"I believe the old people are made very comfortable," said Mrs. Ferrand. "Of course they grumble more or less; but from all I can learn, I think they must be well cared for." "At the same time, there is a lamentable want of system in the arrangements," remarked Mr. Ferrand. "Their hours are very late, and there seem to be absolutely no rules about exercising and diet. It cannot be proper that any persons should have tea three times a day, and I am credibly informed that several of the old people are allowed to take snuff." "I suppose they have been used to it all their lives, pa," Isa ventured to say. "Do you consider that any argument for criminal indulgence, Isabella?" asked her father. "I shouldn't call it exactly a criminal indulgence to take snuff," answered Isa, emboldened by her aunt's smile. "I shouldn't think it best for a young person to begin, because it is a disagreeable habit; but I should think, when a woman had taken it till she was seventy or eighty years old, she might be allowed to go on for the rest of her life." "And if a man had gone on stealing till he was eighty, would that be a reason for his keeping on?" "There is a difference between stealing and taking snuff," answered Isa. "Decidedly a difference," remarked Miss Hardy. "Did you tell me that there was a department for children and young people attached to the institution?" "Yes; they have eight little girls, who remain till they are fifteen, unless they are adopted or bound out to suitable places before that time." "And what becomes of them then?" "They go out as servants or seamstresses, and Mrs. Mulford tells me they usually do very well. They look upon the institution as a real 'home;' and as long as they behave tolerably well, they are allowed and encouraged to go back there whenever they are out of a place. In that way the managers are able to keep informed of them, and also to maintain a certain control over them." "A very good plan," said Miss Hardy. "Yes, I quite approve of that part of the institution," said Mr. Ferrand, "though I fear that hardly enough pains is taken to bring up the children with a proper sense of their position, and of the deference due to their superiors." "I was not without an object in asking," said Miss Hardy. "I am very much in want of a dining-room girl—one to set and wait on the table and take care of the dishes, which is in itself no small piece of work in a family like ours." "What has become of that pretty little Margaret you had when I was there?" asked Mrs. Ferrand. "You thought of taking her into school, I remember."