"I have been a good deal crowded of late, and shall have my hands full, and more than full for some time to come.

I never knew money so tight as it is just now." "Nor I neither.

Well, I suppose we shall get through somehow.

But I must own that things look dark." "The darkest hour is just before the break of day," said Wilkinson, with an earnestness that expressed his faith in what he said.

His faith was born of a resolution to separate himself from all dangerous companionship and habits, and a deeply felt conviction of the all-sustaining strength of his wife's self-denying affection.
"Yes--yes--so the proverb says, and so the poet sings," returned Ellis, thoughtfully.