"To be sure I am; we had the same great-grandfathers, so we are second
cousins. He doesn't care to acknowledge us, but when he passes me, I
always say distinctly, 'Good-day, cousin'; and I don't mind if he does
look rather askance as if he didn't know who I was--that's his look-out.
I'm glad he knows Fani and has his eye on him; if the boy can earn a
trifle by working for him, it will be something to help keep the pot
boiling."

Mrs. Stein now brought the bag which Elsli had left behind, which she
had filled with clothing for Marget's children.

"Do try to remember about Elsli," she said. "I will do all I can to help
you, if you will only spare the child as much as you can."

"Well, as much as I can, yes," said the woman. "But you must understand
that I have my work to do, and the boys must be kept from under my feet
while I am at work, and there's no one but Elsli to see to them. We are
all well now; and yet I have to use both hands to keep things going, and
feed all these mouths every day. How can I make things easier? If
sickness comes, it will be time enough then to change our ways. It comes
hardest on me, after all. No one knows what poverty is but those that
have been through it; but I can't help thinking sometimes that the Lord
God loves some of his children better than he does others."

"Try not to think that, Marget," said the doctor's wife in her kindest
tones, for the hard lot of the poor was a sad trial to her tender heart.
"There are many sufferings besides poverty, and some which are much
harder to bear. Our Father in heaven knows why he sends them to us.
Still, I know how hard poverty is, and it is a great grief to me that I
cannot help the poor as I should like to."