This was not a matter to occasion much delay.

In fifteen minutes from the time she laid aside her needle and thimble, the table had been set, with its one dish upon it, and Harry and little Emma were eating with keen appetites their simple meal.

But, to Mrs.Gaston, the food was unpalatable; and Ella turned from it with loathing.

There was, however, nothing more, in the house; and both Ella and her mother had to practice self-denial and patience.
After the table was cleared away, Mrs.Gaston again resumed her labor; but Emma was unusually fretful, and hung about her mother nearly the whole afternoon, worrying her mind, and keeping her back a good deal, so that, when the brief afternoon had worn away, and the deepening twilight compelled her to suspend her labors, she had made but little perceptible progress in her work.
"Be good children now until I come back," she said, as she rose from her chair, put on her, bonnet, and drew an old Rob Roy shawl around her shoulders.

Descending then into the street, she took her way with a quick step toward that part of the city in which her employer kept his store.