SCENE II.

An attic chamber, neat and clean, but poorly furnished; a bed and a trundle-bed, a tiny cooking-stove, a shelf with a few dishes, one or two chairsand stools, a pale, skinny woman working on a vest.

Her face is anxious; her thin hands tremble with weakness, and now andthen, as she works, quiet tears drop, which she wipes quickly. Poorpeople cannot afford to shed tears; it takes time and injures eyesight.