appen to us and our little
home," she began. "You see, when father was a professor at Passdale he
bought this place for a summer residence, and my dear mother always
loved it so much. When he became blind, we moved here, and lived very
comfortably because he had a private income. But in a fatal moment he
was induced to invest all he had in the Big Chief gold mine out west.
Every one was talking about it and what a splendid investment it was.
We were sure that in a few months we would be very rich. But you know
what happened to that. There was bad management somewhere, the works
shut down, and so many people were ruined."

"Indeed I know," Douglas emphatically replied. "I was bitten, too, and
lost my all. It wasn't much, to be sure, but it meant a great deal to
me."

"It was ruin to us," Nell continued. "For a while I thought father
would go out of his mind, he felt so badly. Then, to add to our
trouble, Nan became ill, and it took our last dollar to pay the doctor
and other expenses. At length, we were forced to mortgage the place to
Mr. Stubbles to pay our grocery bill which had grown so large. It is
that which has been hanging over our home like a terrible cloud for
several years now."

Nell paused and looked out over the water. The glow of evening touched
her face and soft hair, and made her seem to the young man watching her
as if she were not of this earth, so beautiful did she appear. What
right had such a woman to be troubled? he asked himself. How he longed
to do something to help her.

"So you came to the rescue, and started farming."

"There was nothing else to do," she smilingly replied. "I felt the
responsibility, and had to do something. I didn't know much about
gardening at first, and made many mistakes. But we have managed to
live, pay the interest on the mortgage and part of the principal. But
we are in danger of losing everything now," she added with a note of
sadness in her voice.

"In what way?"

"You see, the mortgage was due the first of July, and it should have
been paid then. But we did not have the money, not even enough to pay
the interest. Our garden did not do very well last year, and the
winter was a hard one. After we had paid father's life insurance,
there was very little left. We did not know what to do and were
greatly depressed. It was then that father went with Nan to the city
and played on the streets. I knew nothing about it until they came
home with