One morning, towards the middle of April, Mrs. Halliburton went up to Mr. Ashley's. She had brought him the quarter's rent.  
"Will you allow me to pay it to yourself, sir—now, and in future?" she asked. "I feel an unconquerable aversion to having further dealings with Mr. Dare."
 
"I can understand that you should have," said Mr. Ashley. "Yes, you can pay it to me, Mrs. Halliburton. Always remembering you know, that I am in no hurry for it," he added with a smile.
 
"Thank you. You are very kind. But I must pay as I go on."
 
He wrote the receipt, and handed it to her. "I hope you are satisfied with William?" she said, as she folded it up.
 
"Quite so. I believe he gives satisfaction to Mr. Lynn. I have little to do with him myself. Mr. Lynn tells me that he finds him a , open-natured boy."
 
"You will always find him that," said Jane. "He is getting more reconciled to the manufactory than he was at first."
 
"Did he not like it at first?"
 
"No, he did not. He was disappointed altogether. He had hoped to find some employment more suited to the way in which he had been brought up. He cannot himself of the idea that he is looked upon as on a level with the poor errand-boys of your establishment, and therefore has lost caste. He had wished also to be in some office—a lawyer's, for instance—where the hours for leaving are early, so that he might have had the evening for his studies. But he is growing more reconciled to the ."
 
"I suppose he wished to continue his studies?"
 
"He did so naturally. The foundation of an advanced education has been laid, and he expected it was to go on to completion. His brothers are now in the college school, occupied all day long with their studies, and of course William feels the difference. He gets to his books for an hour when he returns home in an evening; but he is weary, and does not do much good."
 
"He appears to be a more , thoughtful boy than are some," remarked Mr. Ashley.
 
"Very thoughtful—very persevering. It has been the labour of my life, Mr. Ashley, to foster good seed in my children; to reason with them, to make them my companions. They have been endowed, I am thankful to say, with admirable qualities of head and heart, and I have striven unweariedly to nourish the good in them. It is not often that boys are brought into contact with sorrow so early as they. Their father's death and my circumstances have been real trials."
 
"They must have been," rejoined Mr. Ashley.
 
"While others of their age think only of play," she continued, "my boys have been obliged to learn the sad experiences of life; and it has given them a thought, a care, beyond their years. There is no necessity to make Frank and Edgar apply to their lessons unremittingly; they do it of their own accord, with their whole abilities, knowing that education is the only advantage they can possess—the one chance of their getting on in the world. Had William been a boy of a different , less , less reflective, less , I might have found some difficulty in inducing him to work as he is doing."
 
"Does he complain?" inquired Mr. Ashley.
 
"Oh no, sir! He feels that it is his duty to work, to assist as far as he can, and he does it without complaining. I see that he cannot help feeling it. He would like to be in the college with his brothers; but I cheer him up, and tell him it may all turn out for the best. Perhaps it will."
 
She rose as she . Mr. Ashley shook hands with her, and attended her through the hall. "Your sons deserve to get on, Mrs. Halliburton, and I hope they will do so. It is an admirable promise for the future man when a boy displays thought and self-reliance."
 
"Mamma!" suddenly exclaimed Janey, as they sat at breakfast the morning after this, "do you remember what to-day is? It is my birthday."
 
Jane had remembered it. She had been almost in hopes that the child would not remember it. One year ago that day the first glimpse of the shadow so soon to fall upon them had shown itself. What a change! The contrast between last year and this was almost incredible. Then they had been in possession of a good home, were living in prosperity, in apparent security. Now—Jane's heart turned sick at the thought. Only one short year!
 
"Yes, Janey dear," she replied in sadly tones. "I did not forget it. I——"
 
A double knock at the door interrupted what she would have further said. They heard Dobbs answer it: visitors were chiefly for Mrs. Reece.
 
Who should be there but Samuel Lynn! He did not choose the familiar back way, as Patience did, had he occasion to call, but knocked at the front.
 
"Is Jane Halliburton within?"
 
"You can go and see," said crusty, disappointed Dobbs, flourishing her hand towards the study door. "It's not often that she's out."
 
Jane rose at his entrance; but he declined to sit, standing while he delivered the message with which he had been charged.
 
"Friend, thee need not send thy son to the manufactory again in an evening, except on Saturdays. On the other evenings he may remain at home from tea-time and pursue his studies. His wages will not be ."
 
And Jane knew that the considerate kindness from Thomas Ashley.
 
She managed better with her work as the months went on. By summer she could do it quickly; the days were long then, and, by of sitting closely to it, she could earn twelve shillings a week. With William's , and the six shillings taken from Mrs. Reece's payments, that made twenty-two. It was quite a fortune compared with what had been. But like most good fortunes it had its drawbacks. In the first place, she could not always earn it; she was compelled to steal time to mend her own and the children's clothes. In the second place, a large portion of it had to be to buying their clothes, besides other incidental expenses; so that in the matter of housekeeping they were not much better off than before. Still, Jane did begin to think that she should see her way clearer. But there was sorrow of a different nature in the distance.
 
One afternoon, which Jane was obliged to devote to plain sewing, she was sitting alone in the study when there came a hard short at it, which was Dobbs's way of making known her presence there.
 
"Come in!"
 
Dobbs came in and sat herself down opposite Jane. It was summer weather, and the August dust blew in at the open window. "I want to know what's the matter with Janey," began she, without .
 
"With Janey?" repeated Mrs. Halliburton. "What should be the matter with her? I know of nothing."
 
"Of course not," answered Dobbs. "Eyes appear to be given to some folks only to blind 'em—more's the pity! You can't see it; my missis can't see it; but I say that the child is ill."
 
"Oh, Dobbs! I think you must be mistaken."
 
"Now I'd thank you to be civil, if you please, Mrs. Halliburton," retorted Dobbs. "You don't take me for a common servant, I hope. Who's 'Dobbs'?"
 
"I had no wish to be uncivil," said Jane. "I am so accustomed to hearing Mrs. Reece call you Dobbs, that——"
 
"My missis is one case, and other folks is another," burst Dobbs, by way of interruption. "I have a handle to my name, I hope, which is Mrs. Dobbs, and I'd be obleeged to you not to forget it again. What's the reas............