Mrs. Farnham was still asleep, and Isabel had crept down to the kitchen, resolved to ask counsel of the housekeeper, for it seemed to her impossible to live another day without seeing Mary. It was a great relief to the child when Salina lifted her face from the tin oven, in which she had just arranged the morning biscuit for baking, and asked in her curt but not really unkind way, what had brought her into that part of the house, and what on earth made her eyes look so heavy. "Oh, I have come to tell you--to ask you what is best; I am so miserable, so very unhappy without Mary; I cannot live another day without seeing Mary Fuller!" Salina Bowles dusted the flour from her hands, and wiped them on her apron. "Mary Fuller! that's the little gal that came with you I calculate!" she said, walking up to the child, who retreated a step, for Salina had a fierce way of doing things, and marched toward her like a grenadier. "Yes," said Isabel, "that was Mary; do you know where she is? Oh, I must see her or, it seems to me as if I should die!" "So you don't know where she is?" "No! but, oh, do tell me!" "Why didn't you ask madam up yonder?" "I don't know; I was afraid; I feel quite sure she won't let me go," replied the child. "Let you go, of course, she won't--no more feelin' than a chestnut stump." "Then, what can I do?" "What can you do--why, go without asking, and I'll help you; it's right, and I'll do it,--there!" "Will you, oh, will you?" cried the child, with a burst of joy. "Will I!--who'll stop me, I'd like to know?" "But, how--when?" inquired the child, breathless with joy. "To-night, I reckon?" "Isabel--Isabel! where is the creature gone?" cried a voice from the stairs. "Scamper!" exclaimed Salina, with an emphatic motion of the hand, "scamper, or she'll be coming down here, and I'd rather see old scratch any time." "But you will certainly take me?" pleaded the child, breathlessly. "When I give my word I give it!" "Oh, thank you--thank you!" Isabel sprang up--flung her arms around Salina's neck, and kissed her. Before Miss Bowles could recover from her astonishment the child was gone. "Well, now, I never did!" exclaimed the housekeeper, blushing till the hue of her face was like that of a brick fresh from the kiln; "it's a great while since I've had a kiss before, and it raly is a refreshment." With this observation, Salina drew one hand across her lips and bent over the tin oven again. It was in this way that the orphans commenced life in their new homes. CHAPTER XXXII. THE EVENING VISIT. They have met, they have met--with a warm embrace, Those panting hearts beat free again; And joy beams out in each glowing face,-- Together, they fear not grief or pain! A week elapsed, and Mary Fuller had heard nothing of her little friend, nor ventured to hint at the keen desire to see her, which grew stronger every day.