"Mrs. Miles has come home! I've seen her. She beckoned me to go in, and, O mother! what do you think she showed me? The cunningest little baby I ever saw. She wants you to come right over, and she——"
Mrs. Talbot interrupted him by saying,—
"That is good news! I'll go at once, and take Ella, so that I can stay and help her. Rake up the fire as quickly as you can, and put on Ella's hood."
"I felt a little troubled for you," exclaimed the lady, when, after a cordial embrace, she had heard a confession of the widow's fears; "but I am sure all will come out right and bright. That dear Johnny! I hope my boy will be just like him;" and here she gave the baby a good squeeze.
"If the mill is shut, as I suppose it must be, we shall go to my father's for the winter. It will be a trial to all of us; but we will trust it is for the best. My husband told me that he should know certainly at the end of another week. If no orders come in before that time, they can't keep on."
Mrs. Talbot took the baby and began to caress it to hide her troubled face; but presently said, with a smile,—
"How thankful we ought to be that there is One who orders all events in our lives, and that this Being is he who calls himself our Father."