flesh and blood, while her hair, black as the raven's wing, thin as the gossamer thread, thrown back from her temples, and falling, or rather floating down to her very narrow shoulders, set off the deadly white of her complexion with such effect that she seemed like one in whose veins the current of life had already ceased to circulate. The eyes, generally downcast, were shaded by deep, silken lashes; but when raised, the broad, unflinching stare of the girl was oppressive. Helen, who, sitting opposite, had fixed a look of interest on her, encountered one of these sudden gazes, and shrank before it, with an undefined sensation of alarm.

Meanwhile Mrs. Wright sustained a voluble part, plying her mother with questions, and interrupting her answers with much irrelevant matter. At length the old lady seized an interval to ask, 'Where is Phoebe, your eldest?'

'There,' replied her daughter, pointing to the darkhaired girl, that's Phoebe.'

'I-, I believe I have made a mistake; it was Sarah I meant to inquire for.'

'She is not at home, just now,' said Mrs. Wright, colouring a little, 'you will see her by and by;' then added, this is Charles, and the little one is John.'

And the other three?' Mrs. Wright shook her head, and lifted the corner of her apron to her eyes; while Charles, with a shrug, said abruptly, All gone, grandmother; dead, all five of them; and a happy deliverance it was.'

'Heaven is better than earth,' ejaculated the mother, raising her eyes.

A glance that passed between Charles and Phoebe at these words, a suppressed grin on the face of the

former, and a sidelong look of scorn from his sister, excited the astonishment of their cousins, and increased Helen's uneasiness. The widow did not perceive it: she was painfully recalling some statements in her daughter's letters, now clearly shewn to have been wilfully false. Wright's entrance proved a seasonable interruption, and his cordial greeting a contrast to the heartless scene.

'My good mother,' he said, affectionately saluting her, 'it is many a long year since we met, and bravely you seem to have weathered it. Young people, you are kindly welcome all. Why, so many rosy cheeks are like a flower show in the town of M.' He passed his eye from them to his own children, and compressing his lips, as if to stifle a sigh, sat down.

By this time, Johnny's evident drowsiness had so increased, that his head fell upon his brother's shoulder, who, with a rough push, sent it back against Phoebe her shrill scolding exclamation half waked the poor boy, and with an unintelligible mutter he rose to stagger towards a press bed, turned up against the wall. His mother loudly called on him to return; but the father, saying, 'Poor fellow, let him rest awhile,' rose and let down the untidy couch, on which he instantly flung himself.

'Is he ill?' asked James, in a half whisper.

'Not he,' replied Charles; ''tis seldom he keeps awake so long.' He rose as he spoke, or rather stood; for no perceptible difference was made in his height by the change of position, owing to the curvature of his legs. The deformity was striking, and the irregular shuffle with which he crossed the room painful to witness. The widow averted her eyes, and hastily inquired of Wright whether he knew the cotton mill

of the Messrs. Z.

dren work there, but

Of course I do, for my chil

'

'Never mind his buts, mother,' interrupted the wife, 'he is famous for them.'

'I have a letter of recommendation to that firm,' resumed Mrs. Green; and to-morrow I wished to deliver it, as Mr. Stratton charged me to avoid delay; yet I should like to make a few inquiries beforehand.' In fact, the discovery of her other grandchildren being employed in it was the reverse of an inducement to place their cousins there.

'Take my advice,' said Wright, if you have a good word spoken for you to any mill-owner, act upon it. You'll soon learn the value of a friend at the head.'

The widow could not but acquiesce in this; and when the family party broke up, with a prayerless, cold good night, she in their own apartment commended her little flock to the covenanted mercies of God in Christ Jesus, and soon saw the three younger ones in a sound sleep. Helen, however, had never felt more wakeful; anxious thoughts were crowding on her mind. When all was hushed save the brawling voices and rattling wheels that seemed interminably to distract the streets, she gave utterance to her feelings.

'Granny, this place is very different from the quiet home we have left; and the people we saw on our way are very different, too, from our old neighbours. What a comfort it is to know that the best friend of all is with us here as much as in our own home, though we cannot see Him!'

'A comfort indeed, dear child

and we shall need

it more and more to uphold us now. I fear we have a thorny path before us?'

'Never mind that, so long as it is the right path; you know who has said, "The way-faring men, though fools, shall not err therein."

And how are we to know, Helen, that we are in the right path?'

'I think, Granny, while we are striving to do our duty in that state of life into which it has pleased God to call us, and are looking to Him for help and strength, and trying to confess the Lord Jesus Christ before men, both with our lips and in our lives, that we may hope we are not out of the good way.'

6

And do you think, Helen, you shall be able to do this, if you get among bad people who try to tempt you to wickedness; and to laugh you out of your religion?'

'Indeed I don't know there is nothing good in me, and I seem to tremble when I look forward. Now, Granny, will you pray with me, that the Lord God may be to us, as He has promised to be to his people, a Father of the fatherless, and a Husband to the widow?'

The prayer was immediately offered, amid many tears and sighs; for both were oppressed with a weight that they knew not how to sustain, except by casting the burden on the Lord.

When they rose, the poor old woman tenderly embraced her orphan charge, and blessed her for leading her to that most comforting refuge. Helen answered,

The truth is, dear Granny, I have always thought more than I spoke; but now I see you are likely to have many difficulties and few helps, I desire to be, after my poor fashion, more useful to you; and I want to get over my unwillingness to speak out. Oh,

my mother,' she added, with a fresh burst of tears, ‘I fear we are come to a bad place, and these poor little lambs'- - she could not go on.

Tell me, what have you seen or heard to cause such alarm?'

'Not much; but two or three things passed that distressed me. Phoebe, who is, as you first thought, the eldest, and two years older than me, though she is so little, said that Mary might be passed, with the doctor's help, for thirteen, and Willy for more than nine, and so get higher wages. When I told her it would be an untruth to say they were more than eleven and eight, she and her brother made quite a mock of me, saying nobody minded such nonsense here; and then they told me some cases of such wicked deceit, that it frightened me to hear of them. They laughed the more at me; and said you would soon learn, like others, to make the best bargain you could of the children?'

6

'What else, Helen?' exclaimed the widow, who saw she hesitated here. Tell me all, my child; for it is of great importance I should know it now.'

'I thought so, Granny: or I would never have been a tell-tale, to grieve you, and to expose these poor young people. They informed me that their sister Sarah, whom you were asking for, was made, as they said, too good a bargain of; and that from early over-work in the mill, bad treatment, and other injuries-they did not say what-she is such an object that her mother kept her out of our sight. She is up stairs in a little loft, not likely to live long. others died of early consumption.'

All the

The widow was petrified at a tale which, in addition to its other horrors, proved her daughter to have