was
seated. Mrs. Turner said to him--

"I am trying, Mr. Martin, to beat a strange notion out of Mary's
head. She has been endeavouring to persuade me to let her learn the
dress-making business."

The young man seemed a little surprised at this communication, and
Mary evinced a momentary confusion when it was made. He said,
however, very promptly and pleasantly, turning to Mary--

"I suppose you have a good reason for it, Miss Mary."

"I think I have, Mr. Martin," she replied, smiling. "We cannot live,
and educate James and William, unless we have a regular income; and
I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that what we have cannot last
long--nor to another, that I am the only one in the family from whom
any regular income can be expected."

"And you are willing to devote yourself to incessant toil, night and
day, for this purpose?"

"Certainly I am," Mary replied, with a quiet, cheerful smile.

"But it never will do, Mr. Martin, will it?" Mrs. Turner remarked.

"Why not, Mrs. Turner?"

"Because, it is not altogether respectable."

"I do not see any thing disrespectable in the business; but, with
Mary's motive for entering into it, something highly respectable and
honorable," Mr. Martin replied, with unusual earnestness.

Mrs. Turner was silenced.

"And you really think of learning the business, and then setting it
up?" said Mr. Martin, turning to Mary, with a manifest interest,
which she felt, rather than perceived.

"Certainly I do, if mother does not positively object."

"Then I wish you all success in your praiseworthy undertaking. And
may the end you have in view support you amid the wearisome toil."

There was a peculiar feeling in Mr. Martin's tone that touched the
heart of Mary, she knew not why. But certain it was, that she felt
doubly nerved for the task she had proposed to herself.

As Mr. Martin wended his way homeward that evening, he thought of
Mary Turner with an interest new to him. He had never been a great
deal in her company while he boarded with her mother, because Mary
was always too busy about household affairs, to be much in the
parlor. But what little he had seen of her, made him like her as a
friend. He also liked Mrs. Turner, and had from these reasons,
frequently called in to see them since their removal. After going
into his room, on his return home that evening, he sat down and
remained for some time in a musing attitude. At length he got up,
and took a few turns across the