Abercrombie felt
rebuked. He had a large balance in the bank, and could have
accommodated him without the smallest inconvenience. In another
state of mind he would have done so cheerfully.

"O dear!" sighed the unhappy merchant, speaking mentally; "what has
come over me? I'm losing all control of myself. This will never,
never do. I must set a guard upon my lips."

And he did so. Conscious of his state of irritability, he subdued
his tones of voice, and restrained utterance when tempted to angry
or inconsiderate speech. Not again during the day was he guilty of
such inexcusable conduct as in the instances mentioned; yet the
shadow remained upon his feelings, strive as he would to throw off
the gloomy impression.

It was late in the day when Mr. Abercrombie turned his steps
homeward. How little was he satisfied with himself! And now, when he
remembered, with painful distinctness, the clouded brow of his wife,
how little promise was there of home-sunlight, to dispel the gloom
of his own feelings!

As the hand of the merchant rested upon his own door, he almost
dreaded to enter. He shrank from meeting that clouded visage. The
shadows were dark when he left in the morning, and experience told
him that he need scarcely hope to find them dispelled. Happily,
though still in the sky, the clouds were broken, and gleams of
sunshine came breaking through. Ah! if they had only possessed
sufficient power to disperse the shadows that all day long had been
gathering around the heart of Mr. Abercrombie! But that was
impossible. Self-respect had been forfeited; and a consciousness of
having, in his impatient haste, acted unjustly, haunted his
thoughts. And so, the shadows that were not to be dispersed by the
feeble sun-rays from the countenance of his wife, gradually diffused
themselves, until the light that struggled with them grew pale.

"Did you know," said Mrs. Abercrombie, breaking in upon the
oppressive silence that succeeded, after all had retired for the
night but herself and husband, "that the mother of Edward Wilson is
very poor and in a decline?"

"I was not aware of it," was the brief response.

"It is so. Mrs. Archer was here this afternoon, and was telling me
about them. Mrs. Wilson, who, until within a few weeks past, has
been able to earn something, is now so weak that she cannot leave
her bed, and is solely dependent on the earnings of her son. How
much do you pay him?"

"Only three dollars a week," answered