Page:Live and Let Live.djvu/175

Rh let fall a glass, which luckily not breaking, the little Pharisee exclaimed, "Was not that careful?" This excited a general laugh, and even our poor stranger's face relaxed into a smile, which the little girls, glancing their eyes towards her, caught, and one said in a low voice, but loud enough for Lucy to hear, "Don't she look sweet when she smiles?" and the other replied, "Yes; but I wonder what she has been crying so for?" and Lucy was relieved when Mrs. Hyde said, returning the account-book to the girl in waiting, "All is right, Harriet—girls, give Harriet joy!"

"No, give Mrs. Hyde thanks," said Harriet; "I never could have got on if you had not kept my courage up, Mrs. Hyde."

"Ah, we can only help those who help themselves, Harriet. What do you wish my child?" to Lucy.

"To speak alone with you, ma'am," replied Lucy, in a tremulous voice, for the dread of asking trust and employment from a stranger to whom she must confess she was in disgrace, turned off as a liar and thief, took possession of her. Mrs. Hyde led the way to another apartment; when there, Lucy's brow contracted and her lips quivered. There is something irresistibly touching in the distress of the young. We expect storms in winter, but we shrink from the cloud that lowers over the promise of early summer. "What is the matter, my child?" asked Mrs. Hyde, so kindly that tears came to Lucy's relief, and she was imboldened to say, "You do not remember me, ma'am?"

"No, I do not."