"Why don't we have mince pies, mamma ?" she said, taking hold of her mother's apron and looking up at her.
"Papa likes mince pies, I know; and so do I.Don't you like mince pies, George ?" George, who was old enough to understand better than the rest of them the true cause of the privations they suffered, saw that Hetty's questions had brought tears to his mother's eyes, and, with a thoughtfulness beyond his years, sought to turn the conversation into another channel.
But the words of the children had brought to the mind of Mrs.Foster a memory of other times,--of the many happy New Years she had enjoyed with her husband, their board crowned with the blessings of the year.
Her dim eyes turned from her neglected little ones, and fell upon a small ornament that stood upon the mantle.

It was the New Year's gift of her husband in better days.

It reminded her too strongly of the contrast between that time and the gloomy present.

She went quickly from the room, to weep unheard and alone.
New Year's morning at length broke clear and cold.

Mrs.Foster was up betimes.