Her children she sent to the public school, and she clothed them as well as she could.
"Oh! if I could only get a little money saved up, that, in disguise, I could go down to Brookside and see them all there, though they know me not!
"I could leave my children with good hearted Mrs. Lucas, next door, and be gone but a few days, for I only wish to see the dear old home, to gaze upon the faces of my parents, to see Kent, and then come back to my wretchedness and toil; but I feel I could work the better if I could go.
"Still, I cannot, for it would take nearly fifty dollars to go and return, and I have but ten saved up, and it would not be right, if I had the money to spend it thus, for what if I should be taken sick, what would my little ones do?"
Again she buried her face in her hands and wept, to start suddenly, hastily drying her eyes, and, as a second knock came at the door, to call out:
"Come in!"
The door opened and a man entered.
He was a most unprepossessing looking person, one to dread, for he looked like a tramp in dress, and a scoundrel in his face.
The woman arose quickly, and asked as firmly as she could:
"Well, sir, what do you wish here?"