inly about for the way to satisfy his demands. With her natural
protector gone, she felt more weak and helpless than she had thought it
possible to feel. It was hard enough to face the world. But to have to
ask something of it was almost more than she could bear.

With the conviction of her husband the last five hundred dollars had
been confiscated as belonging to the stolen money, but their former
deposit remained untouched. With this she had the means at her disposal
to tide over their present days of misfortune. It was not money she
lacked, but confidence. Some inkling of the world's attitude towards
her, guiltless though she was, reached her and made her afraid.

Her desperation, however, would not let her give way to fear, so she set
forth to look for another house. Joe and Kit saw her go as if she were
starting on an expedition into a strange country. In all their lives
they had known no home save the little cottage in Oakley's yard. Here
they had toddled as babies and played as children and been happy and
care-free. There had been times when they had complained and wanted a
home off by themselves, like others whom they knew. They had not
failed, either, to draw unpleasant comparisons between their mode of
life and the old plantation quarters system. But now all this was
forgotten, and there were only grief and anxiety that they must leave
the place and in such a way.

Fannie went out with little hope in her heart, and a short while after
she was gone Joe decided to follow her and make an attempt to get work.

"I 'll go an' see what I kin do, anyway, Kit. 'T ain't much use, I
reckon, trying to get into a bahbah shop where they shave white folks,
because all the white folks are down on us. I 'll try one of the
coloured shops."

This was something of a condescension for Berry Hamilton's son. He had
never yet shaved a black chin or put shears to what he termed "naps,"
and he was proud of it. He thought, though, that after the training he
had received from the superior "Tonsorial Parlours" where he had been
employed, he had but to ask for a place and he would be gladly
accepted.

It is strange how all the foolish little vaunting things that a man says
in days of prosperity wax a giant crop around him in the days of his
adversity. Berry Hamilton's son found this out almost as soon as he had
applied at the first of the coloured shops for work.

"Oh, no, suh," said the proprietor, "I don't think we got anything fu