The Hidden Children by Robert William Chambers Chapter 7 Page 25

or tavern-signs, or wagons — anything to keep us clothed and fed. Then there came a day in Albany when matters mended over night, and the Patroon most kindly commanded portraits of himself and family. It started our brief prosperity.

“Other and thrifty Dutchmen now began to bargain for their portraits. We took an old house on Pearl Street, and I was sent to school at Mrs. Pardee’s Academy for young ladies as a day pupil, returning home at evening. About that time my foster mother became ill. I remember that she lay on a couch all day, watching her husband paint. He and his art were all she cared for. Me she seldom seemed to see — scarcely noticed when she saw me — almost never spake to me, and there were days and weeks, when I saw nobody in that silent house, and sat at meat alone —