words the
infant murmured as he closed his eyes in sleep, and in that slumber
forgot his agonizing pangs for awhile.

As soon as they were asleep, Mrs. Wentworth removed from the bedside
and seated herself at the window, which she opened. There she sat,
looking at the clouds as they floated by, dark as her own prospects
were. The morning dawned and saw her still there. It was a beautiful
morning, but the warble of the bird in a tree near by, as he poured
forth his morning song, awoke no echo in the heart of the soldier's
wife. All was cheerless within her. The brightness of the morning only
acted like a gleam of light at the mouth of a cavern. It made the
darkness of her thoughts more dismal.

CHAPTER THIRTEENTH.

THE APPEAL FOR CREDIT

The first call of the little boy, when he awoke in the morning, was
for bread. He was doubly hungry now. Thirty-six hours had passed since
he had eaten the last mouthful of food that remained in the room. Mrs.
Wentworth on that night of vigils, had determined to make an appeal
for help to the man she had purchased the furniture from, on her
arrival at Jackson, and in the event of his refusing to assist her, to
sell the bed on which her children were wont to sleep. This
determination had not been arrived at without a struggle in the heart
of the soldier's wife. For the first time in her life she was about to
sue for help from a stranger, and the blood rushed to her cheeks, as
she thought of the humiliation that poverty entails upon mortal. It is
true, she was not about to ask for charity, as her object was only to
procure credit for a small quantity of provisions to feed her children
with. The debt would be paid, she knew well enough, but still it was
asking a favor, and the idea of being obligated to a stranger, was
galling to her proud and sensitive nature.

"Mother," exclaimed the child, as he rose from his bed, "it is morning
now; aint I going to get some bread?"

"Yes," she replied, "I will go out to the shop directly and get you
some."

About an hour afterwards she left the room, and bidding Ella to take
care Of her brother, while she was absent, bending her steps towards
the store of Mr. Swartz. This gentleman had become, in a few short
weeks, possessed of three or four times the wealth he owned when we
first introduced him to our readers. The spirit of speculation had
seized him among the vast number of the southern people, who were
drawn into its vortex, and cre