But onny three's alive."

"The other three are dead!"

"It costs five bob a week an' extries to let a kid live, to say nothin'
of the lies and trouble an' all. An' no thanks you get for it."

"A mother loves and looks after her own," declared Mavis.

"Little dears! Ain't they pretty when they prattles their little
prayers?" asked Mrs Gowler, as her lips parted in a terrible smile.
"Many's the time I've given 'em gin from me own bottle to give the
little angels sleep."

She said more to the same effect, to pause before saying, with a return
to her practical manner:

"An' the gentlemen! They're always 'appy when anything 'appens to baby."

Mavis looked at the woman with questioning eyes; she wondered what she
meant. For a few moments Mrs Gowler attempted to lull Mavis's
uneasiness by extravagant praise of infants' ways, which culminated in
a hideous imitation of baby language. Suddenly she stopped; her little
eyes glared fiercely at Mavis, while her face became rigid.

"What's the matter?" asked the girl.

Mrs Gowler rose unsteadily to her feet and said:

"Ten quid down will save you from forking out five bob a week till
you're blue in the face from paying it."

Mavis stared at her in astonishment. Mrs Gowler backed to the door.

"Told yer you'd fallen on your feet. Next time you'll know better. No
pretty pretties: one little nightdress is all you'll want. But it's
spot cash."

Mavis was alone; it was, comparatively, a long time before she gathered
what Mrs Gowler meant. When she realised that the woman had as good as
offered to murder her child, when born, for the sum of ten pounds, her
first impulse was to leave the house. But it was now late; she was worn
out with the day's happenings; also, she reflected that, with the
scanty means at her disposal, a further move to a like house to Mrs
Gowler's might find her worse off than she already was. Her heart was
heavy with pain when she knelt by her bedside to say her prayers, but,
try as she might, she could find no words with which to thank her
heavenly Father for the blessings of the day and to implore their
continuance for the next, as was her invariable custom. When she got up
from her knees, she hoped that the disabilities of her present
situation would atone for any remissness of which she had been guilty.
Although she was very tired, it was a long time before she slept. She
lay awake, to think long and lovingly of Perigal. This, and Jill's
presence, we