The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-06-06 00:00:00

and assistance which she was certain would be gladly
offered her. It was a great relief to her to decide upon
this course, for she would thus escape the pity and
contumely of her old neighbours, whose charity, if ac-
corded at all, she believed would have been alloyed
by censure and distrust.
A walk of twenty minutes brought her in view of
the well-remembered residence of theSibbalds--a small
cottage-house in a pleasant street; yet she found
herself agitated with new fears as she drew near it,
and conjectured the changes which Time might have
wrought in the humble fortunes of her friend. But
while the tinkling of the door-bell yet vibrated on her
ears, a light tripping step was heard in the hall,
and the door was opened by Grace herself, who
instantly recognised her friend, and manifested the
most genuine delight at meeting her.
Nor was this delight abated, excepting by com-
miseration for Eda, when, seated at her side in the
little parlour, she listened with bated breath to the
story of distress and destitution which Miss Walworth
hastily related, keeping back nothing of all the wrongs
and indignities she had suffered.
It would be difficult to say whether the tears flowed
most freely down the cheeks of the narrator or of the
listener to this pitiful tale; but ere it was closed Eda's
neck was encircled by the arm of Grace, who seemed
unable to express in words the extent of her tender
sympathy for the sufferer.
"Oh, how glad I am that you have come to us !"
she said; "and sister Sally will be so glad, too ! We
are also poor, as you see (it had needed but a glance
at the scanty and faded furniture of the one little
parlour to convince Eda of this fact), but we have at
least a comfortable home, and we want for none of the
necessaries of life. Sister Sally is a wonderful
manager; she does it all, somehow, for lam still at
school, which she will not hear of my leaving. But
we are only two, and we have two gentlemen boarders,
who take breakfast and tea with us; and now you and
that dear little boy have come, oh! it will be so
pleasant, if you will but stay with us all winter.
As to clothes, we will all set to work, and we will soon
have you both supplied, and then my own dresses
will exactly -fit you, and you can wear any of them for
the present."
Eda checked her enthusiastic friend by reminding
her that she could not consent to be a burden upon
people whose energies were already fully tasked for
their own support.
"Oh, I know how you feel about that," was the
response; "but you shall not be ,an expense to us.
Sister will find abundance of work for you and
Frank both to do, and you shall fully earn your
living."
"I churn r exclaimed Frank, proudly; "I'll
churn all day for you 1"
"Will you, dear?" said Grace, laughing. "But we
have no churning here."
"Well, but I can dig potatoes for you, and pick up
chips, and feed the pigs !"
Grace and Eda both laughed heartily at Frank's
list of accomplishments, so valueless in city life; nd
Miss Sibbald said that he was a dear, good boy, Ind
that they would find something for him to do, qnd
that she was sure his sister would send him to schlool
too.

Eda seemed startled by her own laughter, fc:, it
was the first genuine note of merrriment which Had
escaped her lips for many7ong weeks ; but her frie- d's
blissful picture of rest and comfort in this quiet hoOe
had produced such a joyous reaction in her lattly
tortured heart, that it was impossible to resist its
influence.

"If you will only stay !" Maid Grace, as if the hoi
less and persecuted girl would be conferring the grew

of favours by accep-ting her hospitality. -
"You may think it strange," she continued, "C
I take so much upon me, in the
_absence of my sisl

_
but when she Comes you will see that I have
gone beyond my powers, nor mistaken her wishes.
ought to have called her sooner, and will do so nol
When, after many minutes, the masculine step
the elder Miss Sibbald was heard in the hall Eda f

some misgivings as to the reception which awaited 4er
from this acknowledged" head of the family," whose
riper years could scarcely be expected to be marked by
the same ingenuous and confiding'spirit which gleanied
through all the features of the gentle Grace. But lit
required only a glance at the kind face of Sally, homely
though it was, to reassure Miss Walworth ; and her
welcome was so quick and earnest, that it seemed .as
if she had anticipated Eda,'s fears, and made haste to
dispel them. - -
"Grace has told me all!" she said, when she bad
cordially shaken hands with Eda and had kissed her;
"and we have had a little crying spell together
over your misfortunes, but don't cry, now, dear.
,It
was so good of you to think of us, and to come here!
I only wish you had come sooner. We are so lonesome
here, and you will not make us the least trouble. We
117,ve plenty of room. This is our own house, you
know, although it is a poor one."
And so Miss Sibbald rattled forth her assurances of
welcome, quite forgetting to mention that their "own
house "was mortgaged for nearly all that it was worth,
and that she was slaving night and day, not with any
hope of discharging the large debt, but to pay the
interest and the taxes, and to earn the necessaries of
life for herself and sister.
Eda had not failed to notice that no mention had
been made cf Thomas Sibbald ; and when Grace had
said, "We are only two," she feared to ask about her
brother, lest she should touch some chord of grief.
But when, at last, she felt compelled to make some
inquiry about so near a relative of her friends, the
sisters exchanged glances, and the elder, with a look
of pain, replied—
" Torn has gone to Illinois; he did not get on here,
and he thought transplanting would do him good.
But I am afraid he wants something besides new
soil."
. Grace replied quickly—
"He says his prospects are very good out there.*
"Yes, but he says a great deal more about the pros-
pects of fishing and hunting ; and, in short, I think it
will be about the old story. Success waits upon
application and industry in the West, as well as here,
I believe, and that is what Tom has not."
"He said we might depend upon him to pay off the
mortgage on the house in a few years."
"Oh, yes, his will is good enough, and his hope is
large ; but I shall be disappointed if I do not have to
send him money, instead of receiving it from him."
"Perhaps," said Eda, "you will be agreeably
surprised, one of these days, by a different result:'
"Very true; we will hope for the best of course,"
said the elder Miss Sibbald ; and the subject was
thereupon dismissed.
(To be continued.)