CHAPTER II.
The breakfast bell had been rung, Miss Lane came in at its last tingle and saw the children waiting for her.
“Good morning! Where is your papa?”
“Gone: he goes to his office at six every morning, and doesn’t come home till evening,” answered Jennie.
“Who reads prayers?”
“No one, since mamma died.”
The lady stood silent a moment; a little tinge of red colored her cheek, and she did not trust her voice for a few seconds, lest it should tremble.
“I cannot,” was her first thought; “it is not my place; they may think it presuming.”
“I will,” was her next; “God has put it in my way; it is plainly my duty.” Then speaking aloud to Mrs. Hill, the housekeeper, she said calmly: