voice; her shoulder was against the wall
now for support.

She was ready for the blow; all her life they had come this way.

"Sold your twenty at ten. Mail you check for $190 on receipt of
certificate."

Abbie clutched her bosom as if for relief, but there came no answering
throb. The little devil was gone, and the lamp with him.

"And is it all over, Abbie?" asked her mother, as she drew her shawl
closer about her head. One stick of wood must last them till bedtime
now.

"Yes--all." The girl lay crouched at her feet sobbing, her head in her
mother's lap.

"Can you pay Hiram?"

"I have paid him in full. I gave him Mr. Keep's check and ten dollars of
my pay--paid him this morning. He wouldn't take any interest."

"Oh, that's good--that's good, child!" she crooned.

There came a long pause, during which the two women sat motionless, the
mother looking into the smouldering coals. She had but few tears left
none for disappointments like these.

"And we have got to keep on as we have?"

"Yes." The reply was barely audible.

The mother lifted her thin, worn hand, and laid it on Abbie's head.

"Well, child," she said slowly, "you can thank God for one thing. _You
had your dream_; ain't many even had that."

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Abijah's Bubble, by F. Hopkinson Smith

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