oof and eat at
certain intervals of the day; if employed on piece-work they might at
any moment find themselves wageless, but this, being a familiar state
of things, did not trouble them. With few exceptions, they were clad
neatly; on the whole, they plied their task in wonderful contentment.
The general tone of conversation among them was not high; moralists
unfamiliar with the ways of the nether world would probably have
applied a term other than negative to the laughing discussions which
now and then enlivened this or that group; but it was very seldom
indeed that a child newly arriving heard anything with which she was
not already perfectly familiar.

One afternoon at the end of May there penetrated into the largest of
the workrooms that rarest of visitants, a stray sunbeam. Only if the
sun happened to shine at given moments could any of its light fall
directly into the room I speak of; this afternoon, however, all
circumstances were favourable, and behold the floor chequered with
uncertain gleam. The workers were arranged in groups of three, called
'parties,' consisting of a learner, an improver, and a hand. All sat
with sleeves pushed up to their elbows, and had a habit of rocking to
and fro as they plied their mechanical industry. Owing to the movement
of a cloud, the sunlight spread gradually towards one of these groups;
it touched the skirt, the arms, the head of one of the girls, who, as
if gladdened by the kindly warmth, looked round and smiled. A smile you
would have been pleased to observe--unconscious, gently thoughtful,
rich in possibilities of happiness. She was quite a young girl,
certainly not seventeen, and wore a smooth grey dress, with a white
linen collar; her brown hair was closely plaited, her head well-shaped,
the bend of her neck very graceful. From her bare arms it could be seen
that she was anything but robustly made, yet her general appearance was
not one of ill-health, and she held herself, even thus late in the day,
far more uprightly than most of her companions. Had you watched her for
a while, you would have noticed that her eyes occasionally strayed
beyond the work-table, and, perhaps unconsciously, fixed themselves for
some moments on one or other of the girls near her; when she remembered
herself and looked down again upon her task, there rose to her face a
smile of the subtlest meaning, the outcome of busy reflection.

By her side was a little girl just beginning to learn the work,