mothers--and much younger."

"What was his name?"

Mrs. West did not mean to be inquisitive, but she did want to know and
not simply for the sake of knowing.

"Excuse me--but I must keep the secret for his brother's sake. He's the
only one left."

"I may not know the name of the bank then?"

"If you knew that you would know all. But _I_ know that your husband lost
his small patrimony in it--twenty-five hundred dollars--"

"H'm," escaped Mrs. West's closely pressed lips.

"And that is one strong reason why I want to educate your two daughters."

The knitting dropped from the unsteady fingers.

"And I've fretted and fretted about that money, and asked the Lord how my
girls ever were to be educated."

"You know now," said Miss Prudence. "I had to tell you, for I feared that
you would not listen to my plan. You may guess how I felt when your
sister-in-law, Mrs. Easton, told me that she was to take Linnet for a
year or two and let her go to school. At first I could not see my way
clear, my money is all spent for a year to come--I only thought of taking
Marjorie home with me--but, I have arranged it so that I can spare a
little; I have been often applied to to take music pupils, and if I do
that I can take one of the girls home with me and send her to school;
next year I will take all the expense upon myself, wardrobe and all.
There is a cheap way of living in large cities as well as an expensive
one. If Linnet goes to Boston with her aunt, she will be kept busy out of
school hours. Mrs. Easton is very kindhearted but she considers no one
where her children are concerned. If I wore diamonds that Linnet's money
purchased, aren't you willing she shall eat bread and butter my money
purchases?"

"But you gave the diamonds up?"

"I wore them, though."

"That diamond plea has done duty a good many times, I guess," said Mrs.
West, smiling down upon the head in her lap.

"No, it hasn't. His brother has done many things for me; people are ready
enough to take money from his brother, and the widows are my friends. It
has not been difficult. It would have been without him."

"The nights I've laid awake and made plans. My little boys died in
babyhood. I imagine their father and I would have mortgaged the farm, and
I would have taken in washing, and he would have gone back to his trade
to send those boys through college. But the girls don't need a college
education. The boys might have been ministers--one of them, at lea