d as this. The fact is, we are
between two cuts, and for all I see are prisoners here till we get
help from outside."

Mrs. Jervis heard this with dismay, and Ethel with despair. She buried
her face in her mother's lap, and shook all over with the violence of
her sobs.

Mrs. Jervis was distressed, for her daughter was just recovering from
a serious illness, and she feared the consequences of such violent
emotion. Her mind worked quickly; if she could only get Ethel
interested in something,--but what could she do shut up in a car? She
spoke again to her neighbor.

"Didn't you say there were some travelers in the next car not so
comfortable as we are?"

"Yes, ma'am," he answered; "a mother and three children, one a baby,
going to Dalton, where the father has just got work. They look poor,
and are not very warmly clad. The conductor says he can't keep two
cars warm; fuel is getting scarce; and he's going to bring them in
here."

"Do you hear that, Ethel?" said her mother anxiously; "there's a baby
coming into our car."

Ethel was usually very fond of babies, but now she could think of
nothing but her disappointment, and only an impatient jerk of her
shoulders showed that she heard.

At this moment the door opened, and the conductor appeared, followed
by the few passengers from the other car, among them the shivering
family with the baby. The mother looked pale and tired, and sank into
the first seat.

Mrs. Jervis rose, obliging Ethel to sit up, and went toward the weary
woman.

"Let me take the baby a while," she said pleasantly; "you look tired
out."

Tears came into the eyes of the poor mother.

"Oh, thank you," she said; "the baby is fretting for her milk; she
won't eat anything I can get for her."

"Of course she won't," said Mrs. Jervis, as she lifted the baby, who,
though poorly dressed, was clean and sweet; "sensible baby! we must
try to get milk for her!" She turned to the conductor.

"Isn't there a farmhouse somewhere about here where some benevolent
gentleman might get milk for a suffering baby?" and she looked with a
smile at the passenger who had been giving the unwelcome news.

"No," said the conductor, "I think not any near enough to be reached
in this storm; but I have an idea that there's a case of condensed
milk in the baggage-car; I'll see," and he hurried out.

"That's a providential baggage-car," said Mrs. Jervis. "How much we
might have suffered but for its fortunate stores!"

"