which had been left slightly ajar for air, for the evening was
sultry. She pushed it open with her foot, since her hands were so
full, and with her eyes fixed on the articles she was carrying so
as to drop nothing, she crossed the small room to a table and put
them down before looking around.

"There's some--mistake," said a very low, hollow voice.

Belle was almost transfixed by eyes as black as her own, gleaming
out of cavernous sockets and from the most emaciated face she had
ever seen. It seemed as if the dead were speaking to her. At any
rate, if the woman were not dead she soon would be, and the thought
flashed through Belle's mind that she would be the cause of her
death, since she had taken her daughter's place and robbed them
of sustenance. She who had been ready to face a whole shopful of
hostile people with undaunted eyes was seized with a remorseful
panic, and ran sobbing down to Clara, crying, "Oh, do come--let
me carry you"; and this she half did in her excitement. "Give
your mother something to make her better right away. Let me help
you--tell me what to do."

Clara went to her mother and kissed her tenderly, whispering,
"Courage, momsy, I've got something nice for you." Then she turned
and said, "You are too excited, Belle. I'll do everything, and make
the little we have go a great way. You would waste things. I know
just what to do, only give me time," and she soaked some of the
bread in the milk and began feeding her mother, who swallowed with
great difficulty.

"I'll take no more--till--I see you--eat something," gasped the