o a situation. 'You'll excuse me mentioning it,
sir; but perhaps it isn't everybody, distressed as we were, that would
have carried back that money she found in the meal: but Mary _would_ do
it, even when I said that perhaps it wasn't yours, and that nobody might
know whose it was; which was very wrong of me, no doubt; but one's mind
gets weakened by illness and want, and I couldn't help thinking of the
food it would buy us; but Mary wouldn't hear of it. I'm sure you might
trust Mary with untold gold, sir; and it would be a real charity to help
her to a situation, if you knew of such a thing.'

Little deemed Leah that morning, as she handed Mary her quart of meal
and the change for her hard-earned shilling, that she had spoiled her
own fortunes, and that she would, ere night, be called upon to abdicate
her stool behind the counter in favour of that humble customer; and yet
so it was. Mr Benjamin could not forgive her dereliction from honesty;
and the more he had trusted her, the greater was the shock to his
confidence. Moreover, his short-sighted views of human nature, and his
incapacity for comprehending its infinite shades and varieties, caused
him to extend his ill opinion farther than the delinquent merited. In
spite of her protestations, he could not believe that this was her first
misdemeanour; but concluded that, like many other people in the world,
she had only been reputed honest because she had not been found out.
Leah soon found herself in the very dilemma she had deprecated, and the
apprehension of which had kept her so long practically honest--without a
situation, and with a damaged character.

As Mary understood book-keeping, the duties of her new office were soon
learned, and the only evil attending it was, that she could not take
care of her father. But determined not to lose her, Mr Benjamin found
means to reconcile the difficulty by giving them a room behind the shop,
where they lived very comfortably, till Glegg, recovering some portion
of health, was able to work a little at his trade.

In process of time, however, as infirmity began to disable Mr Benjamin
for the daily walk from his residence to his shop, he left the whole
management of the business to the father and daughter, receiving every
shilling of the profits, except the moderate salaries he gave them,
which were sufficient to furnish them with all the necessaries of life,
though nothing beyond. But when the old gentleman died, and his will