It was during this period that Helen’s little store of money was, for the first time, broken in upon.. Before the birth of the child, Lotte had been enabled to earn enough to support both—but to save nothing. When the time came that her whole attention was absorbed by Helen’s helpless prostration, her labours with her needle were necessarily stopped; but now that Helen had strength to get about again, and the money-hoard was growing very low, it became necessary that she should once more return to her close application in the task of bread-winning.
Was there not another claim, too, now upon her exertion? The little healthy, bright-eyed boy—of whom, unconsciously, she grew so fond, and who was caressed and fondled by its young mother with such passionate devotion that she had no eyes or thought for aught else—seemed to call upon her to redouble her efforts, that he might be spared the fatal consequences of wasting privation.
One night she quietly explained to Helen their position and the necessity there would be for her to again apply to the persons who had last employed her, to furnish her with work.
“I will be careful,” she said, “to avoid the chances of our residence being discovered; but we are not fairies, you know, Helen—we must eat and drink, and pay our way.”
Helen turned her large, dark, eyes upon her face, and fixed them there; she did not reply, for she had made a discovery.
“I shall be sure to obtain as much as I can do,” continued Lotte, thoughtfully, “enough, I am convinced, by sitting close to my work, to support us all, comfortably. You can devote your time to dear little Hugh, so as to keep him smiling and well, and I can do the rest—all the rest.”
The child was sleeping, and previous to Lotte’s commencement of the conversation, Helen was sitting abstracted in deep reflection upon the past. From this she was roused by Lotte’s remarks, and now she sat and gazed in painful wonder upon her face.
It was pinched, haggard and wan; it was as different from that round, sweet, pleasant countenance, she had looked upon with a satisfied assurance that its owner was entitled to her fullest confidence, when first alone with her in her own neat little chamber, as could be conceived.
Lotte’s once well-rounded form was wasted, too; her dress sat loosely upon her, and her white hands looked long and bony.
The words she uttered rang in Helen’s ears. “By sitting close to my work, I can support us all comfortably.” She, weak, wasted, and ill, to devote herself to such a task!