26 TURNS OF FORTUNE.

could not be broken without defacing the mar-
quetre on the cover, which I should not like to
do. My poor mother was so proud of that
cover, and used to dust and polish it with her
own hands.”

“‘ What ! herself?’ exclaimed the pretty Ma-
bel; “ why did not her servants do it 2”

‘* Because, my dear, she had but one.”

“But one! I remember when my poor
mamma had none,” sighed Mabel, “and we
were so miserable.”

‘But not from lack of attendants, I think,”
answered Sarah Bond. ‘If they are comforts,
they are careful ones, and sadly wasteful. We
were never so happy as we were then. “Your
mother and I used to set the milk, and mind the
poultry, and make the butter, and cultivate the
flower-garden, and help to do the house work ;
and then in the evening we would run in the
meadows, come home laden with wild flowers,
and tired as we were by alternate work and
play, my dear mother would play on that old
instrument, and my poor father sing, and we
sisters wound up the evening by a merry dance,
your mother and myself trying hard which
could keep up the dance longest.”

Mabel resumed her embroidery without once
speaking. Sarah Bond laid down the book she
had been reading, and moved restlessly about ;
her manner, when either thoughtful or excited,
prevented her features from being disturbed ; so