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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 61455 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: PLAYMATES.  Page 38]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Title page]
+
+
+
+
+  _Alone in London_
+
+
+  _By the Author of
+  "Jessica's First Prayer," "Little Meg's Children," etc._
+
+
+  LONDON:
+  THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY,
+  56, PATERNOSTER Row; 65, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD:
+  AND 164, PICCADILLY.
+
+
+  Right of Translation Reserved.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I. NOT ALONE
+
+II. WAIFS AND STRAYS
+
+III. A LITTLE PEACEMAKER
+
+IV. OLD OLIVER'S MASTER
+
+V. FORSAKEN AGAIN
+
+VI. THE GRASSHOPPER A BURDEN
+
+VII. THE PRINCE OF LIFE
+
+VIII. NO PIPE FOR OLD OLIVER
+
+IX. A NEW BROOM AND A CROSSING
+
+X. HIGHLY RESPECTABLE
+
+XI. AMONG THIEVES
+
+XII. TONY'S WELCOME
+
+XIII. NEW BOOTS
+
+XIV. IN HOSPITAL
+
+XV. TONY'S FUTURE PROSPECTS
+
+XVI. A BUD FADING
+
+XVII. A VERY DARK SHADOW
+
+XVIII. NO ROOM FOR DOLLY
+
+XIX. THE GOLDEN CITY
+
+XX. A FRESH DAY DAWNS
+
+XXI. POLLY
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter I headpiece]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+NOT ALONE.
+
+It had been a close and sultry day--one of the hottest of the
+dog-days--even out in the open country, where the dusky green leaves
+had never stirred upon their stems since the sunrise, and where the
+birds had found themselves too languid for any songs beyond a faint
+chirp now and then.  All day long the sun had shone down steadily
+upon the streets of London, with a fierce glare and glowing heat,
+until the barefooted children had felt the dusty pavement burn under
+their tread almost as painfully as the icy pavement had frozen their
+naked feet in the winter.  In the parks, and in every open space,
+especially about the cool splash of the fountains at Charing Cross,
+the people, who had escaped from the crowded and unventilated back
+streets, basked in the sunshine, or sought every corner where a
+shadow could be found.  But in the alleys and slums the air was heavy
+with heat and dust, and thick vapours floated up and down, charged
+with sickening smells from the refuse of fish and vegetables decaying
+in the gutters.  Overhead the small, straight strip of sky was almost
+white, and the light, as it fell, seemed to quiver with the burden of
+its own burning heat.
+
+Out of one of the smaller thoroughfares lying between Holborn and the
+Strand, there opens a narrow alley, not more than six or seven feet
+across, with high buildings on each side.  In the most part the
+ground floors consist of small shops; for the alley is not a blind
+one, but leads from the thoroughfare to another street, and forms,
+indeed, a short cut to it, pretty often used.  These shops are not of
+any size or importance--a greengrocer's, with a somewhat scanty
+choice of vegetables and fruit, a broker's, displaying queer odds and
+ends of household goods, two or three others, and at the end farthest
+from the chief thoroughfare, but nearest to the quiet and respectable
+street beyond, a very modest-looking little shop-window, containing a
+few newspapers, some rather yellow packets of stationery, and two or
+three books of ballads.  Above the door was painted, in very small,
+dingy letters, the words, "James Oliver, News Agent."
+
+The shop was even smaller, in proportion, than its window.  After two
+customers had entered--if such an event could ever come to pass--it
+would have been almost impossible to find room for a third.  Along
+the end ran a little counter, with a falling flap by which admission
+could be gained to the living-room lying behind the shop.  This
+evening the flap was down--a certain sign that James Oliver, the news
+agent, had some guest within, for otherwise there would have been no
+occasion to lessen the scanty size of the counter.  The room beyond
+was dark, very dark indeed, for the time of day; for, though the
+evening was coming on, and the sun was hastening to go down at last,
+it had not yet ceased to shine brilliantly upon the great city.  But
+inside James Oliver's house the gas was already lighted in a little
+steady flame, which never flickered in the still, hot air, though
+both door and window were wide open.  For there was a window, though
+it was easy to overlook it, opening into a passage four feet wide,
+which led darkly up into a still closer and hotter court, lying in
+the very core of the maze of streets.  As the houses were four
+stories high, it is easy to understand that very little sunlight
+could penetrate to Oliver's room behind his shop, and that even at
+noon-day it was twilight there.  This room was of a better size
+altogether than a stranger might have supposed, having two or three
+queer little nooks and recesses borrowed from the space belonging to
+the adjoining house; for the buildings were old, and had probably
+been one large dwelling in former times.  It was plainly the only
+apartment the owner had; and all its arrangements were those of a man
+living alone, for there was something almost desolate about the look
+of the scanty furniture, though it was clean and whole.  There had
+been a fire, but it had died out, and the coals were black in the
+grate, while the kettle still sat upon the top bar with a melancholy
+expression of neglect about it.
+
+James Oliver himself had placed his chair near to the open door,
+where he could keep his eye upon the shop--a needless precaution, as
+at this hour no customers ever turned into it.  He was an old man,
+and seemed very old and infirm by the dim light.  He was thin and
+spare, with that peculiar spareness which results from the habit of
+always eating less than one can.  His teeth, which had never had too
+much to do, had gone some years ago, and his cheeks fell in rather
+deeply.  A fine network of wrinkles puckered about the corners of his
+eyes and mouth.  He stooped a good deal, and moved about with the
+slowness and deliberation of age.  Yet his face was very pleasant--a
+cheery, gentle, placid face, lighted up with a smile now and then,
+but with sufficient rareness to make it the more welcome and the more
+noticed when it came.
+
+Old Oliver had a visitor this hot evening, a neat, small, dapper
+woman, with a little likeness to himself, who had been putting his
+room to rights, and looking to the repairs needed by his linen.  She
+was just replacing her needle, cotton, and buttons in an
+old-fashioned housewife, which she always carried in her pocket, and
+was then going to put on her black silk bonnet and coloured shawl,
+before bidding him good-bye.
+
+"Eh, Charlotte," said Oliver, after drawing a long and toilsome
+breath, "what would I give to be a-top of the Wrekin, seeing the sun
+set this evening!  Many and many's the summer afternoon we've spent
+there when we were young, and all of us alive.  Dost remember how
+many a mile of country we could see all round us, and how fresh the
+air blew across the thousands of green fields?  Why, I saw Snowdon
+once, more than sixty miles off, when my eyes were young and it was a
+clear sunset.  I always think of the top of the Wrekin when I read of
+Moses going up Mount Pisgah and seeing all the land about him, north
+and south, east and west.  Eh, lass! there's a change in us all now!"
+
+"Ah! it's like another world!" said the old woman, shaking her head
+slowly.  "All the folks I used to sew for at Aston, and Uppington,
+and Overlehill, they'd mostly be gone or dead by now.  It wouldn't
+seem like the same place at all.  And now there's none but you and me
+left, brother James.  Well, well! it's lonesome, growing old."
+
+"Yes, lonesome, yet not exactly lonesome," replied old Oliver, in a
+dreamy voice.  "I'm growing dark a little, and just a trifle deaf,
+and I don't feel quite myself like I used to do; but I've got
+something I didn't use to have.  Sometimes of an evening, before I've
+lit the gas, I've a sort of a feeling as if I could almost see the
+Lord Jesus, and hear him talking to me.  He looks to me something
+like our eldest brother, him that died when we were little.
+Charlotte, thee remembers him?  A white, quiet, patient face, with a
+smile like the sun shining behind clouds.  Well, whether it's only a
+dream or no I cannot tell, but there's a face looks at me, or seems
+to look at me out of the dusk; and I think to myself, maybe the Lord
+Jesus says, 'Old Oliver's lonesome down there in the dark, and his
+eyes growing dim.  I'll make myself half-plain to him.'  Then he
+comes and sits here with me for a little while."
+
+"Oh, that's all fancy as comes with you living quite alone," said
+Charlotte, sharply.
+
+"Perhaps so! perhaps so!" answered the old man, with a meek sigh;
+"but I should be very lonesome without that."
+
+They did not speak again until Charlotte had given a final shake to
+the bed in the corner, upon which her bonnet and shawl had been
+lying.  She put them on neatly and primly; and when she was ready to
+go she spoke again in a constrained and mysterious manner.
+
+"Heard nothing of Susan, I suppose?" she said.
+
+"Not a word," answered old Oliver, sadly.  "It's the only trouble
+I've got.  That were the last passion I ever went into, and I was hot
+and hasty, I know."
+
+"So you always used to be at times," said his sister.
+
+"Ah! but that passion was the worst of all," he went on, speaking
+slowly.  "I told her if she married young Raleigh, she should never
+darken my doors again--never again.  And she took me at my word,
+though she might have known it was nothing but father's hot temper.
+Darken my doors!  Why, the brightest sunshine I could have 'ud be to
+see her come smiling into my shop, like she used to do at home."
+
+"Well, I think Susan ought to have humbled herself," said Charlotte.
+"It's going on for six years now, and she's had time enough to see
+her folly.  Do you know where she is?"
+
+"I know nothing about her," he answered, shaking his head
+sorrowfully.  "Young Raleigh was wild, very wild, and that was my
+objection to him; but I didn't mean Susan to take me at my word.  I
+shouldn't speak so hasty and hot now."
+
+"And to think I'd helped to bring her up so genteel, and with such
+pretty manners!" cried the old woman, indignantly.  "She might have
+done so much better with her cleverness too.  Such a milliner as she
+might have turned out!  Well good-bye, brother James, and don't go
+having any more of those visions; they're not wholesome for you."
+
+"I should be very lonesome without them," answered Oliver.
+"Good-bye, Charlotte, good-bye, and God bless you.  Come again as
+soon as you can."
+
+He went with her to the door, and stayed to watch her along the quiet
+alley, till she turned into the street.  Then, with a last nod to the
+back of her bonnet, as she passed out of his sight, he returned
+slowly into his dark shop, put up the flap of the counter, and
+retreated to the darker room within.  Hot as it was, he fancied it
+was growing a little chilly with the coming of the night, and he drew
+on his old coat, and threw a handkerchief over his white head, and
+then sat down in the dusk, looking out into his shop and the alley
+beyond it.  He must have fallen into a doze after a while, being
+overcome with the heat, and lulled by the constant hum of the
+streets, which reached his dull ear in a softened murmur; for at
+length he started up almost in a fright, and found that complete
+darkness had fallen upon him suddenly, as it seemed to him.  A church
+clock was striking nine, and his shop was not closed yet.  He went
+out hurriedly to put the shutters up.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+WAIFS AND STRAYS.
+
+In the shop it was not yet so dark but that old Oliver could see his
+way out with the shutters, which during the day occupied a place
+behind the door.  He lifted the flap of the counter, and was about to
+go on with his usual business, when a small voice, trembling a
+little, and speaking from the floor at his very feet, caused him to
+pause suddenly.
+
+"Please, rere's a little girl here," said the voice.
+
+Oliver stooped down to bring his eyes nearer to the ground, until he
+could make out the indistinct outline of the figure of a child,
+seated on his shop floor, and closely hugging a dog in her arms.  Her
+face looked small to him; it was pale, as if she had been crying
+quietly, and though he could not see them, a large tear stood on each
+of her cheeks.
+
+"What little girl are you?" he asked, almost timidly.
+
+"Rey called me Dolly," answered the child.
+
+"Haven't you any other name?" inquired old Oliver.
+
+"Nosing else but Poppet," she said; "rey call me Dolly sometimes, and
+Poppet sometimes.  Ris is my little dog, Beppo."
+
+She introduced the dog by pushing its nose into his hand, and Beppo
+complacently wagged his tail and licked the old man's withered
+fingers.
+
+"What brings you here in my shop, my little woman?" asked Oliver.
+
+"Mammy brought me," she said, with a stifled sob; "she told me run in
+rere, Dolly, and stay till mammy comes back, and be a good girl
+always.  Am I a good girl?"
+
+"Yes, yes," he answered, soothingly; "you're a very good little girl,
+I'm sure; and mother 'ill come back soon, very soon.  Let us go to
+the door, and look for her."
+
+He took her little hand in his own; such a little hand it felt, that
+he could not help tightening his fingers fondly over it; and then
+they stood for a few minutes on the door-sill, while old Oliver
+looked anxiously up and down the alley.  At the green-grocer's next
+door there flared a bright jet of gas, and the light shone well into
+the deepening darkness.  But there was no woman in sight, and the
+only person about was a ragged boy, barefoot and bareheaded, with no
+clothing but a torn pair of trousers, very jagged about the ankles,
+and a jacket through which his thin shoulders displayed themselves.
+He was lolling in the lowest window-sill of the house opposite, and
+watched Oliver and the little girl looking about them with sundry
+signs of interest and amusement.
+
+"She ain't nowhere in sight," he called across to them after a while,
+"nor won't be, neither, I'll bet you.  You're looking out for the
+little un's mother, ain't you, old master?"
+
+"Yes," answered Oliver; "do you know anything about her, my boy?"
+
+"Nothink," he said, with a laugh; "only she looked as if she were up
+to some move, and as I'd nothink particular on hand, I just followed
+her.  She was somethink like my mother, as is dead, not fat or rosy,
+you know, with a bit of a bruise about her eye, as if somebody had
+been fighting with her.  I thought there'd be a lark when she left
+the little 'un in your shop, so I just stopped to see.  She bolted as
+if the bobbies were after her."
+
+"How long ago?" asked Oliver, anxiously.
+
+"The clocks had just gone eight," he answered; "I've been watching
+for you ever since."
+
+"Why! that's a full hour ago," said the old man, looking wistfully
+down the alley; "it's time she was come back again for her little
+girl."
+
+[Illustration: THE LITTLE STRANGER.]
+
+But there was no symptom of anybody coming to claim the little girl,
+who stood very quietly at his side, one hand holding the dog fast by
+his ear, and the other still lying in Oliver's grasp.  The boy hopped
+on one foot across the narrow alley, and looked up with bright, eager
+eyes into the old man's face.
+
+"I say," he said, earnestly, "don't you go to give her up to the
+p'lice.  They'd take her to the house, and that's worse than the
+jail.  Bless yer! they'd never take up a little thing like that to
+jail for a wagrant.  You just give her to me, and I'll take care of
+her.  It 'ud be easy enough to find victuals for such a pretty little
+thing as her.  You give her up to me, I say."
+
+"What's your name?" asked Oliver, clasping the little hand tighter,
+"and where do you come from?"
+
+"From nowhere particular," answered the boy; "and my name's Antony;
+Tony, for short.  I used to have another name; mother told it me
+afore she died, but it's gone clean out o' my head.  Tony I am,
+anyhow, and you can call me by it, if you choose."
+
+"How old are you, Tony?" inquired Oliver, still lingering on the
+threshold, and looking up and down with his dim eyes.
+
+"Bless yer!  I don't know," replied Tony; "I weren't much bigger nor
+her when mother died, and I've found myself ever since.  I never had
+any father."
+
+"Found yourself!" repeated the old man, absently.
+
+"Ah, it's not bad in the summer," said Tony, more earnestly than
+before: "and I could find for the little 'un easy enough.  I sleep
+anywhere, in Covent Garden sometimes, and the parks--anywhere as the
+p'lice 'ill let me alone.  You won't go to give her up to them
+p'lice, will you now, and she so pretty?"
+
+He spoke in a beseeching tone, and old Oliver looked down upon him
+through his spectacles, with a closer survey than he had given to him
+before.  The boy's face was pale and meagre, with an unboyish
+sharpness about it, though he did not seem more than nine or ten
+years old.  His glittering eyes were filled with tears, and his
+colourless lips quivered.  He wiped away the tears roughly upon the
+ragged sleeve of his jacket.
+
+"I never were such a baby before," said Tony, "only she is such a
+nice little thing, and such a tiny little 'un.  You'll keep her,
+master, won't you? or give her up to me?"
+
+"Ay, ay!  I'll take care of her," answered Oliver, "till her mother
+comes back for her.  She'll come pretty soon, I know.  But she wants
+her supper now, doesn't she?"
+
+He stooped down to bring his face nearer to the child's, and she
+raised her hand to it, and stroked his cheek with her warm, soft
+fingers.
+
+"Beppo wants his supper, too," she said, in a clear, shrill, little
+voice, which penetrated easily through old Oliver's deafened hearing.
+
+"And Beppo shall have some supper as well as the little woman," he
+answered.  "I'll put the shutters up now, and leave the door ajar,
+and the gas lit for mother to see when she comes back; and if mother
+shouldn't come back to night, the little woman will sleep in my bed,
+won't she?"
+
+"Dolly's to be a good girl till mammy comes back," said the child,
+plaintively, and holding harder by Beppo's ear.
+
+"Let me put the shutters up, master," cried Tony, eagerly; "I won't
+charge you nothink, and I'll just look round in the morning to see
+how you're getting along.  She is such a very little thing."
+
+The shutters were put up briskly, and then Tony took a long, farewell
+gaze of the old man and the little child, but he could not offer to
+touch either of them.  He glanced at his hands, and Oliver did the
+same; but they both shook their heads.
+
+"I'll have a wash in the morning afore I come," he said, nodding
+resolutely; "good-bye, guv'ner; good-bye, little 'un."
+
+Old Oliver went in, leaving his door ajar, and his gas lit, as he had
+said.  He fed the hungry child with bread and butter, and used up his
+half-pennyworth of milk, which he bought for himself every evening.
+Then he lifted her on to his knee, with Beppo in her arms, and sat
+for a long while waiting.  The little head nodded, and Dolly sat up,
+unsteadily striving hard to keep awake; but at last she let Beppo
+drop to the floor, while she herself fell upon the old man's breast,
+and lay there without moving.  It chimed eleven o'clock at last, and
+Oliver knew it was of no use to watch any longer.
+
+He managed to undress his little charge with gentle, though trembling
+hands, and then he laid her down on his bed, putting his only pillow
+against the wall to make a soft nest for the tender and sleepy child.
+She roused herself for a minute, and stared about her, gazing
+steadily, with large, tearful eyes, into his face.  Then as he sat
+down on the bedstead beside her, to comfort her as well as he could,
+she lifted herself up, and knelt down, with her folded hands laid
+against his shoulder.
+
+"Dolly vewy seepy," she lisped, "but must say her prayers always."
+
+"What are your prayers, my dear?" he asked.
+
+"On'y God bless ganpa, and father, and mammy, and poor Beppo, and
+make me a good girl," murmured the drowsy voice, as Dolly closed her
+eyes again, and fell off into a deep sleep the next moment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A LITTLE PEACEMAKER.
+
+It was a very strange event which had befallen old Oliver.  He went
+back to his own chair, where he smoked his Broseley pipe every night,
+and sank down in it, rubbing his legs softly; for it was a long time
+since he had nursed any child, and even Dolly's small weight was a
+burden to him.  Her tiny clothes were scattered up and down, and
+there was no one beside himself to gather them together, and fold
+them straight.  In shaking out her frock a letter fell from it, and
+Oliver picked it up, wondering whoever it could be for.  It was
+directed to himself, "Mr. James Oliver, News-agent," and he broke the
+seal with eager expectation.  The contents were these, written in a
+handwriting which he knew at first sight to be his daughter's:--
+
+
+"DEAR FATHER,
+
+"I am very very sorry I ever did anything to make you angry with me.
+This is your poor Susan's little girl, as is come to be a little
+peacemaker betwixt you and me.  I'm certain sure you'll never turn
+her away from your door.  I'm going down to Portsmouth for three
+days, because he listed five months ago, and his regiment's ordered
+out to India, and he sails on Friday.  So I thought I wouldn't take
+my little girl to be in the way, and I said I'll leave her with
+father till I come back, and her pretty little ways will soften him
+towards me, and we'll live all together in peace and plenty till his
+regiment comes home again, poor fellow.  For he's very good to me
+when he's not in liquor, which is seldom for a man.  Please do
+forgive me for pity's sake, and for Christ's sake, if I'm worthy to
+use his name, and do take care of my little girl till I come home to
+you both on Friday.  From your now dutiful daughter,
+
+"POOR SUSAN."
+
+
+The tears rolled fast down old Oliver's cheeks as he read this letter
+through twice, speaking the words half aloud to himself.  Why! this
+was his own little grandchild, then--his very own!  And no doubt
+Susan had christened her Dorothy, after her own mother, his dear
+wife, who had died so many years ago.  Dolly was the short for
+Dorothy, and in early times he had often called his wife by that
+name.  He had turned his gas off and lighted a candle, and now he
+took it up and went to the bedside to look at his new treasure.  The
+tiny face lying upon his pillow was rosy with sleep, and the fair
+curly hair was tossed about in pretty disorder.  His spectacles grew
+very dim indeed, and he was obliged to polish them carefully on his
+cotton handkerchief before he could see his grand-daughter plainly
+enough.  Then he touched her dimpled cheek tremblingly with the end
+of his finger, and sobbed out, "Bless her! bless her!"  He returned
+to his chair, his head shaking a good deal before he could regain his
+composure; and it was not until he had kindled his pipe, and was
+smoking it, with his face turned towards the sleeping child, that he
+felt at all like himself again.
+
+"Dear Lord!" he said, half aloud, between the whiffs of his pipe,
+"dear Lord! how very good thou art to me!  Didst thee not say, 'I'll
+not leave thee comfortless, I'll come to thee?'  I know what that
+means, bless thy name; and the good Spirit has many a time brought me
+comfort, and cheered my heart.  I know thou didst not leave me alone
+before.  No, no! that was far from thee, Lord.  Alone!--why, thou'rt
+always here; and now there's the little lass as well.
+Lonesome!--they don't know thee, Lord, and they don't know me.
+Thou'rt here, with the little lass and me.  Yes, yes,--yes."
+
+He murmured the word "yes" in a tone of contentment over and over
+again, until, the pipe being finished, he prepared for sleep also.
+But no sleep came to the old man.  He was too full of thought, and
+too fearful of the child waking in the night and wanting something.
+The air was close and hot, and now and then a peal of thunder broke
+overhead; but a profound peace and tranquillity, slightly troubled by
+his new joy, held possession of him.  His grandchild was there, and
+his daughter was coming back to him in three days.
+
+Oh, how he would welcome her!  He would not let her speak one word of
+her wilfulness and disobedience, and the long, cruel neglect which
+had left him in ignorance of where she lived, and what had become of
+her.  It was partly his fault, for having been too hard upon her, and
+too hasty and hot-tempered.  He had learnt better since then.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+OLD OLIVER'S MASTER.
+
+Very early in the morning, before the tardy daylight could creep into
+the darkened room, old Oliver was up and busy.  He had been in the
+habit of doing for himself, as he called it, ever since his daughter
+had forsaken him, and he was by nature fastidiously clean and neat.
+But now there would be additional duties for him during the next
+three days; for there would be Dolly to wash, and dress, and provide
+breakfast for.  Every few minutes he stole a look at her lying still
+asleep; and as soon as he discovered symptoms of awaking, he hastily
+lifted Beppo on to the bed, that her opening eyes should be greeted
+by some familiar sight.  She stretched out her wonderful little
+hands, and caught hold of the dog's rough head before venturing to
+lift her eyelids, while Oliver looked on in speechless delight.  At
+length she ventured to peep slyly at him, and then addressed herself
+to Beppo.
+
+"What am I to call ris funny old man, Beppo?" she asked.
+
+"I am your grandpa, my darling," said Oliver, in his softest voice.
+
+"Are you God-bless-ganpa?" inquired Dolly, sitting up on her pillow,
+and staring very hard with her blue eyes into his wrinkled face.
+
+"Yes, I am," he answered, looking at her anxiously.
+
+"Dolly knows," she said, counting upon her little fingers; "rere's
+father, and mammy, and Beppo; and now rere's gan-pa.  Dolly 'll get
+up now."
+
+She flung her arms suddenly about his neck and kissed him, while old
+Oliver trembled with intense joy.  It was quite a marvel to him how
+she helped him to dress her, laughing merrily at the strange mistakes
+he made in putting on her clothes the wrong side before; and when he
+assured her that her mother would come back very soon, she seemed
+satisfied to put up with any passing inconvenience.  The shop, with
+its duties, and the necessity of getting in his daily stock of
+newspapers, entirely slipped his memory; and he was only recalled to
+it by a very loud rapping at the door as he was pouring out Dolly's
+breakfast.  To his great surprise he discovered that he had forgotten
+to take down his shutters, though it was past the hour when his best
+customers passed by.
+
+[Illustration: Tony]
+
+The person knocking proved to be none other than Tony, who greeted
+the old man's appearance with a prolonged whistle, and a grave and
+reproachful stare.
+
+"Come," he said, in a tone of remonstrance, "this'll never do, you
+know.  Business is business, and must be minded.  You pretty nearly
+frightened me into fits; anybody could have knocked me down with a
+straw when I see the shutters up.  How is she?"
+
+"She's very well, thank you, my boy," answered Oliver, meekly.
+
+"Mother not turned up, I guess?" said Tony.
+
+"No; she comes on Friday," he replied.
+
+Tony winked, and put his tongue into his cheek; but he gave utterance
+to no remark until after the shutters were in their place.  Then he
+surveyed himself as well as he could, with an air of satisfaction.
+His face and hands were clean, and his skin looked very white through
+the holes in his tattered clothes; even his feet, except for an
+unavoidable under surface of dust, were unsoiled.  His jacket and
+trousers appeared somewhat more torn than the evening before; but
+they bore every mark of having been washed also.
+
+"Washed myself early in the morning, afore the bobbies were much
+about," remarked Tony, "in the fountains at Charing Cross; but I
+hadn't time to get my rags done, so I did 'em down under the bridge,
+when the tide were going down; but I could only give 'em a bit of a
+swill and a ring out.  Anyhow, I'm a bit cleaner this morning than
+last night, master."
+
+"To be sure, to be sure," answered Oliver.  "Come in, my boy, and
+I'll give you a bit of breakfast with her and me."
+
+"You haven't got sich a thing as a daily paper, have you?" asked
+Tony, in a patronizing tone.
+
+"Not to-day's paper, I'm afraid," he said.
+
+"I'm afraid not," continued Tony; "overslept yourself, eh?  Not as I
+can read myself; but there are folks going by as can, and might
+p'raps buy one here as well as anywhere else.  Shall I run and get
+'em for you, now I'm on my legs?"
+
+Oliver looked questioningly at the boy, who returned a frank, honest
+gaze, and said, "Honour bright!" as he held out his hand for the
+money.  There was some doubt in the old man's mind after Tony had
+disappeared as to whether he had not done a very foolish thing; but
+he soon forgot it when he returned to the breakfast-table; and long
+before he himself could have reached the place and returned, Tony was
+back again with his right number of papers.
+
+Before many minutes Tony was sitting upon an old box at a little
+distance from the table, where Oliver sat with his grandchild.  A
+basin of coffee and a large hunch of bread rested upon his knees, and
+Beppo was sniffing round him with a doubtful air.  Dolly was shy in
+this strange company, and ate her breakfast with a sedate gravity
+which filled both her companions with astonishment and admiration.
+When the meal was finished, old Oliver took his daughter's letter
+from his waistcoat pocket and read it aloud to Tony, who listened
+with undivided interest.
+
+"Then she's your own little 'un," he said, with a sigh of
+disappointment.  "You'll never give her up to me, if you get tired of
+her,--nor to the p'lice neither," he added, with a brightening face.
+
+"No, no, no!" answered Oliver, emphatically.  "Besides, her mother's
+coming on Friday.  I wouldn't give her up for all the world, bless
+her!"
+
+"And he's 'listed!" said Tony, in a tone of envy "They wouldn't take
+me yet a while, if I offered to go.  But who's that she speaks
+of?--'for Christ's sake, if I am worthy to use his name.'  Who is he?"
+
+"Don't you know?" asked Oliver.
+
+"No, never heard tell of him before," he answered, "Is he any friend
+o' yours?"[*]
+
+
+[*] It may be necessary to assure some readers that this ignorance is
+not exaggerated.  The City Mission Reports, and similar records, show
+that such cases are too frequent.
+
+
+"Ay!" said Oliver; "he's my only friend, my best friend.  And he's my
+master, besides."
+
+"And she thinks he'd be angry if you turned the little girl away?"
+pursued Tony.
+
+"Yes, yes; he'd be very angry," said old Oliver, thoughtfully; "it
+'ud grieve him to his heart.  Why, he's always loved little children,
+and never had them turned away from himself, whatever he was doing.
+If she hadn't been my own little girl, I daren't have turned her out
+of my doors.  No, no, dear Lord, thee knows as I'd have taken care of
+her, for thy sake."
+
+He spoke absently, in a low voice, as though talking to some person
+whom Tony could not see, and the boy was silent a minute or two,
+thinking busily.
+
+"How long have you worked for that master o' yours?" he asked, at
+last.
+
+"Not very long," replied Oliver, regretfully.  "I used to fancy I was
+working for him years and years ago; but, dear me! it was poor sort
+o' work; and now I can't do very much.  Only he knows how old I am,
+and he doesn't care so that I love him, which I do, Tony."
+
+"I should think so!" said the boy, falling again into busy thought,
+from which he aroused himself by getting up from his box, and rubbing
+his fingers through his wet and tangled hair.
+
+"He takes to children and little 'uns?" he said, in a questioning
+tone.
+
+"Ay, dearly!" answered old Oliver.
+
+"I reckon he'd scarcely take me for a man yet," said Tony, at the
+same time drawing himself up to his full height; "though I don't know
+as I should care to work for him.  I'd rather have a crossing, and be
+my own master.  But if I get hard up, do you think he'd take to me,
+if you spoke a word for me?"
+
+"Are you sure you don't know anything about him?" asked Oliver.
+
+"Not I; how should I?" answered Tony.  "Why, you don't s'pose as I
+know all the great folks in London, though I've seen sights and
+sights of 'em riding about in their carriages.  I told you I weren't
+much bigger nor her there when mother died, and I've picked up my
+living up and down the streets anyhow, and other lads have helped me
+on, till I can help 'em on now.  It don't cost much to keep a boy on
+the streets.  There's nothink to pay for coals, or rent, or beds, or
+furniture, or anythink; only your victuals, and a rag now and then.
+All I want's a broom and a crossing, and then shouldn't I get along
+just?  But I don't know how to get 'em."
+
+"Perhaps the Lord Jesus would give them to you, if you'd ask him,"
+said Oliver, earnestly.
+
+"Who's he?" inquired Tony, with an eager face.
+
+"Him--Christ.  It's his other name," answered the old man.
+
+"Ah!  I see," he said, nodding.  "Well, if I can't get 'em myself,
+I'll think about it.  He'll want me to work for him, you know.  Where
+does he live?"
+
+"I'll tell you all about him, if you'll come to see me," replied
+Oliver.
+
+"Well," said the boy, "I'll just look in after Friday, and see if the
+little 'un's mother's come back.  Good-bye,--good-bye, little miss."
+
+He could take Dolly's hand into his own this morning, and he looked
+down curiously at it,--a small, rosy, dimpled hand, such as he had
+never seen before so closely.  A lump rose in his throat, and his
+eyelids smarted with tears again.  It was such a little thing, such a
+pretty little thing, he said to himself, covering it fondly with his
+other hand.  There was no fear that Tony would forget to come back to
+old Oliver's house.
+
+"Thank you for my breakfast," he said, with a choking voice; "only if
+I do come to see you, it'll be to see her again--not for anythink as
+I can get."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+FORSAKEN AGAIN.
+
+The next three days were a season of unmixed happiness to old Oliver.
+The little child was so merry, yet withal so gentle and
+sweet-tempered, that she kept him in a state of unwearied delight,
+without any alloy of anxiety or trouble.  She trotted at his side
+with short, running footsteps, when he went out early in the morning
+to fetch his daily stock of newspapers.  She watched him set his room
+tidy, and made believe to help him by dusting the lees and seats of
+his two chairs.  She stood with folded hands and serious face,
+looking on as he was busy with his cooking.  When she was not thus
+engaged she played contentedly with Beppo, prattling to him in such a
+manner, that Oliver often forgot what he was about while listening to
+her.  She played with him, too, frolicsome little games of
+hide-and-seek, in which he grew as eager as herself; and sometimes
+she stole his spectacles, or handkerchief, or anything she could lay
+her mischievous fingers upon to hide away in some unthought-of spot;
+while her shrewd, cunning little face put on an expression of
+profound gravity as old Oliver sought everywhere for them.
+
+As Friday evening drew near, the old man's gladness took a shade of
+anxiety.  His daughter was coming home to him, and his heart was full
+of unutterable joy and gratitude; but he did not know exactly how
+they should go on in the future.  He was averse to change; yet this
+little house, with its single room, to which he had moved when she
+forsook him, was too scanty in its accommodation.  He had made up a
+rude sort of bed for himself under the counter in the shop, and was
+quite ready to give up his own to Susan and his little love, as he
+called Dolly; but would Susan let him have his own way in this, and
+many other things?  He provided a sumptuous tea, and added a fresh
+salad to it from the greengrocer's next door; but though he and Dolly
+waited and watched till long after the child's bed-time, taking
+occasional snatches of bread and butter, still Susan did not arrive.
+At length a postman entered the little shop with a noise which made
+Oliver's heart beat violently, and tossed a letter down upon the
+counter.  He carried it to the door, where there was still light
+enough to read it, and saw that it was in Susan's handwriting.
+
+"MY DEAR AND DEAREST FATHER,
+
+"My heart is almost broke, betwixt one thing and another.  His
+regiment is to set sail immediate, and the colonel's lady has offered
+me very handsome wages to go out with her as lady's maid, her own
+having disappointed her at the last moment; which I could do very
+well, knowing the dressmaking.  He said, 'Do come, Susan, and I'll
+never get drunk again, so help me God; and if you don't, I shall go
+to the bad altogether; for I do love you, Susan.'  I said, 'Oh my
+child!'  And the colonel's lady said, 'She's safe with her
+grandfather; and if he's a good man, as you say he is, he'll take the
+best of care of her.  I'll give you three pounds to send him from
+here, and we'll send more from Calcutta.'  So they overpersuaded me,
+and there isn't even time to come back to London, for we are going in
+a few hours.  You'll take care of my little dear, I know, you and
+aunt Charlotte.  I've sent a little box of clothes for her by the
+railway, and what more she wants aunt Charlotte will see to, I'm
+sure, and do her mending, and see to her manners till I come home.
+Oh! if I could only hear you say 'Susan, my dear, I forgive you, and
+love you almost as much as ever,' I'd go with a lighter heart, and be
+almost glad to leave Dolly to be a comfort to you, She will be a
+comfort to you, though she is so little, I'm sure.  Tell her mammy
+says she must be a good girl always till mammy comes back.  A hundred
+thousand kisses for my dear father and my little girl.  We shall come
+home as soon as ever we can; but I don't rightly know where India is.
+I think it's my bounden duty to go with him, as things have turned
+out.  Pray God take care of us all.
+
+  "Your loving, sorrowful daughter,
+      "SUSAN RALEIGH."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE GRASSHOPPER A BURDEN.
+
+It was some time before the full meaning of Susan's letter penetrated
+to her father's brain; but when it did, he was not at first
+altogether pained by it.  True, it was both a grief and
+disappointment to think that his daughter, instead of returning to
+him, was already on her way across the sea to a very distant land.
+But as this came slowly to his mind, there came also the thought that
+there would now be no one to divide with him the treasure committed
+to his charge.  The little child would belong to him alone.  They
+might go on still, living as they had done these last three days, and
+being all in all to one another.  If he could have chosen, his will
+would certainly have been for Susan to return to them; but, since he
+could not have his choice, he felt that there were some things which
+would be all the happier for him because of her absence.
+
+He put Dolly to bed, and then went out to shut up the shop for the
+night.  As he carried in his feeble arms a single shutter at a time,
+he heard himself hailed by a boy's voice, which was lowered to a low
+and mysterious whisper, and which belonged to Tony, who took the
+shutter out of his hands.
+
+"S'pose the mother turned up all right?" he said pointing with his
+thumb through the half open door.
+
+"No," answered Oliver.  "I've had another letter from her, and she's
+gone out to India with her husband, and left the little love to live
+alone with me."
+
+"But whatever'll the Master say to that?" inquired Tony.
+
+"What master?" asked old Oliver.
+
+"Him--Lord Jesus Christ.  What'll he say to her leaving you and the
+little 'un again?" said Tony, with an eager face.
+
+"Oh! he says a woman ought to leave her father, and keep to her
+husband," he answered, somewhat sadly.  "It's all right, that is."
+
+"I s'pose he'll help you to take care of the little girl," said Tony.
+
+"Ay will he; him and me," replied old Oliver; "there's no fear of
+that.  You never read the Testament, of course, my boy?"
+
+"Can't read, I told you," he answered.  "But what's that?"
+
+"A book all about him, the Lord Jesus," said Oliver, "what he's done,
+and what he's willing to do for people.  If you'll come of an
+evening, I'll read it aloud to you and my little love.  She'll listen
+as quiet and good as any angel."
+
+"I'll come to-morrow," answered Tony, readily; and he lingered about
+the doorway until he heard the old man inside fasten the bolts and
+locks, and saw the light go out in the pane of glass over the door.
+Then he scampered noiselessly with his naked feet along the alley in
+the direction of Covent Garden, where he purposed to spend the night,
+if left undisturbed.
+
+Old Oliver went back into his room, where the tea-table was still set
+out for his Susan's welcome; but he had no heart to clear the things
+away.  A chill came over his spirit as his eye fell upon the
+preparations he had made to give her such a cordial greeting, that
+she would know at once he had forgiven her fully.  He lit his pipe,
+and sat pondering sorrowfully over all the changes that had happened
+to him since those old, far-away days when he was a boy, in the
+pleasant, fresh, healthy homestead at the foot of the Wrekin.  He
+felt all of a sudden how very old he was; a poor, infirm, hoary old
+man.  His sight was growing dim even, and his hearing duller every
+day; he was sure of it.  His limbs ached oftener, and he was earlier
+wearied in the evening; yet he could not sleep soundly at nights, as
+he had been used to do.  But, worst of all, his memory was not half
+as good as it had been.  Sometimes, of late, he had caught himself
+reading a newspaper quite a fortnight old, and he had not found it
+out till he happened to see the date at the top.  He could not
+recollect the names of people as he did once; for many of his
+customers to whom he supplied the monthly magazines were obliged to
+tell him their names and the book they wanted every time, before he
+could remember them.  And now there was this young child cast upon
+him to be thought of, and cared and worked for.  It was very
+thoughtless and reckless of Susan!  Suppose he should forget or
+neglect any of her tender wants!  Suppose his dull ear should grow
+too deaf to catch the pretty words she said when she asked for
+something!  Suppose he should not see when the tears were rolling
+down her cheeks, and nobody would comfort her!  It might very easily
+be so.  He was not the hale man he was when Susan was just such
+another little darling, and he could toss her up to the ceiling in
+his strong hands.  It was as much as he could do to lift Dolly on to
+his feeble knee, and nurse her quietly, not even giving her a ride to
+market upon it; and how stiff he felt if she sat there long!
+
+Old Oliver laid aside his pipe, and rested his worn face upon his
+hands, while the heavy tears came slowly and painfully to his eyes,
+and trickled down his withered cheeks.  His joy had fled, and his
+unmingled gladness had faded quite away.  He was a very poor, very
+old man; and the little child was very, very young.  What would
+become of them both, alone in London?
+
+He did not know whether it was a voice speaking within himself in his
+own heart, or words whispered very softly into his ear; but he heard
+a low, quiet, still small voice, which said, "Even to your old age I
+am he, and even to hoar hairs I will carry you: I have made, and I
+will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you."  And old Oliver
+answered, with a sob, "Yes, Lord, yes!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE PRINCE OF LIFE.
+
+In the new life which had now fairly begun for Oliver, it was partly
+as he had foreseen; he was apt to forget many things, and he had a
+fretting consciousness of this forgetfulness.  When he was in the
+house playing with Dolly, or reading to her, the shop altogether
+slipped away from his memory, and he was only recalled to it by the
+loud knocking or shouting of some customer in it.  On the other hand,
+when he was sitting behind the counter looking for news from India in
+the papers, news in which he was already profoundly concerned, though
+it was impossible that Susan could yet have reached it, he grew so
+absorbed, that he did not know how the time was passing by, and both
+he and his little grand-daughter were hungry before he had thought of
+getting ready any meal.  He tried all kinds of devices for
+strengthening his failing memory; but in vain.  He even forgot that
+he did forget; and when Dolly was laughing and frolicking about him
+he grew a child again, and felt himself the happiest man in London.
+
+The person who took upon himself the heaviest weight of anxiety and
+responsibility about Dolly was Tony, who began to make it his daily
+custom to pass by the house at the hour when old Oliver ought to be
+going for his morning papers; and if he found no symptom of life
+about the place, he did not leave off kicking and butting at the
+shop-door until the owner appeared.  It was very much the same thing
+at night, when the time for shutting up came; though it generally
+happened now that the boy was paying his friends an evening visit,
+and was therefore at hand to put up the shutters for Oliver.  Tony
+could not keep away from the place.  Though he felt a boy's
+contemptuous pity for the poor old man's declining faculties as
+regarded business, he had a very high veneration for his learning.
+Nothing pleased him better than to sit upon the old box near the
+door, his elbows on his knees, and his chin upon his hands, while
+Oliver read aloud, with Dolly upon his knee, her curly hair and small
+pretty features making a strange contrast to his white head and
+withered, hollow face.  Tony, who had never had anything to love
+except a stray cur or two, which he had always lost after a few days'
+friendship, felt as if he could have suffered himself to be put to
+death for either of these two; while Beppo came in for a large share
+of his unclaimed affections.  The chief subject of their reading was
+the life of the Master, who was so intimately dear to the heart of
+old Oliver.  Tony was very eager to learn all he could of this great
+friend who did so much for the old man, and who might perhaps be
+persuaded some day or other to take a little notice of him, if he
+should fail to get a crossing for himself.  Oliver, in his long,
+unbroken solitude of six years, had fallen into a notion, amounting
+to a firm belief, that his Lord was not dead and far off, as most of
+the world believed, but was a very present, living friend, always
+ready to listen to the meanest of his words.  He had a vague
+suspicion that his faith had got into a different course from that of
+most other people; and he bore meekly the rebukes of his sister
+Charlotte for the unwholesomeness of his visions.  But none the less,
+when he was alone, he talked and prayed to, and spoke to Tony of this
+Master, as one who was always very near at hand.
+
+[Illustration: Dolly on Oliver's knee]
+
+"I s'pose he takes a bit o' notice o' the little un," said Tony,
+"when he comes in now and then of an evening."
+
+"Ay, does he!" answered Oliver, earnestly.  "My boy, he loves every
+child as if it was his very own, and it is his own in one sense.
+Didn't I read you last night how he said, 'Suffer the little children
+to come unto me, and forbid them not.'  Why, he'd love all the young
+children in the world, if they weren't hindered from coming to him."
+
+"I should very much like to see him some day," pursued Tony,
+reflectively, "and the rest of them,--Peter, and John, and them.  I
+s'pose they are getting pretty old by now, aren't they?"
+
+"They are dead," said Oliver.
+
+"All of 'em?" asked Tony.
+
+"All of them," he repeated.
+
+"Dear, dear!" cried Tony, his eyes glistening.  "Whatever did the
+Master do when they all died?  I'm very sorry for him now.  He's had
+a many troubles, hasn't he?"
+
+"Yes, yes," replied old Oliver, with a faltering voice.  "He was
+called a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.  Nobody ever bore
+so many troubles as him."
+
+"How long is it ago since they all died?" asked Tony.
+
+"I can't rightly say," he answered.  "I heard once, but it is gone
+out of my head.  I only know it was the same when I was a boy.  It
+must have been a long, long time ago."
+
+"The same when you was a boy!" repeated Tony, in a tone of
+disappointment.  "It must ha' been a long while ago.  I thought all
+along as the Master was alive now.
+
+"So he is, so he is!" exclaimed old Oliver, eagerly.  "I'll read to
+you all about it.  They put him to death on the cross, and buried him
+in a rocky grave; but he is the Prince of Life, and he came to life
+again three days after, and now he can die no more.  His own words to
+John were, 'I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive
+for evermore.'  What else can it mean but that he is living now, and
+will never die again?"
+
+Tony made no answer.  He sat with his sharp, unboyish face gazing
+intently into the fire; for by this time autumn had set in, and the
+old man was chilly of an evening.  A very uncertain, dim idea was
+dawning upon him that this master and friend of old Oliver's was a
+being very different from an ordinary man, however great and rich he
+might be.  He had grown to love the thought of him, and to listen
+attentively to the book which told the manner of life he led; but it
+was a chill to find out that he could not look into his face, and
+hear his voice, as he could Oliver's.  His heart was heavy, and very
+sad.
+
+"I s'pose I can't see him, then," he murmured to himself, at last.
+
+"Not exactly like other folks," said Oliver.  "I think sometimes that
+perhaps there's a little darkness of the grave where he was buried
+about him still.  But he sees us, and hears us.  He himself says,
+'Behold, I am with you always.'  I don't know whatever I should do,
+even with my little love here, if I wasn't sure Jesus was with me as
+well."
+
+"I'll tell you what I'll do," said Tony, after another pause.  "I'm
+going to ask him to give me somethink, and then if he does, I shall
+know he hears me.--I should very much like to have a broom and a
+crossing, and get my living a bit more easy, if you please."
+
+He had turned his face away from Oliver, and looked across into the
+darkest corner of the room, where he could see nothing but shadow.
+The old man felt puzzled, and somewhat troubled, but he only sighed
+softly to himself; and opening the Testament, he read aloud in it
+till he was calmed again, and Tony was listening in rapt attention.
+
+"My boy," he said, as the hour came for Tony to go, "where are you
+sleeping now?"
+
+"Anywhere as I can get out o' the wind," he answered.  "It's cold
+now, nights--wery cold, master.  But I must get along a bit farder
+on.  Lodgings is wery dear."
+
+"I've been thinking," said Oliver, "that you'd find it better to have
+some sort of a shake-down under my counter.  I've heard say that
+newspapers stitched together make a coverlid pretty near as warm as a
+blanket; and we could do no harm by trying them, Tony.  Look here,
+and see how you'd like it."
+
+It looked very much like a long box, and was not much larger.  Two or
+three beetles crawled sluggishly away as the light fell upon them,
+and dusty cobwebs festooned all the corners; but to Tony it seemed so
+magnificent an accommodation for sleeping, that he could scarcely
+believe he heard old Oliver aright.  He looked up into his face with
+a sharp, incredulous gaze, ready to wink and thrust his tongue into
+his cheek, if there was the least sign of making game of him.  But
+the old man was simply in earnest, and without a word Tony slipped
+down upon a heap of paper shavings strewed within, drew his ragged
+jacket up about his ears, and turned his face away, lest his tears
+should be seen.  He felt, a minute or two after, that a piece of an
+old rug was laid over him, but he could say nothing; and old Oliver
+could not hear the sob which broke from his lips.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter VIII headpiece]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+NO PIPE FOR OLD OLIVER.
+
+As some weeks went by, and no crossing and broom had been given to
+Tony, he began to suspect that Oliver was imposing upon him.  Now
+that he slept under the counter, he could often hear the old man
+talking aloud to his invisible Friend as he smoked his pipe; and once
+or twice Tony crept noiselessly to the door and watched him, after he
+had finished smoking, kneel down and hide his face in his hands for
+some minutes together.  But the boy could see nothing, and his wish
+had not been granted; even though, as he grew more instructed, he
+followed Oliver's example, and, kneeling down behind the counter,
+whispered out a prayer for it.  To be sure his life was easier,
+especially the nights of it; for he never now went hungry and starved
+to bed upon some cold, hard door-step.  But it was old Oliver who did
+that for him, not old Oliver's Master.  So far as he knew, the Lord
+Jesus had taken no notice whatever of him; and the feeling, at first
+angry, softened down into a kind of patient grief, which was quickly
+dying away into indifference.
+
+Oliver had done himself no bad turn by offering a shelter to the
+solitary lad.  Tony always woke early in the morning, and if it
+rained he would run for the papers, before turning out to "find for
+himself" in the streets.  He generally took care to be out of the way
+at meal-times; for it was as much as the old man could do to provide
+for himself and Dolly.  Sometimes Tony saw him at the till, counting
+over his pence with rather a troubled face.  Once, after receiving a
+silver four-penny piece, an extraordinary and undreamed of event,
+Tony dropped it, almost with a feeling of guilt, through the slit in
+the counter which communicated with the till.  But Oliver was so
+bewildered by its presence among the coppers, that he was compelled
+to confess what he had done, saying it would have cost him more than
+that for lodgings these cold nights.
+
+"No, no, Tony," said Oliver; "you're very useful, fetching my papers,
+and taking my little love out a-walking when the weather's fine.  I
+ought to pay you something, instead of taking it of you."
+
+"Keep it for Dolly," said Tony, bashfully, and pushing the coin into
+her little hand.
+
+"Sank 'oo," answered Dolly, accepting it promptly; "me'll give 'oo
+twenty kisses for it."
+
+It seemed ample payment to Tony, who went down on his knees to have
+the kisses pressed upon his face, which had never felt a kiss since
+his mother died.  But Oliver was not satisfied with the bargain,
+though he drew Dolly to him fondly, and left the money in her hand.
+
+"It 'ud buy you a broom, Tony," he said.
+
+"Oh, I've give up asking for a crossing," he answered dejectedly;
+"for he never heard, or if he heard, he never cared; so it were no
+use going on teazing either him or me."
+
+"But this money 'ud buy the broom," said Oliver; "and if you looked
+about you, you'd find the crossing.  You never got such a bit of
+money before, did you?"
+
+"No, never," replied Tony.  "A tall, thin gentleman, with a dark face
+and very sharp eyes, gave it me for holding his horse, near Temple
+Bar.  He says, 'Mind you spend that well, my lad.'  I'd know him
+again anywhere."
+
+"You ought to have bought a broom," said Oliver, looking down at
+Dolly's tightly-closed hand.
+
+"Don't you go to take it of her," cried Tony.  "Bless you!  I'll get
+another some way.  I never thought that were the way he'd give me a
+broom and a crossing.  I thought it 'ud be sure to come direct."
+
+"Well," said Oliver, after a little pause, "I'll save the fourpence
+for you.  It'll only be going without my pipe for a few nights,
+that's all.  That's nothing, Tony."
+
+It did not seem much to Tony, who had no idea as yet of the pleasures
+of smoking; yet he roused up just before falling into his deep sleep
+at night to step softly to the door, and look in upon Oliver.  He was
+sitting in his arm-chair, with his pipe between his lips, but there
+was no tobacco in it; and he was holding more eager converse than
+ever with his unseen companion.
+
+"Dear Lord!" he said, "I'd do ten times more than this for thee.
+Thou hast said, 'Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these,
+ye did it unto me.' Tony's one of thy little ones.  Dear Lord, do
+thee give him a crossing, if it be thy blessed will.  Do thee now,
+Lord."
+
+Tony could hear no more, and he stole back to bed, his mind full of
+new and vague hopes.  He dreamed of the fourpenny piece, and the
+gentleman who had given it, and of Dolly, who bought a wondrous broom
+with it, in his dream, which swept a beautiful crossing of itself.
+But old Oliver sat still a long time, talking half aloud; for his
+usual drowsiness did not come to him.  It was nearly five months now
+since Dolly was left to him, and he felt his deafness and blindness
+growing upon him slowly.  His infirmities were not yet so burdensome
+as to make him dependent upon others; but he felt himself gradually
+drawing near to such a state.  Dolly's clothes were getting sadly in
+want of mending; there was scarcely a fastening left upon them, and
+neither he nor Tony could sew on a button or tape.  It was a long
+time--a very long time--since his sister had been to see him; and,
+with the reluctancy of old age to any active exertion, he had put off
+from week to week the task of writing to her, to tell her of Susan's
+departure, and the charge he had in his little grandchild.  He made
+up his mind that he would do it to-morrow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A NEW BROOM AND A CROSSING.
+
+The morning was a fine soft, sunny December day, such as comes
+sometimes after a long season of rain and fog, and Tony proposed
+taking Dolly out for a walk through the streets, to which Oliver
+gladly consented, as it would give to him exactly the undisturbed
+leisure he needed for writing his letter to Charlotte.  But Dolly was
+not in her usual spirits; on the contrary, she was grave and sober,
+and at length Tony, thinking she was tired, sat down on a door-step,
+and took her upon his knee, to tell her his dream of the wonderful
+broom which swept beautifully all by itself.  Dolly grew more and
+more pensive after hearing this, and sat silent for a long time, with
+her small head resting thoughtfully upon her hand, as she looked up
+and down the street.
+
+"Dolly 'ud like to buy a boom," she said, at last, "a great, big
+boom; and granpa 'ill smoke his pipe again to-night.  Dolly's growing
+a big girl; and me must be a good girl till mammy comes back.  Let us
+go and buy a big boom, Tony."
+
+For a few minutes Tony tried to shake her resolution, and persuade
+her to change her mind.  He even tempted her with the sight of a doll
+in a shop-window; but she remained stedfast, and he was not sorry to
+give in at last.  Since the idea had entered his head that the money
+had been given to him for the purpose of buying a broom, he had
+rather regretted parting with it, and he felt some anxiety lest he
+should not be allowed a second chance.  Dolly's light-heartedness had
+returned, and she trotted cheerfully by his side as they walked on in
+search of a shop where they could make their purchase.  It was some
+time before they found one, and they had already left behind them the
+busier thoroughfares, and had reached a knot of quieter streets where
+there were more foot-passengers, for the fine morning had tempted
+many people out for pleasure as well as business.  Tony was
+particular in his choice of a broom, but once bought, he carried it
+over his shoulder, and went on his way with Dolly in triumph.
+
+They were passing along chattering busily, when Tony's eyes fell upon
+a child about as old as Dolly, standing on the kerb-stone with a
+lady, who looked anxiously across to the other side of the broad and
+very dirty road, for the day before had been rainy.  They were both
+finely dressed, and the little girl had on new boots of shining
+leather, which it was evident she was very much afraid of soiling.
+For a minute Tony only looked on at their perplexity, but then he
+went up to them, holding Dolly by the hand.
+
+[Illustration: A NEW BROOM AND A CROSSING.]
+
+"If you'll take care of my little girl," he said, "I'll carry your
+little girl across the road.  I'm wery clean for a street-boy, all
+but my feet, 'cos I've got this little girl to take care of; and I'll
+do it wery gentle."
+
+Both the lady and the child looked very searchingly into Tony's face.
+It was pale and meagre; but there was a pleasant smile upon it, and
+his eyes shone down upon the two children with a very loving light in
+them.  The lady took Dolly's hand in hers, nodding permission for him
+to carry her little child over to the other side, and she waited for
+him to come back to his own charge.  Then she took out her purse, and
+put two-pence into his hand.
+
+"Thank ye, my lady," said Tony; "but I didn't do it for that.  I'm
+only looking out for a crossing.  Me and Dolly have bought this
+broom, and I'm looking out for a place to make a good crossing in."
+
+"Why not make one here?" asked the lady.
+
+It seemed a good place to try one in; there were four roads meeting,
+and a cab-stand close by.  Plenty of people were passing to and fro,
+and the middle of the road was very muddy.  Tony begged a wisp of
+straw from a cabman, to make a seat for Dolly in the sunshine under a
+blank bit of wall, while he set to work with a will, feeling rather
+pleased than not that the broom would not sweep of itself.  A
+crossing was speedily made, and for two or three hours Tony kept it
+well swept.  By that time it was twelve o'clock, and Dolly's dinner
+would be ready for her before they could reach home, if old Oliver
+had not forgotten it.  It seemed a great pity to leave his new post
+so early.  Most passers-by, certainly, had appeared not to see him at
+all; but he had already received fivepence halfpenny, chiefly in
+halfpence, from ladies who were out for their morning's walk; and
+Dolly was enjoying herself very much in the sunshine, receiving all
+the attention which he could spare from his crossing.  However a
+beginning was made.  The broom and the crossing were his property;
+and Tony's heart beat fast with pride and gladness as he carried the
+weary little Dolly all the way home again.  He resolved to put by
+half of his morning's earnings towards replacing the fourpenny-piece
+she had given back to him; or perhaps he would buy her a beautiful
+doll, dressed like a real lady.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+HIGHLY RESPECTABLE.
+
+As old Oliver was stooping over his desk on the counter, and bringing
+his dim eyes as close as he could to the letter he was writing, his
+shop-door was darkened by the unexpected entrance of his sister
+Charlotte herself.  She was dressed with her usual extreme neatness,
+bordering upon gentility, and she carried upon her arm a small fancy
+reticule, which contained some fresh eggs, and a few russet apples,
+brought up expressly from the country.  Oliver welcomed her with more
+than ordinary pleasure, and led her at once into his room behind.
+Charlotte's quick eyes detected in an instant the traces of a child's
+dwelling there; and before Oliver could utter a word, she picked up a
+little frock, and was holding it out at arm's length, with an air of
+utter surprise and misgiving.
+
+"Brother James!" she exclaimed, and her questioning voice, with its
+tone of amazement, rang very clearly into his ears.
+
+"It's my little Dolly's," he answered, in haste; "poor Susan's little
+girl, who's gone out with her husband, young Raleigh, to India,
+because he's 'listed, and left her little girl with me, her
+grandfather.  She came on the very last day you were here."
+
+"Well, to be sure!" cried his sister, sinking down on a chair, but
+still keeping the torn little frock in her hand.
+
+"I've had two letters from poor Susan," he continued, in a tremulous
+voice, "and I'll read them to you.  The child's such a precious
+treasure to me, Charlotte--such a little love, a hundred times better
+than any gold; and now you're come to mend up her clothes a bit, and
+see what she wants for me, there's nothing else that I desire.  I was
+writing about her to you when you came in."
+
+"I thought you'd gone and picked up a lost child out of the streets,"
+said Charlotte, with a sigh of relief.
+
+"No, no; she's my own," he answered.  "You hearken while I read poor
+Susan's letters, and then you'll understand all about it.  I couldn't
+give her up for a hundred gold guineas--not for a deal more than
+that."
+
+He knew Susan's letters off by heart, and did not need his
+spectacles, nor a good light to read them by.  Charlotte listened
+with emphatic nods, and many exclamations of astonishment.
+
+"That's very pretty of Susan," she remarked, "saying as Aunt
+Charlotte 'll do her sewing, and see to her manners.  Ay, that I
+will! for who should know manners better than me, who used to work
+for the Staniers, and dine at the housekeeper's table, with the
+butler and all the head servants? to be sure I'll take care that she
+does not grow up ungenteel.  Where is the dear child, brother James?"
+
+"She's gone out for a walk this fine morning," he answered.
+
+"Not alone?" cried Charlotte.  "Who's gone out with her?  A child
+under five years old could never go out all alone in London: at least
+I should think not.  She might get run over and killed a score of
+times."
+
+"Oh! there's a person with her I've every confidence in," replied
+Oliver.
+
+"What sort of person; man or woman; male or female?" inquired
+Charlotte.
+
+"A boy," he answered, in some confusion.
+
+"A boy!" repeated his sister, as if he had said a monster.  "What
+boy?"
+
+"His name's Tony," he replied.
+
+"But where does he come from?  Is he respectable?" she pursued,
+fixing him with her glittering eyes in a manner which did not tend to
+restore his composure.
+
+"I don't know, sister," he said in a feeble tone.
+
+"Don't know, brother James!" she exclaimed.  "Don't you know where he
+lives?"
+
+"He lives here," stammered old Oliver; "at least he sleeps here under
+the counter; but he finds his own food about the streets."
+
+Charlotte's consternation was past all powers of speech.  Here was
+her brother, a respectable man, who had seen better days, and whose
+sister had been a dressmaker in good families, harbouring in his own
+house a common boy off the streets, who, no doubt, was a thief and
+pickpocket, with all sorts of low ways and bad language.  At the same
+time there was poor Susan's little girl dwelling under the same roof;
+the child whose pretty manners she was to attend to, living in
+constant companionship with a vulgar and vicious boy!  What she might
+have said upon recovering her speech, neither she nor Oliver ever
+knew; for at this crisis Tony himself appeared, carrying Dolly and
+his new broom in his arms, and looking very haggard and tattered
+himself, his bare feet black with mud, and his bare head in a
+hopeless condition of confusion, and tangle.
+
+"We've bought a geat big boom, ganpa," shouted Dolly, as she came
+through the shop, and before she perceived the presence of a
+stranger; "and Tony and Dolly made a great big crossing, and dot ever
+so much money----"
+
+She was suddenly silent as soon as her eye fell upon the stranger;
+but Aunt Charlotte had heard enough.  She rose with great dignity
+from her chair, and was about to address herself vehemently to Tony,
+when old Oliver interrupted her.
+
+[Illustration: Charlotte speaking to Tony and Dolly]
+
+"Charlotte," he said, "the boy's a good boy, and he's a help to me.
+I couldn't send him away.  He's one of the Lord's poor little ones as
+are scattered up and down in this great city, without father or
+mother, and I must do all I can for him.  It isn't much; it's only a
+bed under the counter, and a crust now and then, and he more than
+pays for it.  You musn't come betwixt me and Tony."
+
+Old Oliver spoke so emphatically, that his sister was impressed and
+silenced for a minute.  She took the little girl away from Tony, and
+glared at him with a sternness which made him feel very
+uncomfortable; but her eye softened a little, and her face grew less
+harsh.
+
+"You can't read or write?" she said, in a sharp voice.
+
+"No," he answered.
+
+"And you've not got any manners, or boots, or a cap on your head.
+You are ragged and ignorant, and not fit to live with this little
+girl," she continued, with energy.  "If this little girl's mother saw
+her going about with a boy in bare feet and a bare head, it 'ud break
+her heart I know.  So if you wish to stay here with my brother, Mr.
+Oliver, and this little girl, Miss Dorothy Raleigh, as I suppose her
+name is, you must get all these things.  You must begin to learn to
+read and write, and talk properly.  I shall come here again in a
+month's time--I shall come every month now--and if you haven't got
+some shoes for your feet, and a cap for your head, before I see you
+again, I shall just take the little girl away down into the country,
+where I live, and you'll never see her again.  Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes," answered Tony, nodding his head.
+
+"Then you may take yourself away now," said the sharp old woman, "I
+don't want to be too hard upon you; but I've got this little girl to
+look after for her mother, and you must do as I say, or I shall carry
+her right off to be out of your way.  Take your broom and go; and
+never you think of such a thing as taking this little girl to sweep a
+crossing again.  I never heard of such a thing.  There, go!"
+
+Tony slunk away sadly, with a sudden downheartedness.  He returned so
+joyous and triumphant, in spite of his weariness, that this
+unexpected and unpleasant greeting had been a very severe shock to
+him.  With his broom over his shoulder, and with his listless,
+slouching steps, he sauntered slowly back to his crossing; but he had
+no heart for it now.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+AMONG THIEVES.
+
+The night fell early, for a thick fog came on in the afternoon.  Tony
+cowered down upon his broom under the wall where Dolly had sat in the
+sunshine all the morning to watch him sweep his crossing.  It was all
+over now.  She was lost to him; for he should never dare to go back
+to old Oliver's house, and face that terrible old woman again.  There
+was nothing for him but to return to his old life and his old haunts;
+and a chill ran through him, body and spirit, as he thought of it.
+His heap of paper shavings under the counter, where the biting winds
+could not reach him, came to his mind, and the tears rushed to his
+eyes.  But to-night, at least, there would be no need to sleep out of
+doors, for he had some money in the safest corner of his ragged
+pocket, tied up in it securely with a bit of string.  He could afford
+to pay for a night's lodging, and he knew very well where he could
+get one.
+
+About nine o'clock Tony turned his weary feet towards a slum he knew
+of in Westminster, where there was a cellar open to everybody who
+could pay two-pence for a night's shelter.  His heart was very full
+and heavy with resentment against his enemy; and a great longing to
+see Dolly.  He loitered about the door of the cellar, reluctant and
+almost afraid to venture in; for it was so long since he had been
+driven to any of these places that he felt nearly like a stranger
+among them.  Besides, in former times he had been kicked, and beaten,
+and driven from the fire, and fought with by the bigger boys; and he
+had become unaccustomed to such treatment of late.  How different
+this lodging-house was to the quiet peaceful home where Dolly knelt
+down every evening at her grandfather's knee, and prayed for him; for
+now she always put Tony's name into her childish prayers!  He should
+never, never hear her again, nor see old Oliver seated in his
+arm-chair, smoking his long pipe, while he talked with that strange
+friend and master of his.  Ah! he would never hear or know any more
+of that unseen Christ, who was so willing to be his master and
+friend, for the Lord Jesus Christ could never come into such a wicked
+place as this, which was the only home he had.  He had given him the
+crossing and the broom, and that was the end of it.  He must take
+care of himself now, and keep out of gaol if he could, and if not,
+why then he had better make a business of thieving, and become as
+good a pickpocket as "Clever Dog Tom," who had once stolen a watch
+from a policeman himself.
+
+Clever Dog Tom was the first to greet Tony when he slipped in at
+last, and he seemed inclined to make much of him; but Tony was too
+troubled for receiving any consolation from Tom's friendly advances.
+He crept away into the darkest corner, and stretched himself on the
+thin straw which covered the damp and dirty floor, but he could not
+fall asleep.  There was a good deal of quarrelling among the boys,
+and the men who wished to sleep swore long and loudly at them.  Then
+there followed a fight, which grew so exciting at last that every
+person in the place, except Tony, gathered about the boys in a ring,
+encouraging and cheering them.  It was long after midnight before
+silence and rest came, and then he fell into a broken slumber,
+dreaming of Dolly and old Oliver, until he awoke and found his face
+wet with tears.  He got up before any of his bed-fellows were
+aroused, and made his way out into the fresh keen air of a December
+morning.
+
+Day after day went by, and night after night.  Tony was growing more
+indifferent again to the swearing and fighting of his old comrades.
+He began to listen with delight to the tales of Clever Dog Tom, who
+told him that hands like his would work well in his line, and his
+innocent-looking face would go a long way towards softening any judge
+and jury, or would bring him favour with the chaplain, and easy times
+in gaol.  He kept his crossing still, and did tolerably well, earning
+enough to keep himself in food, and to pay for his night's shelter;
+but he was beginning to hanker after something more.  If he could not
+be good, and be on the same side as old Oliver and Dolly, he thought
+it would be better to be altogether on the other side, like Tom, who
+dressed well, and lived well, and was looked up to by other boys.  It
+was a week after he had left old Oliver's house, and he was about to
+leave his crossing for the night, when a gentleman stopped him
+suddenly, and looked keenly into his face.
+
+"Hollo, my lad!" he said, "you're the boy I gave fourpence to a week
+ago for holding my horse, I told you to lay it out well.  What did
+you do with it?"
+
+"Me and Dolly bought this broom," he answered, "and I've kept this
+crossing ever since."
+
+"Well done!" said the gentleman.  "And who is Dolly?"
+
+"It's a little girl as I was very fond of," replied Tony, with a deep
+sigh.  It seemed so long ago that he spoke of his love for her as if
+it was a thing altogether passed away and dead, yet his heart still
+ached at the memory of it.
+
+"Well, here's another fourpenny-bit for you," said his friend, "quite
+a new one.  See how bright it is; no one has ever bought anything
+with it yet.  Dolly will like to see it."
+
+Tony held it in the palm of his hand long after the gentleman was out
+of sight, gazing at it in the lamplight.  It was very beautiful and
+shining; and oh! how Dolly's eyes would shine and sparkle if she
+could only see it!  And she ought to see it.  By right it belonged to
+her; for had he not given her his first fourpenny-piece freely, and
+had twenty kisses for it, and then had she not given it him back to
+buy a broom with? she had never had a single farthing of all his
+earnings.  How he would like to show her this beautiful piece of
+silver, and feel her soft little arms round his neck, when he said it
+was to be her very own!  He felt that he dare not pass the night in
+the cellar with such a treasure about him, for Tom, who was so
+clever, would be sure to find out that his pocket was worth the
+picking, and Tony had not found that there was much honour among
+thieves.  What was he to do?  Where was he to go?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+TONY'S WELCOME.
+
+Almost without knowing where his feet were carrying him, Tony
+sauntered through the streets until he found himself at the turn into
+the alley within a few yards of Oliver's home, and his beloved Dolly.
+At any rate he could pass down it, and, if the shop-door was not
+shut, he would wrap his beautiful silver coin in a rag, and throw it
+into the inside; they would be sure to guess who had done it, and
+what it was for.  It was dark down the alley, only one lamp and the
+greengrocer's gas lighting it up, and Tony stole along quietly in the
+shadow.  It was nearly time for Dolly to be going to bed, he thought,
+and old Oliver was sure to be with her in the inner room; but just as
+he came into the revealing glare of the greengrocer's stall, his ears
+rang and his heart throbbed violently at the sound of a shrill little
+scream of gladness, and the next moment he felt himself caught by
+Dolly's arms, and dragged into the house by them.
+
+"Tony's come home, Tony's come home, gan-pa!" she shouted with all
+her might.  "Dolly's found Tony at last!"
+
+Dolly's voice quivered, and broke down into quick, childish sobs,
+while she held Tony very fast, lest he should escape from her once
+again; and old Oliver came quickly from the room beyond, and laid his
+hand fondly upon the boy's shoulder.
+
+"Why have you kept away from us so long, Tony?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, master!" he cried, "I've been a wicked boy, and a miserable boy.
+Do forgive me, and I'll never do so no more.  I s'pose you'll never
+let me sleep under the counter again?"
+
+"Come in, come in!" answered Oliver, pushing him gently before him
+into the house.  "We've been waiting and watching for you every
+night, me and my little love.  You ought not to have served us so, my
+lad; but we're too glad to be angry with you.  Charlotte's sharp, and
+she's very much afraid of low ways and manners; but she isn't a hard
+woman, and she didn't know anything about you.  When I told her as
+you'd been left no bigger than my little love here to take care of
+yourself, alone, in London,--mother dead, and no father,--she shed
+tears about you, she did.  And she left you the biggest of her eggs
+to be kept for your supper, with her kind love; and we've put it by
+for you.  You shall have it this very night.  Dolly, my love, bring
+me the little saucepan."
+
+"I'm not so clean as I could wish," said Tony, mournfully; for he had
+neglected himself during the last week, and looked very much like
+what he had done when he had first seen old Oliver and his little
+grand-daughter.
+
+"Take a bowl full of water into the shop, then," answered Oliver,
+"and wash yourself, while I boil the egg.  Dolly'll find you a bit of
+soap and a towel; she's learning to be grand-pa's little housekeeper,
+she is."
+
+When Tony returned to the kitchen he looked a different being; the
+gloom was gone as well as the grime.  He felt as if he had come to
+himself after a long and very miserable dream.  Here was old Oliver
+again, looking at him with a kindly light in his dim eyes, and Dolly
+dancing about, with her pretty, merry little ways; and Beppo wagging
+his tail in joyous welcome, as he sniffed round and round him.  Even
+the egg was a token of forgiveness and friendliness.  That terrible
+old woman was not his enemy, after all.  He recollected what she had
+said he must do, and he resolved to do it for Dolly's sake, and old
+Oliver's.  He would learn to read and write, and he would pinch
+himself hard to buy some better clothing, lest he should continue to
+be a disgrace to them; shoes he must have first of all, as those were
+what the sharp but friendly old woman had particularly mentioned.  At
+any rate, he could never run away again from this home, where he was
+so loved and cared for.
+
+Oliver told him how sadly Dolly had fretted after him, and watched
+for him at the door, hour after hour, to see him come home again.  He
+said that in the same way, only with a far greater longing and love,
+his Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, was waiting for Tony to go to him.
+He could not half understand it, but a vague feeling of a love
+passing all understanding sank deeply into his heart.  He fell asleep
+that night under the counter with the tranquil peacefulness of one
+who has been tossed about in a great storm and tempest, and has been
+brought safely to the desired haven.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+NEW BOOTS.
+
+It was several weeks before Tony could scrape together enough money
+for his new boots, though he pinched and starved himself with heroic
+courage and endurance.  He did not mean to buy them at a shop; for he
+knew a place in Whitechapel where boots quite good enough for him
+were to be had for two or three shillings.  He was neither ambitious
+nor fastidious; old boots patched up would do very well to start
+with, if he could only manage to get them before aunt Charlotte came
+up to town again.  She had sent word she was coming the last Saturday
+in January; and early in the afternoon of that day, before the train
+could come in from Stratford, Tony started off to the place where he
+intended to make his purchase.
+
+It was a small open space in one of the streets of Whitechapel, where
+there was an area of flags, lying off the pavement.  Several traders
+held possession of this square, sitting on low stools, or
+cross-legged on the ground, with their stock in trade around them.
+One dealer bought and sold all kinds of old and rusty pieces of iron;
+another, a woman, ill clad and with red eyes, displayed before her a
+dingy assortment of ragged clothes, which were cheapened by other
+spare and red-eyed women, who held almost naked children by the hand.
+It was cold, and a bitter, keen east wind was searching every corner
+of London streets.  The salesman Tony was come to deal with had a
+tolerable selection of old boots, very few of them pairs, some with
+pretty good upper-leathers, but with no soles worth speaking of; and
+others thickly cobbled and patched, but good enough to keep the feet
+dry, without presenting a very creditable appearance.  For the first
+time in his life Tony found out the perplexity of having a choice to
+make.  There were none which exactly fitted him; but a good fit is a
+luxury for richer folks than Tony, and he was not troubled about it.
+His chief anxiety was to look well in the eyes of Dolly's aunt, who
+might possibly let him see her on her way back to the station, if she
+approved of him; and who would not now be obliged to carry Dolly off
+with her, to be out of the way of his naked feet.
+
+He fixed upon a pair at last, urged and coaxed to them by the dealer.
+They were a good deal too large, and his feet slipped about in them
+uncomfortably; but the man assured him that was how everybody, even
+gentlefolks, bought them, to leave room for growing.  There was an
+awkward, uneven patch under one of the soles, and the other heel was
+worn down at the side; but at least they covered his feet well.  He
+shambled away in them slowly and toilsomely, hardly knowing how to
+lift one foot after another, yet full of pride in his new
+possessions.  It was a long way home to old Oliver's alley, between
+Holborn and the Strand; but he was in no hurry to arrive there before
+they had finished and cleared away their tea; so he travelled
+painfully in that direction, stopping now and then to regale himself
+at the attractive windows of tripe and cow-heel shops.  He watched
+the lamplighters kindling the lamps, and the shopkeepers lighting up
+their gas; and then he heard the great solemn clock of St. Paul's
+strike six.  Tea would be quite over now, and Tony turned down a
+narrow back street, which would prove a nearer way home than the
+thronged thoroughfares, and set off to run as fast as he could in his
+awkward and unaccustomed boots.
+
+It was not long before he came to a sudden and sharp fall off the
+kerb-stone, as he trod upon a bit of orange-peel, and slipped upon
+it.  He felt stunned for a few seconds, and sat still rubbing his
+forehead.  These back streets were very quiet, for the buildings were
+mostly offices and warehouses, and most of them were already closed
+for the night.  He lifted himself up at length, and set his foot upon
+the flags; but a shrill cry of pain broke from his lips, and rang
+loudly through the quiet street.  He fell back upon the pavement,
+quivering and trembling, with a chilly moisture breaking out upon his
+skin.  What hurt had been done to him?  How was it that he could not
+bear to walk?  He took off his new boots, and tried once more, but
+with no better success.  He could not endure the agony of standing or
+moving.
+
+Yet he must move; he must get up and walk.  If he did not go home,
+they would think he had run away again, for fear of meeting Dolly's
+aunt.  At that thought he set off to crawl homewards upon his hands
+and knees, with suppressed groans, as his foot trailed uselessly
+along the ground.  Yet he knew he could not advance very far in this
+manner.  What if he should have to lie all night upon the hard
+paving-stones! for he could not remember ever having seen a policeman
+in these back streets: and there did not seem to be anybody else
+likely to pass that way.  It was freezing fast, now the sun was gone
+down, and his hands scraped up the frosty mud as he dragged himself
+along.  If he stayed out all night, he must die of cold and pain
+before morning.
+
+But if that was true which old Oliver said so often, that the Lord
+Jesus Christ loved him, and that he was always with those whom he
+loved, then he was not alone and helpless even here, in the deserted
+street, with the ice and darkness of a winter's night about him.  Oh!
+if he could but feel the hand of Christ touching him, or hear the
+lowest whisper of his voice, or catch the dimmest sight of his face!
+Perhaps it was he who was helping him to crawl towards the stir and
+light of a more frequented street, which he could see afar off,
+though the pain he felt made him giddy and sick.  It became too much
+for him at last, however, and he drew himself into the shelter of a
+warehouse door, and crouched down in a corner, crying, with clasped
+hands, and sobbing voice, "Oh!  Lord Jesus Christ!  Lord Jesus
+Christ!"
+
+After uttering this cry Tony lay there for some minutes, his eyes
+growing glazed and his ears dull, when a footstep came briskly up the
+street, and some one, whom he could not now see for the strange
+dimness of his sight, stopped opposite to him, and then stooped to
+touch him on the arm.
+
+"Why," said a voice he seemed to know, "you're my young friend of the
+crossing,--my little fourpenny-bit, I call you.  What brings you
+sitting here this cold night?"
+
+"I've fell down and hurt myself," answered Tony, faintly.
+
+"Where?" asked the stranger.
+
+"My leg," he answered.
+
+The gentleman stooped down yet lower, and passed his hand gently
+along Tony's leg till he came to the place where his touch gave him
+the most acute pain.
+
+"Broken!" he said to himself.  "My boy, where's your home?"
+
+"I haven't got any right home," answered Tony, more faintly than
+before.  He felt a strange numbness creeping over him, and his lips
+were too parched and his tongue too heavy for speaking.  The
+gentleman took off his own great-coat and wrapped it well about him,
+placing him at the same time in a more comfortable position.  Then he
+ran quickly to the nearest street, hailed the first cab, and drove
+back to where Tony was lying.
+
+[Illustration: TONY'S ACCIDENT.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+IN HOSPITAL.
+
+The pain Tony was suffering kept him partially conscious of what was
+happening to him.  He knew that he was carried gently into a large
+hall, and that two or three persons came to look at him, to whom his
+new friend spoke in eager and rapid tones.
+
+"I know you do not take in accidents," he said; "but what could I do
+with the little fellow?  He told me he had no home, and that was all
+he could say.  You have two or three cots empty; and I'll double my
+subscription if it's necessary, rather than take him away.  Come,
+doctor, you'll admit my patient?"
+
+"I don't think I could send him away, Mr. Ross," answered another
+hearty voice.  "We must get him into bed as soon as possible."
+
+Tony felt himself carried up stairs into a large room, where there
+were a number of small beds, with a pale little face lying on every
+pillow.  There was a vacant cot at the end, and he was laid upon it,
+after having his tattered clothes taken off him.  His new boots were
+gone altogether, having been left behind on the steps of the
+warehouse.  His hands and knees, bruised with crawling along the
+frosty stones, were gently bathed with a soft sponge and warm water.
+He was surrounded by kind faces, looking pitifully down upon him, and
+the gentleman who had brought him there spoke to him in a very
+pleasant and cheering voice.
+
+"My boy," he said, "you have broken your leg in your fall; but the
+doctor here, who is a great friend of mine, is going to mend it for
+you.  It will give you a good deal of pain for a few minutes; but
+you'll bear it like a man, I know."
+
+"Yes," murmured Tony; "but will you let me go as soon as it's done?"
+
+"You could not do that," answered Mr. Ross, smiling.  "It will be
+some weeks before you will be well enough to go; but you will be very
+happy here, I promise you."
+
+"Oh! but I must go!" cried Tony, starting up, but falling back again
+with a groan.  "There's Dolly and Mr. Oliver,--they'll think I've run
+away again, and I were trying all I could to get back to 'em.  She'll
+be watching for me, and she'll fret ever so.  Oh!  Dolly, Dolly!"
+
+He spoke in a tone of so much grief, that the smile quite passed away
+from the face of Mr. Ross, and he laid his hand upon his, and
+answered him very earnestly:
+
+"If you will tell me where they live," he said, "I will go at once
+and let them know all about your accident; and they shall come to see
+you to-morrow, if you are well enough to see them."
+
+Tony gave him very minute and urgent directions where to find old
+Oliver's shop; and then he resigned himself, with the patience and
+fortitude of most of the little sufferers in that hospital, to the
+necessary pain he had to bear.
+
+It was Sunday afternoon when old Oliver and Dolly entered the hall of
+the Children's Hospital and inquired for Tony.  There was something
+about the old man's look of age and the little child's sweet face
+which found them favour, even in a place where everybody was received
+with kindness.  A nurse, who met them slowly climbing the broad
+staircase, turned back with them, taking Dolly's hand in hers, and
+led them up to the room where they would find Tony.  There were many
+windows in it, and the sunshine, which never shone into their own
+home, was lighting it up gaily.  The cots were all covered with white
+counterpanes, and most of the little patients, who had been asleep
+the night before, were now awake, and sitting up in bed, with little
+tables before them, which they could slide up and down as they wished
+along the sides of their cots.  There was no sign of medicine, and
+nothing painful to see, except the wan faces of the children
+themselves.  But Oliver and Dolly had no eyes but for Tony, and they
+hurried on to the corner where he was lying.  His face was very
+white, and his eyelids were closed, and his lips drawn in as if he
+were still in pain.  But at the very gentle and almost frightened
+touch of Dolly's fingers his eyes opened quickly, and then how his
+face changed!  It looked as if all the sunshine in the room had
+centred upon it, and his voice shook with gladness.
+
+"Dolly hasn't had to fret for Tony this time," he said.
+
+"But Dolly will fret till Tony gets well again," she answered,
+clasping both her small hands round his.
+
+"No, no!" said old Oliver; "Dolly's going to be a very good girl, and
+help grand-pa to mind shop till Tony comes home again."
+
+This promise of promotion partly satisfied Dolly, and she sat still
+upon Oliver's knee beside Tony's cot, where his eyes could rest with
+contentment and pleasure upon them both, though the nurse would not
+let them talk much.  When they went away she took them through the
+girls' wards in the story below; for the girls were more sumptuously
+lodged than the boys.  These rooms were very lofty, with windows
+reaching to the cornice of the ceiling, and with grand marble
+chimney-pieces about the fireplaces; for in former times, the nurse
+told them, this had been a gentleman's mansion, where gay parties and
+assemblies had been held; but never had there been such a party and
+assembly as the one now in it.
+
+Old Oliver walked down between the rows of cots, with his little love
+clinging shyly to his hand, smiling tenderly upon each poor little
+face turned to look at them.  Some of the children smiled back to
+him, and nodded cheerfully to Dolly, lifting up their dolls for her
+to see, and calling to her to listen to the pretty tunes their
+musical boxes were playing.  But others lay quietly upon their
+pillows half asleep, with beautiful pictures hanging over their
+feeble heads,--pictures of Christ tarrying a lamb in his arms; and
+again, of Christ with a little child upon his knee; and again, of
+Christ holding the hand of the young girl who seemed dead, but whose
+ear heard his voice saying "Arise!" and she came to life again in her
+father's and mother's house.  The tears stood in old Oliver's eyes,
+and his white head trembled a great deal before he had seen all, and
+given one of his tender glances to each child.
+
+"I wonder whatever the Lord 'ud have said," he exclaimed, "if there'd
+been such a place as this in his days!  He'd have come here very
+often.  He does come, I know, and walks to and fro here of nights
+when the little ones are asleep, or may be awake through pain, and he
+blesses every one of them.  Ah, bless them!  Bless the little
+children, and the good folks who keep a place like this.  Bless them
+everyone!"
+
+He felt reluctant to go away; but his time was gone, and the nurse
+was needed elsewhere.  She kissed Dolly before she went, putting a
+biscuit in her hand, and told Oliver the house was open every Sunday
+afternoon for the friends of the children, if he chose to come again;
+and then they walked home with slow, short footsteps, and all the
+Sunday evening they talked together of the beautiful place they had
+seen, and how happy Tony would be in the Children's Hospital.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+TONY'S FUTURE PROSPECTS.
+
+Old Oliver and Dolly made several visits to Tony while he was in the
+hospital.  Every Sunday afternoon they went back to it, until its
+great door, and wide staircase, and sunny ward, became almost as
+familiar to them as their own dull little house.  Tony recovered
+quickly, yet he was there some weeks before the doctor pronounced him
+strong enough to turn out again to rough it in the world.  As he grew
+better he learned a number of things which were making him a wiser,
+as well as a stronger boy, before the time came for him to leave.
+
+The day before he was to go out of hospital, his friend, Mr. Ross,
+who had been often to see him, called for the last time, and found
+him in the room where the little patients who were nearly well were
+at play together.  Some of them were making believe to have a feast,
+with a small dinner-service of wooden plates and dishes, and a few
+bits of orange-peel, and biscuits; but Tony was sitting quietly and
+gravely on one side, looking on from a distance.  He had never
+learned to play.
+
+"Antony," said Mr. Ross--he was the only person who ever called him
+Antony, and it seemed to make more of a man of him--"what are you
+thinking to do when you leave here to-morrow?"
+
+"I s'pose I must go back to my crossing," answered Tony, looking very
+grave.
+
+"No, I think I can do better for you than that," said his friend, "I
+have a sister living out in the country, about fifty miles from
+London; and she wants a boy to help the gardener, and run on errands
+for the house.  She has promised to provide you with a home, and
+clothing, and to send you to school for two years, till you are about
+twelve, for we think you must be about ten years old now; and after
+that you shall have settled wages."
+
+Tony listened with a quick throbbing of his heart and a contraction
+in his throat, which hindered him from speaking all at once when Mr.
+Ross had finished.  What a grand thing it would be for himself!  But
+then there were old Oliver and Dolly to be remembered.
+
+"It 'ud do first-rate for me," he said at last, "and I'd try my best
+to help in the garden: but I couldn't never leave Mr. Oliver and the
+little girl.  She'd fret ever so; and he's gone so forgetful he'd
+lose his own head, if he could anyhow.  Why! of a morning they sell
+him any papers as they've too many of.  Sometimes it's all the
+'Star,' and sometimes it's all the 'Standard;' and them as buys one
+won't have the other.  I don't know why, I'm sure.  But you see when
+I go for 'em I say twenty-five this, and thirteen that, and I count
+'em over pretty sharp, I can tell you; though I couldn't read at all
+afore I came here, but I could tell which was which easy enough.
+Then he'd never think to open his shop some mornings; and other
+mornings he'd open at four or five o'clock, just when he woke of
+hisself.  No.  I must stay and take care of 'em a bit; but thank you,
+sir, all the same."
+
+He had spoken so gravely and thoughtfully that his reasons went
+directly to the heart of Mr. Ross; but he asked him one more
+question, before he could let his good plan for the boy drop.
+
+"What has he done for you, Antony?  Is he any relation of yours?"
+
+"No, no!" cried Tony, his eyes growing bright, "I haven't got any
+relation in all the world; but he took me in out of love, and let me
+sleep comfortable under the counter, instead of in the streets.  I
+love him, and Dolly, I do.  I'll stay by 'em as long as ever I live,
+if I have to sweep a crossing till I'm an old man like him.  Besides,
+I hear him speak a good word for me often and often to his Master;
+and I s'pose nobody else 'ud do that."
+
+"What master?" inquired Mr. Ross..
+
+"Him," answered Tony, pointing to a picture of the Saviour blessing
+young children, "he's always talking to him as if he could see him,
+and he tells him everythink.  No, it 'ud be better for me to stay
+with him and Dolly, and keep hard by my crossing, than go away from
+'em, and have clothes, and lodging, and schooling for nothink."
+
+"I think it would," said Mr. Ross, "so you must go on as you are,
+Antony, till I can find you something better than a crossing.  You
+are looking very well, my boy; that's a nice, warm suit of clothes
+you have on, better than the rags you came in by a long way."
+
+It was a sailor's suit, sent to the hospital by some mother, whose
+boy had perhaps outgrown it; or, it may be, whose boy had been taken
+away from all her tender care for him.  It was of good, rough, thick
+blue cloth, and fitted Tony well.  He had grown a good deal during
+his illness, and his face had become whiter and more refined; his
+hair, too, was cut to a proper length, and parted down the side, no
+longer lying about his head in a tangled mass.  He coloured up with
+pleasure as Mr. Ross looked approvingly at him.
+
+"They've lent it me till I go out," he said, with a tone slightly
+regretful in his voice, "I only wish Dolly could have seen me in it,
+and her aunt Charlotte.  My own things were too ragged for me to wear
+'em in a place like this."
+
+"They've given it to you, Antony," replied Mr. Ross, "those are the
+clothes you will go home in to-morrow."
+
+It seemed too much for Tony to believe, though a nurse who was
+sitting by and sewing away busily, told him it was quite true.  He
+was intensely happy all the rest of the day, often standing up, and
+almost straining his neck to get a satisfactory view of his own back,
+and stroking the nap of his blue trousers with a fondling touch.
+They would all see him in it; old Oliver, Dolly, and aunt Charlotte.
+There would be no question now as to his fitness for taking Dolly out
+for a walk; he would be dressed well enough to attend upon a
+princess.  This made famous amends for the pair of old boots he had
+lost the night he broke his leg; a loss he had often silently
+lamented over in his own mind.  The nurse told him she was patching
+up his old clothes, and making him a cap, to wear when he was at work
+on his crossing, for the new ones were much too good for that; and
+Tony felt as rich as if a large fortune had been left to him.
+
+It was a very joyful thing to go home again.  Dolly was a little shy
+at first of this new Tony, so different from the poor, ragged,
+wild-looking old Tony; but a very short time was enough to make her
+familiar with his nice blue suit, and the anchor-buttons upon it.  He
+found his place under the counter all nicely papered to keep the
+draughts out; and a little chaff mattress, made by aunt Charlotte,
+laid down instead of the shavings upon the floor.  It was even
+pleasanter to be here than in the hospital.
+
+But Tony found it hard work to go back to his crossing in the
+morning; and he could not make out what was the matter with himself,
+he felt so cross and idle.  His old clothes seemed really such horrid
+rags that he could scarcely bear to feel them about him; and if any
+passer-by looked closely at him, he went red and hot all over.  He
+was not so successful as he thought he had been before his accident,
+or as he thought he ought to be; for the roads were getting cleaner
+with the drier weather, and few persons considered it necessary to
+give him a copper for his almost needless labour.  Worst of
+all,--Clever Dog Tom found him out, and would come often to see him;
+sometimes jeering him for his poor spirit in being content with such
+low work, and sometimes boasting of the fine things he could do, and
+displaying the fine clothes he could wear.  It was truly very hard
+work for Tony, after his long holiday at the hospital, where he had
+had as much luxury and attention as a rich man's son.
+
+But at home in the evening Tony felt all right again.  Old Oliver set
+him to learn to read and write, and he was making rapid progress,
+more rapid than Dolly, who began at the same time, but who was apt to
+look upon it all as only another kind of game, of which she grew more
+quickly tired than of hide-and-seek.  There was no one to check her,
+or to make her understand it was real, serious work: neither old
+Oliver nor Tony could find any fault with their darling.  Now and
+then there came letters from her mother, full of anxious questions
+about her, and loving messages to her, telling her to be a good girl
+till she came back, but never saying a word as to when there was any
+chance of her returning to England.  In one of these letters she sent
+word that a little sister was come for her out in India, who was just
+like what Dolly herself had been when she was a baby; but neither
+Oliver nor Tony could quite believe that.  There never had been such
+a child as Dolly; there never would be again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A BUD FADING.
+
+A second summer went by with its long, hot days, when the sun seemed
+to stand still in the sky, and to dart down its most sultry beams
+into the dustiest and closest streets.  Out in the parks, and in the
+broad thoroughfares where the fresh breeze could sweep along early in
+the morning, and in the evening as soon as the air grew cooler, it
+was very pleasant weather; and the people who could put on light
+summer dresses enjoyed it very much.  But away among the
+thickly-built and crowded houses, where there were thousands of
+persons breathing over and over again the same hot and stagnant
+atmosphere, it seemed as if the most delicate and weakly among them
+must be suffocated by the breathless heat.  Old Oliver suffered very
+greatly, but he said nothing about it; indeed he generally forgot the
+cause of his languor and feebleness.  He never knew now the day of
+the week, nor the month of the year.  If any one had told him in the
+dog-days of July that it was still April, he would only have answered
+gently that it was bright, warm weather for the time of year.
+
+But about old times his memory was good enough; he could tell long
+stories of his boyhood, and describe the hills of his native place in
+such a manner as to set Tony full of longings after the country, with
+its corn-fields, and meadows, and hedge-rows, which he had never
+seen.  He remembered his Bible, too, and could repeat chapter after
+chapter describing his Master's life, as they sat together in the
+perpetual twilight of their room; for now that it was summer-time it
+did not seem right to keep the gas burning.
+
+Tony's crossing had failed him altogether, for in dry weather nobody
+wanted it; but in this extremity Mr. Ross came to his aid, and
+procured him a place as errand-boy, where he was wanted from eight
+o'clock in the morning till seven at night; so that he could still
+open old Oliver's shop, and fetch him his right papers before he went
+out, and put the shutters up when he came back.  To become an
+errand-boy was a good step forwards, and Tony was more than content.
+He never ran about bare-headed and bare-footed now as he had done
+twelve months before; and he had made such good progress in reading
+and writing that he could already make out the directions upon the
+parcels he had to deliver, after they had been once read over to him.
+He did not object to the dry weather and clean streets as he had done
+when his living depended upon his crossing; on the contrary, he
+enjoyed the sunshine, and the crowds of gaily-dressed people, for he
+could hold up his head amongst them, and no longer went prowling
+about in the gutters searching after bits of orange-peel.  He kicked
+them into the gutters instead, mindful of that accident which had
+befallen him, but which turned out so full of good for him.
+
+[Illustration: DOLLY'S MONTHLY REGISTER.]
+
+But, if there had been any eye to see it, a very slow, and very sad
+change was creeping over Dolly; so slowly indeed, that perhaps none
+but her mother's eye could have seen it at first.  On the first of
+every month, which old Oliver knew by the magazines coming in, he
+marked how much his little love had grown by placing her against the
+side-post of the door, and making a thick pencil line where her curly
+head reached to.  He looked at this record often, smiling at the rate
+his little woman was growing taller; but it was really no wonder that
+his dim eyes, loving as they were, never saw how the rosy colour was
+dying away out of her cheeks, as gradually as the red glow fades away
+in the west after the sun has set, nor how the light grew fainter and
+fainter in her blue eyes, until they looked at him very heavily from
+under her drooping eyelids.  The house was too dark for any sight to
+see very clearly; the full, strong, healthy light of the sun, could
+not find its way into it, and day after day Dolly became more like
+one of those plants growing in shady places, which live and shoot up,
+but only put out pale and sickly leaves, and feeble buds.  One by
+one, and by little and little, with degrees as small as her own tiny
+footsteps, she lost all her merry ways, dropping them, here one and
+there another, upon the path she was silently treading; as little
+children let fall the flowers they have gathered in the meadows,
+along their road homewards.  Yet all the time old Oliver was loving
+and cherishing her as the dearest of all treasures, second only to
+the Master whom he loved so fully; but he never discovered that there
+was any change in her.  Dolly fell into very quiet ways, and would
+sit still for hours together, her arm around Beppo, and her sweet,
+patient little face, which was growing thin and hollow, turned
+towards the flickering light of the fire, while Oliver pottered
+toilsomely about his house, forgetting many things, but always ready
+with a smile and a fond word for his grand-daughter.
+
+Just as Oliver was too old to feel any anxiety about Dolly, so Tony
+was too young, and knew too little of sickness and death.  Moreover,
+when he came home in the evening, full of the business of the day,
+with a number of stories to tell of what had happened to him, and
+what he had seen, Dolly was always more lively, and had a feverish
+colour on her face, and a brilliant light in her eyes.  He seemed to
+bring life and strength with him, and she liked him to nurse her on
+his knee, which did not grow tired and stiff like her grandfather's.
+How should Tony detect anything amiss with her?  She never complained
+of feeling any pain, and he was glad for her to be very quiet and
+still while he was busy with his lessons.
+
+But when the summer was ended, and after the damp warm fogs of
+November were over, and a keen, black frost set in sharply before
+Christmas--a frost which had none of the beauty of white rime and
+clear blue skies, but which hung over the city like a pall, and
+penetrated to every fireside with an icy breath; when only the strong
+and the healthy, who were well clothed and well fed, could meet it
+bravely, while the delicate, and sickly, and poverty-stricken, shrank
+before it, and were chilled through and through, then Dolly drooped
+and failed altogether.  Even old Oliver's dull ears began to hear a
+little cough, which seemed to echo from some grave not very far away;
+and when he drew his little love between his knees, and put on his
+spectacles to gaze into her face, the dearest face in all the world
+to him, even his eyes saw something of its wanness, and the hollow
+lines which had come upon it since the summer had passed away.  The
+old man felt troubled about her, yet he scarcely knew what to do.  He
+bought sweetmeats to soothe her cough, and thought sometimes that he
+must ask somebody or other about a doctor for her; but his
+treacherous memory always let the thought slip out of his mind.  He
+intended to take counsel with his sister when she came to see him;
+but aunt Charlotte was herself very ill with an attack of rheumatism,
+and could not get up to old Oliver's house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+A VERY DARK SHADOW.
+
+The Christmas week passed by, and the new year came in, cold and
+bleak, but Tony was well secured against the weather, and liked the
+frosty air, which made it pleasant to run as fast as he could from
+place to place as he delivered his parcels.  When boxing day came,
+which was half-holiday for him, he returned to the house at mid-day,
+carrying with him three mince-pies, which he had felt himself rich
+enough to buy in honour of the holiday.  He had for a long time been
+reckoning upon shutting up shop for the whole afternoon, and upon
+going out for a long stroll through the streets with old Oliver and
+Dolly; and now that the hour was positively come he felt very
+light-hearted and full of spirits, defying the wind which wrestled
+with him at every turn.  Dolly must be wrapped up well, he said to
+himself, and old Oliver must put on his drab great coat, with mother
+o' pearl buttons, which he had brought up from the country forty
+years ago, and which was still good for keeping out the cold.  He ran
+down the alley, and passed through the shop whistling cheerily, and
+disdaining to lift the flap of the counter, he took a running vault
+over it, and landed at once inside the open kitchen-door.
+
+But there was old Oliver sitting close to the fire, with Dolly on his
+knee, and her little head lying upon his breast, while the tears
+trickled slowly down his furrowed cheeks on to her pretty curls.
+Beppo was standing between his legs, licking Dolly's small hand,
+which hung languidly by her side.  Her eyelids were closed, and her
+face was deadly white; but when Tony uttered a great cry of trouble,
+and fell on his knees before her, she opened her heavy eyes, and
+stretched out her cold thin hand to stroke his cheeks.  "Dolly's so
+very ill, Tony," she murmured, "poor Dolly's very ill indeed."
+
+"I don't know whatever is the matter with my little love," said the
+old man, in a low and trembling voice; "she fell down all of a
+sudden, and I thought she was dead, Tony; but she's coming round
+again now.  Isn't my little love better now?"
+
+"Yes, gan-pa, yes; Dolly's better," she answered faintly.
+
+"Let me hold her, master," said Tony, his heart beating fast; "I can
+hold her stronger and more comfortable, maybe, than you.  You're
+tired ever so, and you'd better get yourself a bit of dinner.  Shall
+Tony nurse you now, Dolly?"
+
+The little girl raised her arms to him, and Tony took her gently into
+his own, sitting down upon the old box in the chimney-corner, and
+putting her to nestle comfortably against him.  Dolly closed her eyes
+again, and by-and-bye he knew that she had fallen into a light sleep,
+while old Oliver moved noiselessly to and fro, only now and then
+saying half aloud, in a tone of strange earnestness and entreaty,
+"Lord! dear Lord!"
+
+After awhile the old man came and bent over them both, taking Dolly's
+arm softly between his withered fingers, and looking down at it with
+a shaking head.
+
+"She's very thin, Tony; look at this little arm," he said, "wasting
+away! wasting away!  I've watched all my little ones waste away
+except my poor Susan.  Couldn't there anything be done to save her?"
+
+"Ay!" answered Tony, in an energetic whisper, while he clasped Dolly
+a little tighter in his arms; "ay! they could cure her easily at the
+hospital.  Bless yer! there were little 'uns ten times worse than her
+as they sent home cured.  Let us take her there as soon as ever she
+wakes up, and she'll be quite well directly, I promise you.  The
+doctor knows me, and I'll speak to Mr. Ross for her.  Do you get a
+bit of dinner, and hearten yourself up for it; and we'll set off as
+soon as she's awake."
+
+Old Oliver turned away comforted, and prepared his own and Tony's
+dinner, and put a mince-pie into the oven to be ready to tempt
+Dolly's appetite when she awoke.  But she slept heavily all the
+afternoon till it was almost dark outside, and the lamps were being
+lit, when she awoke, restless and feverish.
+
+"Would Dolly like to go to that nice place, where the little girls
+had the dolls and the music?" asked Tony, in a quavering voice which
+he could scarcely keep from sobs; "the good place where Tony got well
+again, and they gave him his new clothes?  Everybody 'ud be so wery
+kind to poor little Dolly, and she'd come home again, quite cured and
+strong, like Tony was."
+
+"Yes, yes!" cried, Dolly, eagerly, raising herself up in his arms;
+"it's a nice place, and the sun shines, and Dolly 'ud like to go.
+Only she'll be sure to come back to gan-pa."
+
+It was some time yet before they were quite ready to start, though
+Dolly could not be coaxed to eat the hot mince-pie, or anything else.
+Old Oliver had to get himself into his drab overcoat, and the ailing
+child had to be protected in the best way they could against the
+searching wind.  After they had put on all her own warmest clothing,
+Tony wrapped his own thick blue jacket about her, and lifting her
+very tenderly in his arms, they turned out into the streets, closely
+followed by Beppo.
+
+It was now quite night, but the streets were well lighted from the
+shop windows, and throngs of people were hurrying hither and thither;
+for it was boxing-night, and all the lower classes of the inhabitants
+were taking holiday.  But old Oliver saw and heard nothing of the
+crowd.  He walked on by Tony's side; with feeble and tottering steps,
+deaf and blind, but whispering all the while, with trembling lips, to
+One whom no one else could see or hear.  Once or twice Tony saw a
+solemn smile flit across his face, and he nodded his head and raised
+his hand, as one who gives his assent to what is said to him.  So
+they passed on through the noisy streets till they reached quieter
+ones, were there were neither shops nor many passers-by, and there
+they found the home where they were going to leave their treasure for
+a time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+NO ROOM FOR DOLLY.
+
+Old Oliver rang the house-bell very quietly, for Dolly seemed to be
+asleep again, and lay quite still in Tony's arms, which were growing
+stiff, and benumbed by the cold.  The door was opened by a porter,
+whose face was strange to them both, for he had only come in for the
+day while the usual one took holiday.  Old Oliver presented himself
+in front, and pointed at his little grandchild as Tony held her in
+his arms while he spoke to the porter in a voice which trembled
+greatly.
+
+"We've brought you our little girl, who is very ill," he said, "but
+she'll soon get well in here, I know.  I'd like to see the doctor,
+and tell him all about her."
+
+"We're quite full," answered the porter, filling up the doorway.
+
+"Full?" repeated old Oliver, in a tone of questioning.
+
+"Ay! all our cots are full," he replied, "chockfull.  There ain't no
+more room.  We've turned two or three away this morning, when they
+came at the right time.  This isn't the right time to bring any child
+here."
+
+"But my little love is very ill," continued old Oliver; "this is the
+right place, isn't it?  The place where they nurse little children
+who are ill?"
+
+"It's all right," said the porter, "it's the right place enough, only
+it's brimful, and running over, as you may say.  We couldn't take in
+one more, if it was ever so.  But you may come in and sit down in the
+hall for a minute or two, while I fetch one of the ladies."
+
+Old Oliver and Tony entered, and sat down upon a bench inside.  There
+was the broad staircase, with its shallow steps, which Dolly's tiny
+feet had climbed so easily, and it led up to the warm, pleasant
+nurseries, where little children were already falling asleep, almost
+painlessly, in their cosy cots.  Tony could not believe that there
+was not room for their darling, who had been so willing to come to
+the place she knew so well, yet a sob broke from his lips, which
+disturbed Dolly in her sleep, for she moaned once or twice, and
+stirred uneasily in his arms.  The old man leaned his hands upon the
+top of his stick, and rested his white head upon them, until they
+heard light footsteps, and the rustling of a dress, and they saw a
+lady coming down stairs to them.
+
+"I think there's some mistake here, ma'am," said Oliver, his eye
+wandering absently about the large entrance-hall; "this is the
+Hospital for Sick Children, I think, and I've brought my little
+grandchild here, who is very ill indeed, yet the man at the door says
+there's no room for her.  I think it must be a mistake."
+
+"No," said the lady; "I am sorry to say it is no mistake.  We are
+quite full; there is not room for even one more.  Indeed, we have
+been obliged to send cases away before to-day.  Who is your
+recommendation from?"
+
+"I didn't know you'd want any recommendation," answered old Oliver,
+very mournfully; "she's very ill, and you could cure her here, and
+take better care of her than Tony and me, and I thought that was
+enough.  I never thought of getting any recommendation, and I don't
+know where I could get one."
+
+"Mr. Ross 'ud give us one," said Tony, eagerly.
+
+"Yet even then," answered the lady, "we could not take her in until
+some of the cots are empty."
+
+"You don't know me," interrupted Tony, eagerly; "but Mr. Ross brought
+me here, a year ago now, and they cured me, and set me up stronger
+than ever.  They was so wery kind to me, that I couldn't think of
+anythink else save bringing our little girl to 'em.  I'm sure they'd
+take her in, if they only knew it was her.  You jest say as it's Tony
+and Dolly, as everybody took such notice of, and they'll never turn
+her away, I'm sure."
+
+"I wish we could take her," said the lady, with tears in her eyes;
+"but it is impossible.  We should be obliged to turn some other child
+out, and that could not be done to-night.  You had better bring her
+again in the morning, and we'll see if there is any one well enough
+to make room for her.  Let me look at the poor child for a minute."
+
+She lifted up the collar of Tony's bluejacket, which covered Dolly's
+face, and looked down at it pitifully.  It was quite white now, and
+was pinched and hollow, with large blue eyes shining too brightly.
+She stretched out her arms to the lady, and made a great effort to
+smile.
+
+"Put Dolly into a pretty bed," she murmured, "where the sun shines,
+and she'll soon get well and go home again to gan-pa."
+
+"What can I do?" cried the lady, the tears now running down her face.
+"The place is quite full; we cannot take in one more, not one.  Bring
+her here again in the morning, and we will see what can be done."
+
+"How many children have you got here?" asked old Oliver.
+
+"We have only seventy-five cots," she answered, sobbing; "and in a
+winter like this they're always full."
+
+"Only seventy-five!" repeated the old man, very sorrowfully.  "Only
+seventy-five, and there are hundreds and hundreds of little children
+ill in London!  They are ill in houses like mine, where the sun never
+shines.  Is there no other place like this we could take our little
+love to?"
+
+"There are two or three other Hospitals," she answered, "but they are
+a long way off, and none of them as large as ours.  They are sure to
+be full just now.  I think there are not more than a hundred and
+fifty cots in all London for sick children."
+
+"Then there's no room for my Dolly?" he said.
+
+The lady shook her head without speaking, for she had her
+handkerchief up to her face.
+
+"Eh!" cried old Oliver in a wailing voice, "I don't know whatever the
+dear Lord 'ill say to that."
+
+He made a sign to Tony that they must be going home again; and the
+boy raised himself up with a strange weight and burden upon his
+heart.  Old Oliver put his stick down, and took Dolly into his own
+arms, and laid her head down on his breast.
+
+[Illustration: NO ROOM FOR DOLLY.]
+
+"Let me carry her a little way, Tony," he said.  "She's as light as a
+feather, even to poor old grandpa.  I'd like to carry my little love
+a bit of the way home."
+
+"I'll tell you what I can do," said the lady, wrapping Dolly up and
+kissing her before she covered her pale face, "if you will tell me
+where you live I will speak to the doctor as soon as he comes in--for
+he is out just now--and perhaps he will come to see her.  He knows a
+great deal about children, and is fond of them."
+
+"Thank you, thank you kindly, ma'am," answered old Oliver, feeling a
+little comforted.  But when they stood outside, and the bleak wind
+blew about them, and he could see the soft glimmer of the light in
+the windows, within which other children were safely sheltered and
+carefully tended, his spirit sank again.  He tottered now and then
+under his light burden; but he could not be persuaded to give up his
+little child to Tony again.  These streets were quiet, with handsome
+houses on each side, and from one and another there came bursts of
+music and laughter as they passed by; yet Tony could catch most of
+the words which the old man was speaking.
+
+"Dear Lord," he said, "there's only room for seventy-five of thy
+little lambs that are pining and wasting away in every dark street
+and alley like mine.  Whatever can thy people be thinking about?
+They've got their own dear little children, who are ill sometimes,
+spite of all their care; and they can send for the doctor, and do all
+that's possible, never looking at the money it costs; but when they
+are well again they never think of the poor little ones who are sick
+and dying, with nobody to help them or care for them as I care for
+this little one.  Oh, Lord, Lord! let my little love live!  Yet thou
+knows what is best, and thou'lt do what is best.  Thou loves her more
+than I do; and see, Lord, she is very ill indeed."
+
+They reached home at last, after a weary and heartbroken journey, and
+carried Dolly in and laid her upon old Oliver's bed.  She was wide
+awake now, and looked very peaceful, smiling quietly into both their
+faces as they bent over her.  Tony gazed deep down into her eyes, and
+met a glance from them which sent a strange tremor through him.  He
+crept silently away, and stole into his dark bed under the counter,
+where he stretched himself upon his face, and buried his mouth in the
+chaff pillow to choke his sobs.  What was going to happen to Dolly?
+What could it be that made him afraid of looking again into her
+patient and tranquil little face?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE GOLDEN CITY.
+
+Tony lay there in the dark, overwhelmed by his unusual terror and
+sorrow, until he heard the voice of old Oliver calling his name
+feebly.  He hurried to him, and found him still beside the bed where
+Dolly was lying.  He had taken off most of her clothes, and put her
+white nightgown over the rest, that she might sleep warmly in them
+all the night, for her little hands and feet felt very chilly to his
+touch.  The fire had gone out while they were away, and the grate
+looked very black and cheerless, The room was in great disorder, just
+as they had left it, and the gas, which was burning high, cast a
+cruel glare upon it all.  But Tony saw nothing except the clear face
+of Dolly, resting on one cheek upon the pillow, with her curly hair
+tossed about it in confusion, and her open eyes gathering a strange
+film.  Beppo had made his way to her side, and pushed his head under
+her lifeless little hand, which tried to pat it now and then.  Old
+Oliver was sitting on the bedstead, his eyes fastened upon her, and
+his whole body trembled violently.  Tony sank down upon his knees,
+and flung his arm over Dolly, as if to save he?  from the unseen
+power which threatened to take her away from them.
+
+"Don't ky, gan-pa," she said, softly; "don't ky more than a minute.
+Nor Tony.  Are I going to die, gan-pa?"
+
+"Yes, my little love," cried old Oliver, moaning as he said it.
+
+"Where are I going to?" asked Dolly, very faintly.
+
+"You're going to see my Lord and Master," he said; "him as loves
+little children so, and carries them in his arms, and never lets them
+be sorrowful or ill or die again."
+
+"Does he live in a bootiful place?" she asked, again.
+
+"It's a more beautiful place than I can tell," answered old Oliver.
+"The Lord Jesus gives them light brighter than the sun; and the
+streets are all of gold, and there are many little children there,
+who always see the face of their Father."
+
+"Dolly's going rere," said the little child, solemnly.
+
+She smiled for a minute or two, holding Beppo's ear between her
+failing fingers, and playing with it.  Tony's eyes were dim with
+tears, yet he could see her dear face clearly through them.  What
+could he do?  Was there no one to help?
+
+"Master, master!" he cried.  "If the Lord Jesus is here he can save
+her.  Ask him, master."
+
+But old Oliver paid no heed to him.  For the child who was passing
+away from him he was all eye and ear, watching and listening as
+keenly as in his best and strongest days; but he was blind and deaf
+to everything else around him.  Tony's voice could not reach his
+brain.
+
+"Will gan-pa come rere?" whispered the failing and faltering voice of
+Dolly.
+
+"Very soon," he answered; a radiant smile coming to his face, which
+made her smile as her eyes caught the glory of it.  "Very, very soon,
+my little love.  You'll be there to meet me when I come."
+
+"Dolly 'll watch for gan-pa," she murmured, with long pauses between
+the words, which seemed to drop one by one upon Tony's ear; "and
+Dolly 'll watch at the door for Tony to come home; and she'll fret
+ever so if he never comes."
+
+Tony felt her stir restlessly under his arm, and stretch her tiny
+limbs upon the bed as if she were very tired, and the languid eyelids
+drooped slowly till they quite hid her blue eyes, and she sighed
+softly as children sigh when they fall asleep, weary of their play.
+Old Oliver laid his shaking hand tenderly upon her head.
+
+"Dear Lord!" he said, "take my little love to thyself.  I give her up
+to thee."
+
+It seemed to Tony as if a thick mist of darkness fell all about him,
+and as if he were sinking down, down, very low into some horrible pit
+where he would never see the light of day again.  But by-and-bye he
+came to himself, and found old Oliver sobbing in short, heavy sobs,
+and swaying himself to and fro, while Beppo was licking Dolly's hand,
+and barking with a sharp, quiet bark, as he had been wont to do when
+he wanted her to play with him.  The child's small features were
+quite still, but there was an awful smile upon them such as there had
+never been before, and Tony could not bear to look upon it.  He
+crossed her tiny hands lightly over one another upon her breast, and
+then he lifted Beppo away gently, and drew the bed-clothes about her,
+so as to hide her smiling face.
+
+"Master," he cried, "master, is she gone?"
+
+Old Oliver only answered by a deep moan; and Tony put his arm about
+him, and raised him up.
+
+"Come to your own chair, master," he said.
+
+He yielded to Tony like a child, and seated himself in the chair,
+where he had so often sat and watched Dolly while he smoked his pipe.
+The boy put his pipe between his fingers; but he only let it fall to
+the ground, where it broke into many pieces.  Tony did not know what
+to do, nor where to go for any help.
+
+"Lord," he said, "if you really love the old master, do something for
+him; for I don't know whatever to do, now little Dolly's gone."
+
+He sat down on his old box, staring at Oliver and the motionless form
+on the bed, with a feeling of despair tugging at his heart.  He could
+scarcely believe it was all true; for it was not very long
+since--only it seemed like long years--since he had leaped over the
+counter in his light-heartedness.  But he had not sat there many
+minutes before he heard a distinct, rather loud knock at the
+shop-door, and he ran hastily to ask who was there.
+
+"Antony," said a voice he knew very well, "I have come with the
+doctor, to see what we can do for your little girl."
+
+In an instant Tony opened the door, and as Mr. Ross entered the boy
+flung his arms round him, and hid his face against him, sobbing
+bitterly.
+
+"Oh! you've come too late," he cried, "you've come too late!  Dolly's
+dead, and I'm afraid the master's going away from me as well.  They
+couldn't take her in, and she died after we had brought her home."
+
+The doctor and Mr. Ross went on into the inner room, and Tony pointed
+silently to the bed where Dolly lay.  Old Oliver roused himself at
+the sound of strange voices, and, leaning upon Tony's shoulder, he
+staggered to the bedside, and drew the clothes away from her dear,
+smiling face.
+
+"I don't murmur," he said.  "My dear Lord can't do anything unkind.
+He'll come and speak to me presently, and comfort me; but just now
+I'm deaf and blind, even to him.  I've not forgot him, and he hasn't
+forgot me; but there's a many things ought to be done, and I cannot
+think what."
+
+"Leave it all to us," said Mr. Ross, leading him back to his chair.
+"But have you no neighbour you can go and stay with for to-night?
+You are an old man, and you must not lose your night's sleep."
+
+"No," he answered, shaking his head; "I'd rather stay here in my own
+place, if I'd a hundred other places to go to.  I'm not afraid of my
+little love,--no, no!  When everything is done as ought to be done,
+I'll lie in my own bed and watch her.  It won't be lonesome, as long
+as she's here."
+
+In an hour's time all was settled for that night.  A little
+resting-place had been made for the dead child in a corner of the
+room, where she lay covered with a coarse white sheet, which was the
+last one left of those which old Oliver's wife had spun in her
+girlhood.  The old man had given his promise to go to bed when Mr.
+Ross and the doctor were gone; and he slept lightly, his face turned
+towards the place where his little love was sleeping.  A faint light
+burnt all night in the room, and Tony, who could not fall asleep, sat
+in the chimney-corner, with Beppo upon his knees.  There was an
+unutterable, quiet sorrow within him, mingled with a strange awe.
+That little child, who had played with him, and kissed him only a day
+since, was already gone into the unseen world, which was so very near
+to him now, though it had seemed so very far away and so empty
+before.  It must be very near, since she had gone to it so quickly;
+and it was no longer empty, for Dolly was there; and she had said she
+would watch at the door till he came home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+A FRESH DAY DAWNS.
+
+Old Oliver and Tony saw their darling buried in a little grave in a
+cemetery miles away from their own home, and then they returned,
+desolate and bereaved, to the deserted city, which seemed empty
+indeed to them.  The house had never looked so very dark and dreary
+before.  Yet from time to time old Oliver forgot that Dolly was gone
+altogether, and could never come back; for he would call her in his
+eager, quavering tones, or search for her in some of the
+hiding-places, where she had often played at hide-and-seek with him.
+When meal-times came round he would put out Dolly's plate and cup,
+which had been bought on purpose for her, with gay flowers painted
+upon them; and in the evening, over his pipe, when he had been used
+to talk to his Lord, he now very often said nothing but repeat again
+and again Dolly's little prayer, which he had himself taught her,
+"Gentle Jesus, meek and mild."  It was quite plain to Tony that it
+would never do to leave him alone in his house and shop.
+
+"I've give up my place as errand-boy," he said to Mr. Ross, "'cause
+the old master grows worse and worse for forgetting, and I must mind
+shop for him now as well as I can.  He's not off his head, as you may
+say; he's sharp enough sometimes; but there's no trusting to him
+being sharp always.  He talks to Dolly as if she was here, and could
+hear him, till I can't hardly bear it.  But I'm very fond of
+him,--fonder of him than anythink else, 'cept my little Dolly; and
+I've made up my mind as his Master shall be my master, and he's
+always ready to tell me all he knows about him.  I'm no ways afeared
+of not getting along."
+
+Tony found that they got along very well.  Mr. Ross made a point of
+going in to visit them every week, and of seeing how the business
+prospered in the boy's hands; and he put as much as he could in his
+way.  Sad and sorrowful as the days were, they passed over, one after
+another, bringing with them at least the habit of living without
+Dolly.  Every Sunday afternoon, however, old Oliver and Tony walked
+slowly through the streets, for the old man could only creep along
+with Tony's help, till they reached the Children's Hospital; but they
+never passed the door, nor entered in through it.  Old Oliver would
+stand for a few minutes leaning heavily on Tony's shoulder, and
+trembling from head to foot, as his eyes wandered over all the front
+of the building; and then a low, wailing cry would break from his
+lips, "Dear Lord! there was no room for my little love, but thou hast
+found room for her!"
+
+It was a reopening of Tony's sorrow when aunt Charlotte came up from
+the country to find that the little child had gone away altogether,
+leaving only her tiny frocks and clothes, which were neatly folded up
+in a drawer, where old Oliver treasured up a keepsake or two of his
+wife's.  She discovered, too, that old Oliver had forgotten to write
+to Susan,--indeed, his hand had become too trembling to hold a
+pen,--and she wrote herself; but her letter did not reach Calcutta
+before Susan and her husband had left it, being homeward bound.
+
+It was as nearly two years as it could well be since the summer
+evening when Susan Raleigh had sent her little girl into old Oliver's
+shop, bidding her be a good girl till she came home, and thinking it
+would be only three days before she saw her again.  It was nearly two
+years, and an evening something like it, when the door was darkened
+by the entrance of a tall, fine-looking man, dressed as a soldier,
+but with one empty sleeve looped up across his chest.  Tony was busy
+behind the counter wrapping up magazines, which he was going to take
+out the next morning, and the soldier looked very inquisitively at
+him.
+
+"Hallo! my lad, who are you?" he asked, in a tone of surprise.
+
+"I'm Antony Oliver," he said; for of late he had taken to call
+himself by his old master's name.
+
+"Antony Oliver!" repeated the stranger; "I never heard of you before."
+
+"Well, I'm only Tony," he answered; "but I live with old Mr. Oliver
+now, and call him grandfather.  He likes it, and it does me good.
+It's like somebody belonging to me."
+
+"Why! how long have you called him grandfather?" asked the soldier
+again.
+
+"Ever since our little Dolly died," said Tony, in a faltering voice.
+
+"Dolly dead!" exclaimed the man, looking ready to fall down; for his
+face went very white, and he leaned upon the counter with his one
+hand.  "Oh! my poor Susan!--my poor, dear girl!--however can I tell
+her this bad news?"
+
+"Who are you?" cried Tony.  "Are you Dolly's father?  Oh, she's dead!
+She died last January, and we are more lonesome without her than you
+can think."
+
+"Let me see poor Susan's father," he said, after a minute or two, and
+with a very troubled face.
+
+"Ay, come in," said Tony, lifting up the flap of the counter, under
+which Dolly had so often played at hide-and-seek.  "He's more hisself
+again; but his memory's bad yet.  I know everythink about her,
+though; because she was so fond of me, and me of her.  Come in."
+
+Raleigh entered the room, and saw old Oliver sitting in his
+arm-chair, with a pipe in his hand, and a very tranquil look upon his
+wrinkled face.  The gas-light shone upon the glittering epaulettes
+and white sash of the soldier, and the old man fastened upon him a
+very keen, yet doubtful gaze of inquiry.
+
+"Don't you know me, father?" cried Raleigh, almost unable to utter a
+word.  "It's your poor Susan's husband, and Dolly's father."
+
+"Dolly's father!" repeated old Oliver, rising from his chair, and
+resting his hand upon Raleigh's shoulder.  "Do you know that the dear
+Lord has taken her to be where he is in glory?"
+
+"Yes, I know it," he said, with a sob.
+
+He put the old man back in his seat, and drew a chair close up to
+him.  They sat thus together in sorrowful silence for some minutes,
+until old Oliver laid his hand upon the empty sleeve on Raleigh's
+breast.
+
+"You've lost your arm," he said, pityingly.
+
+"Ay!" answered Raleigh; "our colonel was set upon by a tiger in the
+jungle, and I saved him; but the brute tore my arm, and craunched the
+bone between his teeth till it had to come off.  It's spoiled me for
+a soldier."
+
+"Yes, yes, poor fellow," answered old Oliver, "but the Lord knew all
+about it."
+
+"That he did," answered Raleigh; "and he's taught me a bit more about
+himself than I used to know.  I'm not spoiled to be His soldier.  But
+I don't know much about the service yet, and I shall want you to
+teach me, father.  You'll let me call you father, for poor Susan's
+sake, won't you?"
+
+"To be sure--to be sure," said old Oliver, keeping his hand still
+upon the empty sleeve on Raleigh's breast.
+
+"Well, father," he continued, "as I am not fit for a soldier, and as
+the colonel was hurt too, we're all come home together.  Only Susan's
+gone straight on with her lady and our little girl, and sent me
+through London to see after you and Dolly."
+
+"Your little girl?" said Oliver questioningly.
+
+"Yes, the one born in India.  Her name's Mary, but we call her Polly.
+Susan said it made her think of our little Dolly at home.  Dear!
+dear!  I don't know however I shall let her know."
+
+Another fit of silence fell upon them, and Tony left them together,
+for it was time to put up the shop shutters.  It seemed just like the
+night when he had followed Susan and the little girl, and loitered
+outside in the doorway opposite, to see what would happen after she
+had left her in the shop.  He fancied he was a ragged, shoeless boy
+again, nobody loving him, or caring for him, and that he saw old
+Oliver and Dolly standing on the step, looking out for the mother,
+who had gone away, never, never to see her darling again.  Tony's
+heart was very full; and when he tried to whistle, he was obliged to
+give it up, lest he should break out into sobs and crying.  When he
+went back into the house Raleigh was talking again.
+
+"So Susan and me are to have one of the lodges of the colonel's
+park," he said, "and I'm to be a sort of bailiff to look after the
+other outdoor servants about the garden and premises.  It's a house
+with three bedrooms, and a very pleasant sort of little parlour, as
+well as a kitchen and scullery place downstairs.  You can see the
+Wrekin from the parlour window, and the moon over it; and it's not so
+far away but what we could get a spring-cart sometimes, and drive
+over to your old home under the Wrekin.  As soon as ever the
+colonel's lady told Susan where it was, she cried out, 'That's the
+very place for father!'  You'd like to come and live with your own
+Susan again, in your own country; wouldn't you now?"
+
+"Yes, yes; for a little while," answered old Oliver, with a smile
+upon his face.
+
+Tony felt a strange and very painful shrinking at his heart.  If the
+old man went away to live with his daughter in the country, his home
+would be lost to him, and he would have to go out into the great city
+again alone, with nobody to love.  He could get his living now in a
+respectable manner, and there was no fear of his being driven to
+sleep in Covent Garden, or under the bridges.  But he would be alone,
+and all the links which bound him to Dolly and old Oliver would be
+snapped asunder.  He wondered if the Lord Jesus would let such a
+thing be.
+
+"But I couldn't leave Tony," cried old Oliver, suddenly; and putting
+on his spectacles to look for him.
+
+"Come here, Tony.  He's like my own son to me, bless him!  He calls
+me grandfather, and kept my heart up when I should have sunk very low
+without him.  My Master gave him to me the very same night he gave me
+my little love.  No, no; Dolly loved Tony, and Susan must come here
+to see me, but I could never leave my boy."
+
+Old Oliver had put his arm round Tony, drawing him closer and closer
+to him as he spoke, until his withered cheek pressed fondly against
+his face.  Since Dolly died neither of them had felt such a thrill of
+happiness as now.
+
+"The colonel and his lady must be told about this," said Raleigh,
+after he had heard all that Tony had been and done for old Oliver;
+and when he was obliged to go away for the night, the soldier gave
+him such a cordial grasp of the hand, as set all his fingers
+tingling, and his heart throbbing with exultation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+POLLY.
+
+The lodge stood in a very lovely place, upon a slope of ground, which
+rose still higher to where the colonel's grand house was situated.
+There was a porch before the door, built of rough logs of pines,
+covered with ivy and honeysuckle, and with seats in it, where you
+could sit and look out over a wide, rich plain, with little hills and
+dales in it, stretching far away towards the sky-line, where some
+distant mountains lay, so like to clouds, that you could scarcely
+tell which were soft and misty vapours, and which were solid and
+everlasting hills.  The Severn ran through the beautiful plain with
+so many windings, sometimes lying in shadow under deep banks, and
+sometimes glistening and sparkling in the sunlight, that it looked
+more like many little pools scattered about the meadows than one
+long, continuous river.  Not very far away, as Raleigh had said,
+stood the Wrekin, purple in the evening haze, but by day so plain,
+that one could see the great rock on its summit, which in olden times
+served as an altar to the god of fire.
+
+Susan was very busy, and had been very busy all day over two
+things--preparing the house for the reception of her father, whom she
+had not seen for so many years, and in teaching her little girl, who
+was now eighteen months old, to say grand-pa.  The one work was quite
+finished; everything was ready for old Oliver, and now she was
+waiting and watching to see the colonel's spring cart arrive from the
+station with her husband, who was gone to meet old Oliver and Tony.
+For Tony was not on any account to be parted from the old man--so
+said the colonel and his lady--but was to be employed about the
+garden, and as general errand boy for the house, and to live at the
+lodge with old Oliver.  Susan's eyes were red, for as she had been
+busy about her work, she had several times cried bitterly over her
+lost little girl; but she had resolved within herself not to shed a
+single tear after her father was come, lest she should spoil the
+gladness of his coming home to her.  At last the cart came in sight,
+and stopped, and Raleigh and Tony sprang out to help Oliver to get
+down, while Susan put down Polly in the porch, and ran to throw her
+arms round her dear old father's neck.
+
+He was very quiet, poor old Oliver.  He had not spoken a word since
+he left the station, but had gazed about him as they drove along the
+pleasant lane with almost a troubled look upon his tranquil face.
+When his dim eyes caught the first glimpse of the Wrekin he lifted
+his hat from his white and trembling head, as if to greet it like
+some great and dear friend, after so many years of absence.  Now he
+stood still at the wicket, leaning upon Susan's arm, and looking
+round him again with a gentle yet sad smile.  The air was so fresh,
+after the close streets of London, that to him it seemed even full of
+scents of numberless flowers; and the sun was shining everywhere,
+upon the blossoms in the garden, and the fine old elm-trees in the
+park.  and the far-off hills.  He grasped Tony's hand in his, and
+bade him look well about him.
+
+[Illustration: Oliver, leaning on Susan's arm]
+
+"If only my little love had had a bit of sunshine!" he said, with a
+mournful and tender patience in his feeble voice.
+
+But just then--scarcely had he finished speaking--there came a
+shrill, merry little scream behind them, so like Dolly's, that both
+old Oliver and Tony turned round quickly.  It could not be the same,
+for this little child was even smaller than Dolly; but as she came
+pattering and tottering down the garden-walk towards them, they saw
+that she had the same fair curly hair, and blue eyes, and rosy cheeks
+that Dolly had had two years before.  She ran and hid her face in her
+mother's gown; but Susan lifted her into her arms, and held her
+towards old Oliver.
+
+"Say grand-pa, and kiss him, Polly," she said, coaxingly.
+
+The little child held back shyly for a minute, for old Oliver's head
+was shaking much more than usual now; but at length she put her two
+soft little hands to his face, and held it between them, while she
+kissed him.
+
+"Gan-pa!" she cried, crowing and chuckling with delight.
+
+They went indoors to the pleasant parlour, where old Oliver's
+arm-chair was set ready for him by the side of the fire, for Susan
+had kindled a fire, saying that he would feel the fresh air blowing
+from the Wrekin; and Polly sat first on his knee, and then upon
+Tony's, who could not keep his eyes from following all her movements.
+But still it was not their own Dolly who had made the old house in
+the close alley in London so happy and so merry for them.  She was
+gone home to the Father's house, and was watching for them there.
+Tony might be a long time before he joined her, but for old Oliver
+the parting would be but short.  As he sat in the evening dusk, very
+peacefully and contentedly, while Susan sang Polly to sleep in the
+kitchen, Tony heard him say half aloud, as his custom was, "Yet a
+little, and I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that
+where I am ye may be also.  Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"
+
+
+
+  PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET
+  AND CHARING CROSS.
+
+
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+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Alone in London, by Sarah Smith
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 61455 ***