tenth lamb, and every tenth calf, to sell for myself, and I will
supply fowl and eggs for our own use at table, and all that are over
I will sell on my own account."

"That is fair--that is very fair," said Mrs. Bell.

On these terms Lydia stayed and worked. She studied farming, and the
little homestead throve and prospered. And Lydia too, without ever
exceeding by the tenth of an inch her contract, managed to put by a
tidy sum of money year by year. She spent next to nothing on dress;
all her wants were supplied. Nearly her whole income, therefore, of
fifty pounds a year could go by untouched; and the tenth of the
flock, and the money made by the overplus of eggs and poultry, were
by no means to be despised.

Lydia was not dishonest, but she so far looked after her own
interests as to see that the hen-houses were warm and snug, that the
best breeds of poultry were kept up, and that those same birds should
lay their golden eggs to the tune of a warm supper. Lydia, however,
though very careful, was not always very wise. Once a quarter she
regularly took her savings to the bank in the little town of F--t,
and on one of these occasions she was tempted to invest one hundred
pounds of her savings in a very risky speculation. Just about the
time that the children were given into her charge this speculation
was pronounced in danger, and Lydia, when she brought Cecile and
Maurice home, was very anxious about her money.

Now, if Mrs. D'Albert did not care for children, still less did
Lydia Purcell. It was a strange fact that in both these sisters their
affection for all such little ones should lie buried in a lost