Having decided the question about the scholarship, she took up her work in the house with real interest, trying how well she could do this, how much trouble she could save her mother in that, and what expense could be spared in the other.
She soon learned to know that it is not money, it is not pleasure, that gives happiness, but the interest that life affords, that gives it its real value and zest.
Sorely did they miss the loving father; but they could not afford to sit down and indulge in useless repinings. Life had too much for them to do to sit down and shed useless tears. And so Elsie and her mother found themselves happy, though they were not always free from care and anxiety.
In this way several months passed. Mrs. Winn had as much work as she could get through. And, though it was sometimes difficult, with all the care and economy, to make ends meet without breaking into the little capital that was put away; still it was done somehow, and the little ones were not allowed to feel the loss of their father where mother and sister could help them.
Then one day Tom came home from school, rather later than usual, bruised and dirty, and with several rents in his jacket.
"Where have you been, Tom?" exclaimed Elsie, when she saw what a plight he was in.
"Oh, don't bother," said her brother, pushing her aside; "I don't want girls worrying about me," he added, as he rushed into the scullery to wash his face, and remove the traces of the fray in which he had been engaged, before his mother should see him.
"Where have you been, Tom?" exclaimed Elsie.
Tea was nearly over, and Mrs. Winn had gone back to the work-room, so she did not see Tom as he came home. But the bruises and scratches could not be washed off with water; and the jacket was sadly dilapidated.