ton; and when she found her son ready to
accept the offer made to him, she withdrew all opposition.

Steps preliminary to the contemplated change were immediately taken.
First of all, Edith waited upon a number of their old friends, who had
young children, and informed them that she was, in connection with her
sister, about opening a school. Some were surprised, some pleased, and
some indifferent at the announcement; but a goodly number expressed
pleasure at the opportunity it afforded them of placing their younger
children under the care of teachers in whose ability and character they
had so much confidence. Thus was the way made plain before them.

CHAPTER XII.

A FEW weeks later, and the contemplated change was made. The family
removed into a moderate-sized house, at a lower rent, and prepared to
test the new mode of obtaining a livelihood. A good portion of their
furniture had been sold, besides three gold watches and some valuable
jewelry belonging to Mrs. Darlington and her two eldest daughters, in
order to make up a sum sufficient to pay off the debt contracted during
the last few months of the boarding-house experiment. The real loss
sustained by the widow in this experiment fell little short of a
thousand dollars.

"How many scholars have you now?" asked Mrs. Darlington of Edith, two
months after the school was opened, as they sat at tea one evening,
each member of the family wearing a cheerful face.

"Twenty," replied Edith. "We received two new ones to-day. Mrs. Wilmot
came and entered two of her children; and she said that Mrs. Armond was
going to send her Florence so soon as her quarter expired in the school
she is now attending."

"How much will you receive from your present number of scholars?"
inquired Henry.

"I made the estimate to-day," returned Edith, "and find that the bills
will come to something like a hundred and twenty-five dollars a
quarter."

"Five hundred dollars a year," said Henry; "and my five hundred added
to that will make a thousand. Can't we live on a thousand dollars,
mother?"

"We may, by the closest economy."

"Our school will increase," remarked Edith; "and every increase will
add to our income. Oh! it looks so much brighter ahead! and we have so
much real comfort in the present! What a scene of trial have we passed
through!"

"How I ever bore up under it is more than I can now tell," said Mrs.
Darlington, with an involuntary shudder. "And the toil, and suffering