stead of thinking and acting, only sobbed and moaned and
despaired, and instead of comforting the children, left them to comfort
her. Perhaps in the end it was best for them, for it is only by helping
and comforting others that one grows strong oneself.

"We made nine shillings on Saturday," went on Tom hopefully, "and that
wasn't one of our best days."

"And you think that five of us can live on nine shillings a week!"

"Couldn't we?" asked Tom disappointedly, "with the eggs and the apples and
the stuff out of the garden?"

Aunt Emma sniffed scornfully. "With good management we might get along,"
she said shortly. "There is no knowing what you can do till you're
brought to it."

Bella began to lose her temper. "Why couldn't Aunt Emma try and make the
best of things?" she thought impatiently, "instead of making them all more
miserable than they were already. It was very unkind of her, and, after
all, it was harder for them than for her;--but it had never been Aunt
Emma's way to try and make the best of things."

Yet in her inmost heart Miss Hender did not really think the outlook so
very black. At any rate, she realised that it was very much brighter than
it might have been, if there had been no garden, and the children had not
made that little start of their own; and in her own mind she was planning
how she would take in a little washing, to help them all along.
But poor Aunt Emma's fault was that she would never let people know she
saw any brightness in life at all. She was afraid they would not realise
how much she suffered, and how much she had to bear.

With spirits greatly damped, Tom and Bella walked away out into the
garden, and there the sweet fresh autumn air and the sunshine soon cheered
them again.

"What will there be to take in next week?" asked Bella, glancing about
her. "We must carry all we can, for Aunt Emma's sake."

"There'll be apples," said Tom, "plenty of them hoarding pears, and
cabbages. I wish we had a hand-cart!" he broke out impetuously:
"for there's heaps of stuff, potatoes, and turnips, and carrots, if only
we could get them to Norton, but what we can carry hardly pays for the
time and trouble."

"I shall have some early chrysanthemums," said Bella, looking lovingly at
her flowers, "and asters, and a few late roses. Oh, I ought to have
opened my hotbed," and away she darted, her face full of eagerness.

It was only a few days before the accident that she had bought a ni