as far as possible, but you have shown yourself well
able to support your family."

"She ain't one of my family," replied Mrs. Connor, "and I've kept her
long enough for all the good I've ever got out of her; so I don't see
that it's any of my business to take the bit out of my children's
mouths and put it into hers."

Mrs. Connor would probably not have come to this decision had she not
been less dependent than formerly on Nelly's assistance. But as her
youngest child was now able to run alone, and the eldest could, on an
emergency, take care of the rest, and as she now took in most of her
washing, she had less need for an additional worker, involving an
additional mouth to be fed. Besides, Nelly was a "growing girl," she
reflected, and would be always costing her more for food and clothing,
so that to be rid of her maintenance would be so much clear gain. She
was therefore inexorable in her determination that Nelly should not
remain with her, unless, indeed, the ladies would pay for her board--a
proposition which Mrs. Steele declined to entertain.

It was taken seriously into consideration by Lucy and her aunt what
could be done to provide Nelly with a home. Lucy was eager that she
should be at once taken into their own household, to be trained for
domestic service; but this Mrs. Steele thought impracticable at
present, as she knew that their own busy, capable handmaid would
strongly object to have her time taken up in teaching a girl who would
give her so much additional trouble.

"But there are other people," she said, "who would be very glad of a
child like Nelly, who would cost nothing for wages, to train and make
useful. I am going to Mill Bank Farm this afternoon to see about some
butter, and I'll see if Mrs. Ford knows of any one who would take
her."

Lucy assented rather reluctantly. It would have been so nice, she
thought, to have her protegee immediately under her own charge, to
teach and train into a model servant. She had not yet learned the
distrust in her own powers which experience gives, and she saw only
the bright side of the plan, not the difficulties in its execution.

Mrs. Ford's motherly heart was at once roused to pity for the little
orphan's forlorn condition, and to indignation at Mrs. Connor's
heartless conduct.

"After all the work she's got out of her, too!" she said; "making that
poor child drudge away morning, noon, and night. I'm sure she's been
worth a deal more to her than the