mother's economical housekeeping would leave no abundant surplus to
be sent to the hungry Lakins, when she saw Mr. Pilgrim in advance of her
on the other side of the street. He was walking at a rapid pace, and when
he reached Dempster's door he turned and entered without knocking.

Janet was startled. Mr. Pilgrim would never enter in that way unless
there were some one very