ow who it
was from, and, besides, if she did not, Beechnut could tell her when he
gave it to her. She folded the note and slipped it into the envelope,
and then, hastily wetting a wafer, which she found in a small
compartment in the centre of the bronze ink-stand, she put it in its
place, and pressed down the flap of the envelope upon it. She then took
the lamp and went to find a pin to prick up the wick a little, to keep
it from going out.

She could not find any pin, and the lamp burned more and more dimly.

'I must go downstairs and find another lamp,' said Malleville, 'or else
Hepzibah will be left all in the dark.'

She turned and looked towards Hepzibah a moment as she said this, and
then added, 'Poor Hepzibah! How tired she must be to sleep so long.'

She then took the lamp and walked softly out of the room. The stairs
creaked a little as she descended, though she stepped as carefully as
she could. When she reached the kitchen door, she found it shut. She
opened it and went in.

The kitchen was pretty warm, as there had been a fire in it all the day,
although the fire was now all covered up in the ashes. The andirons were
standing one across the other upon the hearth, idle and useless.
Malleville looked about the room for a lamp, but she did not see any.
The kitchen was in perfect order, everything being put properly away in
its place.

'I will look into the closets,' said Malleville.

So she opened a closet door and looked in. There were various articles
on the shelves, but no lamps. She then shut this door, and opened
another closet door at the back of the room. Here Malleville found four
lamps standing in a row upon the second shelf. She was very much pleased
to see them. She took one of them down and carried it to the kitchen
table, and then lighted it by means of a lamp-lighter, which she
obtained from a lamp-lighter case hanging up by the side of the
fireplace. She then blew out her own lamp, and carrying it into the
closet, she put it up upon the shelf in the place of the one which she
had taken away.

On the lower shelf Malleville saw, much to her satisfaction, a plate of
bread with some butter by the side of it. There was a little pitcher
near, too, and Malleville, on looking into it, found that it was half
full of milk.

'I am very glad that I have found this,' said she, 'for now I can have
some supper. I wanted something, and I could not tell what. I know now.
I was hungry.'

She brought