clock. I am then to have lunch with the young lady,
and for all this, and the enjoyment of a good dinner into the bargain, I
am to receive thirty shillings a week. Does not it sound too good to be
true?"

"And that is how we are to be rich, Lottie. Well, go on and prosper. I
know what an active little woman you are and how impossible it is for
you to let the grass grow under your feet. I do not object to your
trying this thing, if it is not too much for your strength, and if you
can safely leave the children."

"I have thought of the children, Angus; this is so much for their real
interest, that it would be a pity to throw it away. But, as you say,
they must not be neglected. I shall ask that little Alice Martin to come
in to look after them until I am back every day; she will be glad to
earn half-a-crown a week."

"As much in proportion, as your thirty shillings is to you--eh, Lottie?
See how rich we are in reality."

Mrs. Home sighed, and the bright look left her face. Her husband
perceived the change.

"That is not all you have got to tell me," he said.

"No, it is only leading up to what I want to tell you. It is what has
set me thinking so hard all day that I can keep it to myself no longer.
Angus, prepare for a surprise; that beautiful young lady, who bears the
same name I bore before I was married--is--is--she is my near relation."

"Your near relation, Charlotte? But I never knew you had any near
relations."

"No, dear, I never told you; my mother thought it best that you should
not know. She only spoke to me of them when she was dying. She was sorry
afterwards that she had even done that; she begged of me, unless great
necessity arose, not to say anything to you. It is only because it seems
to me the necessity has really come that I speak of what gave my mother
such pain to mention."

"Yes, dear, you have wealthy relations. I don't know that it matters
very greatly. But go on."

"There is more than that, Angus, but I will try to tell you all. You
know how poor I was when you found me, and gave me your love and
yourself."

"We were both poor, Lottie; so much so that we thought two hundred a
year, which was what we had to begin housekeeping on, quite riches."

"Yes, Angus; well, I had been poor all my life, I could never do what
rich girls did, I was so accustomed to wearing shabby dresses, and
eating plain food, and doing without the amusements which seem to come
naturally into the lives of most