m always at your apron strings, and now that he's a man, he's not
to be turned adrift. No, madam, I shall stay, and Mabel, too, just
as long as I please."

Gaining no satisfaction from him, Mrs. Livingstone turned her battery
upon poor Mabel, treating her with shameful neglect, intimating that
she was in the way; that the house was full, and that she never
supposed John was going to settle down at home for her to support; he
was big enough to look after himself, and if he chose to marry a wife
who had nothing, why let them go to work, as other folks did.

Mabel listened in perfect amazement, never dreaming what was meant,
for John Jr. had carefully kept from her a knowledge of her loss,
requesting his mother to do the same in such decided terms, that,
hint as strongly as she pleased, she dared not tell the whole, for
fear of the storm which was sure to follow. All this was not, of
course, calculated to add to Mabel's comfort, and day by day she grew
more and more unhappy, generously keeping to herself, however, the
treatment which she received from Mrs. Livingstone.

"He will only dislike me the more if I complain to him of his
mother," thought she, so the secret was kept, though she could not
always repress the tears which would start when she thought how
wretched she was.

We believe we have said elsewhere, that if there was anything
particularly annoying to John Jr., it was a sick or crying woman, and
now, when he so often found Mabel indisposed or weeping, he grew more
morose and fault-finding, sometimes wantonly accusing her of trying
to provoke him, when, in fact, she had used every means in her power
to conciliate him. Again, conscience-smitten, he would lay her
aching head upon his bosom, and tenderly bathing her throbbing
temples, would soothe her into a quiet sleep, from which she always
awoke refreshed, and in her heart forgiving him for all he had made
her suffer. At such times, John would resolve never again to treat
her unkindly, but alas! his resolutions were too easily broken. Had
he married Nellie, a more faithful, affectionate husband there could
not have been. But now it was different. A withering blight had
fallen upon his earthly prospects, and forgetting that he alone was
to blame, he unjustly laid the fault upon his innocent wife, who, as
far as she was able, loved him as deeply as Nellie herself could have
done.

One morning about the first of September, John Jr. received a note,
i