Eva left the room, and in a few minutes returned empty handed.

"Has he refused to let you have it?" asked Mrs. Wentworth.

"Yes, mother," replied the child sadly. "He says he will not give
credit to anybody."

"I thought as much," Mrs. Wentworth remarked.

"Then I won't get any bread?" asked the child on her knees.

"No, my darling," Mrs. Wentworth answered, "you must wait until
to-morrow."

"I hav'nt eaten so long, mother," he said. "Why aint you got any
bread?"

"Because mother is poor and without any money," she replied.

"But I feel so hungry," again the child remarked.

"I know it, my sweet boy," replied his mother, "but wait a little
longer and I will give you something to eat."

Her heart was wrung with agony at the complaint of the child and his
call for bread; but she knew not how to evade his questions or to
procure food. The thought of asking charity had never once entered her
mind, for those with whom she had daily intercourse, were too much
engaged in self-interest to make her hope that any appeal for help
would touch their sordid hearts; and yet food must be had, but how she