l. I have not hard
work now," she added, turning to Mrs Blair. "This is not a busy time,
and my employer is very considerate; but her place of business is quite
at the other end of the town, and it's not so easy walking two or three
miles on the pavements as it used to be among the hills at home."

"I fear you carry a heavier heart than you used to do in those days,"
said Mrs Blair, sadly. "But are you not trying your strength more than
you ought with these long walks?"

Mrs Elder might have replied that she had no choice between these long
walks and utter destitution for herself and her children; but she said,
cheerfully, that it was only since the weather had become so warm that
she had found the walk at all beyond her strength, and the hot weather
would soon be over now.

"It's the country air mother wants, as well as me," said Archie; and the
gaze which the weary mother turned upon her sister was as full of
wistful longing as the little lad's had been. After a little pause, she
said:

"Sometimes I think it would be great happiness to get away to some quiet
country place, where I might earn enough to support myself and them.
The din and dust of this noisy town are almost too much for me,
sometimes; and I am not so strong as I once was. I think it would give
me new life to breathe the air of the hills again. But if such is not
God's will, we must even be content to bide here till the end comes."
And she sighed heavily.

"Whisht, Ellen, woman," said her sister; "don't speak in such a hopeless
voice as that. Whatever comes, God sends; and what He sends to His own
He sends in love, not in anger. He has not left you to doubt that,
surely?"

"Oh, no; I am sure of that. I have seen that it has been in love that
He has dealt with us hitherto." And in a moment she added, a bright
smile lighting up her pale face as she spoke:

"And I think I can count on a place prepared for me at last by my
Saviour; but, for my children's sakes, I would like to wait a while. I
would like to take them with me when I go."

"It may be that one of them will get there before you," said her sister.
"He knows best, and will send what is best for His own."

"Yes, I know it," said Mrs Elder, in a startled voice, as she turned to
look at the pale face of her boy, now almost death-like in the quietness
of sleep. The silence was long and tearful; and then she added, as if
unconscious of the presence of another:

"So that we are a