I can earn money enough to
support us both."

"It is hard to think how much I have suffered, and how much of woe
there may be in the future for me," sobbed Mrs. Redburn.

"Don't cry, mother. You know what it says on the watch--'All for the
Best.' Who knows but that all your sorrows are for the best?"

"I hope they are; I will try to think they are. But it is time for you
to go. Pawn the watch for as much as you can; and I trust that some
fortunate event will enable us to redeem it."

Katy took the watch, smoothed down her hair again, put on her worn-out
bonnet, and left the house.

CHAPTER III.

KATY AND MASTER SIMON SNEED VISIT THE PAWNBROKER'S SHOP.

The court in which Katy lived had once been the abode of many very
respectable families, to use a popular word, for respectable does not
always mean worthy of respect on account of one's virtues, but worthy
of respect on account of one's lands, houses, and money. In the former
sense it was still occupied by very respectable families, though none
of them possessed much of the "goods that perish in the using" Mrs.
Redburn, the seamstress, was very respectable; Mrs. Colvin, the
washer-woman, was very respectable, so were Mrs. Howard, the tailoress,
Mr. Brown, the lumper, and Mr. Sneed, the mason.

Katy's mother lived in a small house, with three other families. She
occupied two rooms, for which she paid four dollars a month, the amount
of rent now due and unpaid. Dr. Flynch took a great deal of pleasure in
telling Mrs. Redburn how his humanity and his regard for the welfare of
the poor had induced him to fix the rent at so cheap a rate; but he
always finished by assuring her that this sum must be promptly paid,
and that no excuses could ever have any weight.

The next house to Mrs. Redburn was tenanted by Mr. Sneed, the mason. I
don't know whether I ought to say that Mr. Sneed had a son, or that
Master Simon Sneed had a father, being at a loss to determine which was
the more important personage of the two; but I am not going to say
anything against either of them, for the father was a very honest mason
and the son was a very nice young man.

Katy knocked at the door of this house, and inquired for Master Simon
Sneed. She was informed that he had not yet finished his dinner; and
she decided to wait in the court till he made his appearance. Seating
herself on the door stone, she permitted her mind to wander back to the
narrative her mother had related to her.