and see what she could get for her. Beth would not
have touched a penny of Uncle James's, but from that time forward she
did not scruple to poach on his estate, and bring home anything she
could catch. She had often prayed to the Lord to show her how to do
something to help her mother in her dire poverty, and when this idea
occurred to her, she accepted it as a direct answer to her prayer.

Mrs. Caldwell and the three girls slept in the largest bedroom in the
house. It was at the back, looking into the little garden, and out to
the east. The early morning sun, making black bars of the window-frame
on the white blind, often awoke Beth, and she would lie and count the
white spaces between the bars, where the window-panes were,--three,
six, nine, twelve; or two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve. One morning
after Jim left she was lying awake counting the window-panes when
Harriet knocked at the door with the hot water. Mildred had not yet
gone back to her aunt, and was sleeping with Beth, Bernadine being
with her mother.

"Come, get up, children," said Mrs. Caldwell, as she got out of bed
herself.

"Mamma, mayn't I have breakfast in bed?" said Bernadine in a wheedling
tone.

"No, no, my little body," Mrs. Caldwell answered.

"But, mamma," whined the little body, "I've got such a headache!" She
very often had when she ought to have been getting up.

"Cry, baby, cry," sang out Beth. "Mamma, give me my stockings."

Mrs. Caldwell picked them up off the floor, and gave them to her. Beth
began to put them on in bed, and diverted herself as she did so by
making diabolical grimaces at the malingering imp opposite.

"Mamma," Bernadine whined again, "Beth's teasing me."

"Beth, how often am I to tell you that I will not allow you to tease
the child?" Mrs. Caldwell exclaimed.

Beth solemnly gartered her stockings. Then she gave Mildred a dig in
the ribs with her heel, and growled, "Get up!"

"Mamma, Beth is teasing _me_, now," said Mildred promptly.

"Well, I don't see why I should be obliged to do all the getting up
for the family," said Beth.

Her mother turned from the looking-glass with her hair-brush in her
hand, and gazed at her sternly. Beth hummed a tune, but kept at a safe
distance until she was dressed, then made her escape, going straight
to the kitchen, where Harriet was cutting bread to toast. "That's all
the bread there is," she said, "and it won't be enough for breakfast
if you eat any."

"All right, th