"You will do all that you possibly can to save her hands?" said Captain Carr, anxiously.
"Yes, certainly," returned the doctor, "all that it is possible to do."
Jessie Bain's gratitude knew no bounds when she learned how near she had come to losing her life, and that she owed her rescue to the heroism of faithful Margaret Moore. She wept as she had never wept before when she discovered how dearly it might cost poor Margaret.
Alas! how true it is that trouble never comes singly! At this crisis of affairs, Captain Carr suddenly succumbed to a malady that had been troubling him for years, and Jessie Bain found herself thrown homeless, penniless upon the world. She was thankful that poor Margaret Moore did not realize the calamity that had overtaken her. That humble cottage roof which had sheltered her so long would cover her head no more.
"There is only one thing to be done, and that is to place the girl in an asylum," the neighbors advised.
This Jessie Bain stoutly declared she never would do as long as she had two hands to work for the unfortunate girl.
"I shall turn all my little possessions into money," she declared, "and go immediately to New York City and find something to do. She shall go with me and share my fortunes; my last crust of bread I will divide with her."
Every one thanked Heaven that by almost a miracle Margaret Moore's hands were saved to her.
A few days later Jessie Bain bid adieu forever to Fisher's Landing, accompanied by the girl who followed her so patiently out into the world.
How strange it is that New York City is generally the objective point for the poor and friendless in search of employment.