gone twenty minutes instead of
fifteen, and that she, obliging woman that she was, took it upon herself
to make all the arrangements for Mrs. Browning, instead of looking after
her own welfare. Not many could be found who would do half as much for
others as she.

The grease from that mush would stay in the floor all winter, seriously
injuring her reputation of being the best housekeeper in the thickly
populated building. She never could endure dirt and disorder, though
poverty-striken from the day she married Tom Gray.

On the whole, Rosa was so thoroughly miserable that very little supper
could she eat. The thought that she and grandpa would soon find the
beautiful land and mother, was all that gave her even the slightest ray
of hope. "But," she added mentally, "I am sure mother would tell me to
stay and take care of Mis' Gray till she can walk again. She always did
do more talking than anything else, mother said so, mebbe she won't whip
me."

The evening was long and gloomy, but Rosa was kept busily employed,
carrying out the peremptory commands of the cripple. She bathed and
tenderly rubbed the offending ankle till her arm ached cruelly.

At last, with a sigh of relief, wrapping herself up in a blanket and
lying down upon the floor, she dreamed till morning of mother, the
beautiful land, and of Jesus who paid the fare.

For three weeks Mrs. Gray was unable to take a step except by using a
crutch, the pain at times being so severe that sewing was out of the
question.

Her slender savings not being sufficient to meet the emergency of the
case, Rosa in her spare moments was obliged to run errands, tend babies
while the mothers were out working, or to do anything else chancing to
come her way.

Her allowance of food often was meager, though never once did she
complain. Every day she was growing more thin and pale, her eyes more
large and lustrous, while her heart was almost breaking.

Night after night the swollen ankle had to be gently rubbed, or Mrs.
Gray could not sleep. No word of praise ever escaped the cruel lips, but
fretting, scolding, and threats of the much talked of "lickin'" for that
grease spot upon the floor were the only reward the weary little worker
ever received.

There was one, however, though his mind was badly shattered, who saw
and understood, causing the feeble old man to suffer quite as intensely
as did the child.

They could snatch opportunities only now and then for a word, fearing