dampness. "He does not doubt her sincerity in the least," thought Aunt
Faith; "perhaps, after all, his influence will be strong enough to
cure her one fault, the one blemish of her character, the tendency
towards worldliness which I have noticed in her since early
childhood."

"We were speaking of Margaret Brown, Mrs. Sheldon," said Mr. Leslie
when they were all seated on the piazza; "that girl has made a brave
battle with fate, and I have been trying to help her. Miss Warrington
has also been much interested in her; no doubt she has told you
Margaret's history?"

"No," replied Aunt Faith, "I have heard nothing of her." Sibyl
colored, and Mr. Leslie looked surprised; a slight shade rested on his
frank face a moment, but soon vanished in the interest of the story.
"Margaret Brown is a poor working girl about twenty years of age, Mrs.
Sheldon; an orphan with a younger sister and two younger brothers to
support, and nothing but her two busy hands to depend upon. She is a
sewing-girl and a skilful workwoman, so that by incessant labor over
her machine, day after day, she is able to keep her little family
together, and, more than all, to send them to school. She realizes the
disadvantages of her own ignorance, and she feels a noble ambition to
educate those orphan children. Her faith is great; it is like the
faith of the primitive Christians who lived so near the times of the
Lord Jesus, that, in their prayers, they asked for what they needed
with childish confidence. It was her great faith which first drew me
towards her; she was a regular attendant at the chapel service, and in
the course of my visits, I went to see her in the little home she has
made in the third story of a lodging house at South End. It was
Saturday, and I saw the three children, already showing evidences of