"Please don't say anything, mamma.

I have made up my mind.

I shall look for employment." Her father shook his head in distress.

He had never enjoyed the control or direction of his daughters, and his long absences during late years had put him almost on terms of ceremony with them.

In time gone by, their mother had been to him an object of veneration; it was his privilege to toil that she might live in luxury; but his illusions regarding her had received painful shocks, and it was to the girls that he now sacrificed himself.