Annie opened her arms and took
Hector to her bosom. There he sighed himself to sleep; and God put His
arms about them both, and kept them asleep until the morning.
And in this love, more than in bed, I rest.
Annie was the first to spring up and begin to dress herself, pondering
in her mind as she did so whether to go first to the pawnbroker's or to
the baker, to ask him to recommend her as a charwoman. She would tell
him just the truth--that she must in future work for her daily bread.
Then Hector rose and dressed himself.
"Oh, Annie!" he said, as he did so, "is it gone, that awful misery of
last night in the omnibus? It seemed, as I jolted along, as if God had
forgotten one of the creatures he had made, and that one was me; or,
worse, that he thought of me, and would not move to help me! And why do
I feel now as if He had help for me somewhere near waiting for me? I
think I will go and see a man who lives somewhere close by, and find out
if he is the same I used to know at St. Andrews; if he be the same, he
may know of something I could try for."
"Do," replied Annie. "I will go with you, and on the way call at the
grocer's--I think he will be the best to ask if he knows of any family
that wants a charwoman or could give me any sort of work. There's more
than one kind of thing I could turn my hand to--needle-work, for
instance. I could make a child's frock as well, I believe, as a
second-rate dressmaker. Can you tell me who was the first tailor,
Hector? It was God himself.
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