86 DIGGING A GRAVE

“The Lord be praised for his mercies!
ve had a turn at every thing, especially
“nursing in and out of hospitals and clear
starching, since the strength has gone out of
my back; and that brought me again among.
the gentry.” ots

“But how did. you find Mrs. Layton?”
inquired Mary.

“One lady recommended me to another,
and that’s the way of it; and the first word
she spoke me, I felt my heart swaying back-—
| wards and forwards, up and down; and I
stood and looked at her, trembling all over,
and the sight left my eyes, and I should have
fallen down all as one as dead, if she had not
caught me and was as tender, as her mother
would have been— tender in heart and hand
— and wanted to know what ailed me, and
brought me a glass of wine; but I called
for water, and then asked if she did not

know me, and she said she had never seen.