CHAPTER VII
DAY BY DAY
For the first time in her life Betty is glad to be at home. The rooms seem more comfortable and airy than they have ever done before.
"Oh, how thankful I am that I don't live in that horrid, narrow street, like those poor wretched-looking women and children!" she thinks. Even one morning's work among people so much worse off than herself has opened her eyes a little to the blessings she possesses in her home.
Why, if father were only coming home as usual to-night, she could feel almost happy—if—ah! but father is not coming home; yet he will come some day, his life is in no danger. Oh, she will be brave for his sake, she will be true to the trust he has left in her hands!
No dinner ready again; mother still quite incapable of attending to anything, and poor Betty thoroughly tired out with her anxious morning's work. Yet she is not even cross.
No, the more trying and difficult things are, the greater the victory; and just now she feels braced up, heart and soul, for the fight.
It is sometimes easier to be brave and unselfish in a time of real trouble, than to bear with patience and sweetness the little worries of everyday life.