Always cheerful, and sometimes even gay in his presence, she had succeeded in imbuing him with a portion of her own hopeful spirit, and he passed through the storm far better than he could otherwise have done.  Mrs. Campbell’s visit to the house was prompted partly from curiosity, and partly from a desire to take away Jenny, who was quite a favorite with her.

“Come, my dear,” said she, pushing back the short, thick curls which clustered around Jenny’s forehead, “you must go home with me.  This is no place for you.  Mary will go too,” she continued; and then on an “aside” to Mary, she added, “I want you to cheer up Ella; she sits alone in her room, without speaking or noticing me in any way.”

At first Jenny hesitated, but when William whispered that she had better go; and Mrs. Campbell, as the surest way of bringing her to a decision, said, “Mr. Bender will oblige me by coming to tea,” she consented, and closely veiled, passed through the crowd below, who instinctively drew back, and ceased speaking, for wherever she was known, Jenny was beloved.  Arrived at Mrs. Campbell’s, they found Ella, as her mother had said, sitting alone in her room, not weeping, but gazing fixedly down the street, as if expecting some one who did not come!

In reply to Jenny’s anxious inquiries as to what was the matter, Mary frankly told all, and then Jenny, folding her arms around the young girl, longed to tell her how unworthy was the object of such love.  But Henry was her brother, and she could not.  Softly caressing Ella’s cheek, she whispered to her of brighter days which perhaps would come.  The fact that it was his sister—­Henry’s sister—­opened anew the fountain of Ella’s tears, and she wept for a long time; but it did her good, and for the remainder of the afternoon she seemed more cheerful, and inclined to converse.

The next day was the auction, and it required the persuasion of both Mrs. Campbell and Mary to keep Jenny from going, she knew not whither herself, but any where, to be near and take one more look at the dear old furniture as it passed into the hands of strangers.  At last Mrs. Campbell promised that black Ezra, who had accompanied her from Chicopee, should go and report faithfully all the proceedings, and then Jenny consented to remain at home, though all the day she seemed restless and impatient, wondering how long before Uncle Ezra would return, and then weeping as in fancy she saw article after article disposed of to those who would know little how to prize it.

About five o’clock Uncle Ezra came home, bringing a note from Ida, saying that the carriage would soon be round for Mary and Jenny, both of whom must surely come, as there was a pleasant surprise awaiting them.  While Mary was reading this, Jenny was eagerly questioning Uncle Ezra with regard to the sale, which, he said, “went off uncommon well,” owing chiefly, he reckoned, “to a tall, and mighty good-lookin’ chap, who kept bidding up and up, till he got ’em about where they should be.  Then he’d stop for someone else to bid.”