ter. "She's not the same girl she was when she came here, and
she seems to grow lazier every day. Well, it's the way with them all.
A new broom sweeps clean."

But Mrs. Williams might easily have found a truer explanation of
Nelly's failing energies than this convenient proverb, in the
unwholesome atmosphere she was breathing by night and day, as well as
in the quantity and quality of the food provided for her. Mrs.
Williams would have indignantly repelled the charge of starving Nelly,
but she forgot the requirements of a fast-growing girl. Everything
eatable was kept rigidly locked up,--that was a fundamental principle
of Mrs. Williams' housekeeping,--and Nelly's allowance was sometimes
so scanty, and at other times composed of such an uninviting
collection of scraps, that she often had not sufficient nourishment to
repair the waste of strength which she was continually undergoing. And
as she would rather suffer than ask more, her constitution was really
giving way for want of sufficient sustenance.

So two or three months passed, and she had not yet seen Lucy. She had
only, indeed, been two or three times at church, for Mrs. Williams
never seemed to remember that her little servant had an immortal soul
to be nourished, though it must be admitted that she was not much more
mindful of her own spiritual welfare. As for getting out on week-days,
except on her mistress's errands, Mrs. Williams seemed to consider
that quite out of the question; and, indeed, Nelly could not easily
have found leisure for half-an-hour's absence. One evening, at last,
when most of the boarders were dining out, Mrs. Williams graciously
acceded to Nelly's request to be allowed to go out for an hour; "but
don't stay a minute longer," she added. Nelly had carefully kept
Lucy's address, and gladly set off, as fast as she could walk, towards
the quarter of the city in which she knew it to be. She steered her
course pretty straight, but had walked for fully half-an-hour before
she reached the door, on the brass plate of which she read "B.
Brooke."

It was with a beating heart that she put the question, "Is Miss Lucy
Raymond at home?" to be answered in the negative by the servant, who
inwardly wondered what a girl so poorly dressed could want with Miss
Lucy. Waiting was out of the question,--she would be late enough in
getting back as it was,--so she sorrowfully turned away, without
leaving any message. It was a great disappointment, and, tired and