passion, "Phil, I can't do it--I can't go on! I
could _give_ my life, I could work for nothing, gladly and cheerfully,
if it were for some noble end, but I can't sell it for a mess of
pottage! I can't go on smiling and acting and trampling on my feelings,
and associating with Minnie Caldecott and her friends for the sake of
what I can make out of them. And I can't earn enough to help you. I am
only a burden. I want to give it up, Phil, and devote my life to doing
good. I want to enter a home for deaconesses, and be trained for work
among the poor. There is no question of money there, for you get barely
enough to live in the plainest way, but I should be doing some good in
the world--"

"Sit down, Hope," said Philippa quietly. She waited in silence until
the trembling hand lay quietly on her own, and then began her reply. "I
know a girl who went to pay a visit at a country-house. It was, on the
face of it, merely a pleasure visit, but while there she managed to
rouse a very selfish girl to the consciousness that there were other
needs in the world besides her own. Later on she gave real hard work to
the carrying out of a scheme which she had suggested, and which has put
fresh life into many tired workers this summer. I know a girl who has
three quick-tempered, sharp-tongued sisters, and who keeps peace among
them by her sweet influence. I know a girl who can make home cheerful
by the exercise of her talent, and so keep a young brother happy and
occupied many times when he would otherwise be roaming about in search
of amusement. He is only a boy, but he thinks himself a man, and he is
so easily--so easily influenced for good or bad! If that girl left her
home, and her sisters' lives were made more difficult, and that poor boy
went astray, would she be `doing good'? Would she be doing the duty
that lay at her hand?"

"Oh Phil!" gasped Hope, dismayed; but now Philippa in her turn was
roused, and squared her shoulders in her old determined fashion.

"I can't think what has come to girls nowadays that they must take for
granted that good work must needs be without their own four walls.
Charity begins at home, and _I_ call it treachery to forsake your
relations when they need your help. If you go away, and anything
happens to Barney--"

"Phil, don't! I can't bear it. Of course I will stay if you need me;
and it comforts me more than anything else to feel that I _can_ help.
You are not--not _anxious_ abou