"Do not give way to desponding thoughts, mother," returned Lucy;
"all will yet be well. The vacancy has just occurred, and mine, I
feel sure, will be the first application. Mr. Burgess's interest
with Mr. C----, if he can be satisfied of my qualifications, must
secure me the place."

"We ought to hear from him to-day," said Mrs. Ellison.

"Yes, I should think so. Mr. Burgess, of course, understands the
necessity that always exists in a case of this kind for immediate
application."

"Oh, yes, he'll do it all right. I feel perfectly willing to trust
the matter in his hands."

As the reader has very naturally inferred, the circumstances of Mrs.
Ellison were of rather a pressing nature. Her family consisted of
three children, of whom Lucy was the eldest. Up to the time of her
husband's death, she had been surrounded with every comfort she
could desire; but Mr. Ellison's estate proving bankrupt, his family
were left with but a small, and that a very uncertain income. Upon
this, by the practice of great economy, they had managed to live.
The final settlement of the estate took away this resource, and the
widow found herself with only a small sum of money in hand, and all
income cut off. This had occurred about a month before the period of
Lucy's introduction to the reader. During this time, their gradually
diminishing store, and the anxiety they felt in regard to the
future, destroyed all the remains of former pride or regard for
appearances, and made both Lucy and her mother willing to do any
thing that would yield them an income, provided it were honourable.