"I see there is nobody to do any thing except me. But I must not tell
Johanna."

She lay long awake, planning every conceivable scheme for saving
money; till at length, her wits sharpened by the desperation of the
circumstances, there flashed upon her an idea that came out of a talk
she had had with Elizabeth that morning. True, it was a perfectly new
and untried chance--and a mere chance; still it was right to overlook
nothing. She would not have ventured to tell Selina of it for the
world, and even to Johanna, she only said--finding her as wakeful as
herself--said it in a careless manner, as if it had relation to
nothing, and she expected nothing from it-- "I think, as I have
nothing else to do, I will go and see Miss Balquidder to-morrow
morning."



CHAPTER XIII.

Miss Balquidder's house was a handsome one, handsomely furnished, and
a neat little to aid-servant showed Hilary at once into the
dining-parlor, where the mistress sat before a business-like
writing-table, covered with letters, papers, etc., all arranged with
that careful order in disorder which indicates, even in the smallest
things, the possession of an accurate, methodical mind, than which
there are few greater possessions, either to its owner or to the
world at large.

Miss Balquidder was not a personable woman; she had never been so
even in youth; and age had told its tale upon those large, strong