nd
see what there is for us."

She disappeared for a few minutes, then reappeared carrying one letter
in her hand.

"From mother, to you. Open it quickly, dear! It is an age since she
has written. I only hope and pray it is good news!" But, alas! that
aspiration was shattered at the sight of the first few sentences.

"My darling girls,--I have delayed writing as I could not bear to cloud
your pleasure, but I can keep back the truth no longer. You must be
brave, dears, and help me to be brave, for it is no half and half
trouble this time. We are quite, quite ruined, and Heaven only knows
what is to become of us!

"It is not the pater's fault in any one way. For the last two years he
has been doing a good deal of business for a man who appeared to be in
very good circumstances. At first he paid up his accounts most
regularly, but lately they have sometimes been allowed to run on from
month to month. I don't understand business, but it seems that this is
often allowed, and as he had been such a good client, and had met his
payments regularly before, the pater felt safe in trusting him, and paid
out all his own little capital to finance the business of the last few
months, which was unusually large.

"He expected to make such a handsome commission as would set us on our
feet again; but it was all a deliberate fraud. Other poor men have been
taken in in the same way, and that scoundrel has disappeared, leaving us
to bear the brunt. I hope I may be able to forgive him some day; just
now, when I see the pater's broken heart and think of you, and all those
children, it's too difficult.

"Everything that we have or can raise in any way will not pay what we
owe, and the pater cannot carry on his business without some capital.
The future is very dark; but God has helped me through many dark days,
and He will help us still. Trix is splendid! She went of her own
accord to the headmistress and offered to teach one of the junior
classes in exchange for Betty's education, and a few finishing classes
for herself. Miss Bean came to see me, and it is all arranged, for she
says Trix has a genius for managing children, and will be a valuable
help. She is a good woman, and is glad of the opportunity of helping
us, so that difficulty is overcome; but there are oh, so many others to
be faced!

"What is to be done about the house--the boys--yourselves? Pater and I
have talked until we are too tired and puzzled to talk a