As the days went by, Mrs. Chester found it a harder and harder task to live, and but for the kindness of the neighbours to Sally and the baby, the children would have often gone to bed with empty stomachs. Looking about for a friend in her distress, Mrs. Chester consulted Dr. Lyon, with a vague hope that he might be able to assist her. He listened patiently and kindly to Mrs. Chester's story. "Let us look the matter straight in the face," he said, when she had concluded; "you have no resources--no money, I mean." "None," she sighed. "Your husband is in the hospital, and there is no saying how long it will be before he comes out. I should say that if even he does come out, which is doubtful, he will be no longer able to work." There was no cruel delicacy about Dr. Lyon; he knew the class he ministered for, and he invariably spoke plainly and to the point, and always with kindness. Mrs. Chester nodded a mournful assent. "Your furniture has been seized for rent, and you have no home--to speak of." Mrs. Chester nodded again. "And," he continued, "it is clearly a necessity that you must live. Listen to this letter." He read to her a letter from a country union, forty miles from London, which wanted a matron; residence and rations free; wages 18_l_. per annum. "I think I have sufficient influence to obtain the situation for you," said Dr. Lyon. "You are a kind woman, and I can recommend you." Hope lighted up Mrs. Chester's face--for one moment only. "It's forty miles away," she murmured, and added, "and there's Sally!" "Upon that," said Dr. Lyon, "I cannot advise you. Go home, and sleep upon it, and give me your answer the day after to-morrow." She thanked him' and walked slowly out of his consulting-room, which was about as large as a pill box; but returned within five minutes to ask him now much a week eighteen pounds a year would give her. "Seven shillings," he replied. Mrs. Chester went home filled with sorrowful contemplation of this sad crisis in her life. To part from Sally would be like tearing a string from her heart; but if it was for the child's good!--Yet even if she could calmly contemplate the separation, where could she place the child? There was the practical difficulty, in the solution of which she played no direct part.