CHAPTER VIII
LILITH’S FIRST PLACE
My life you ask for? You must know
My little life can ne’er be told;
It has been full of joy and woe,
Though I am but a few years old.
A. A. Proctor.
A week went by without bringing any answer to Lilith’s application.
She scarcely expected to receive one, indeed. She was becoming inured to disappointment, for, in fact, she had known nothing else in connection with her efforts to obtain employment.
She was beginning to despair of success in this line of enterprise, and even to contemplate the possibility of remaining with Mrs. Downie for an indefinite time, and of becoming useful to her in some good way.
Lilith thanked Heaven that the rigor of her desolate doom was tempered with mercy in the person of Aunt Sophie. She was beginning to love the sweet old lady, with that satisfying affection which is born of esteem and perfect trust. Lilith knew that whatever evil fortune should be in store for her, it would not be the loss of Aunt Sophie’s motherly care and protection.