ched abode of Bones.

"Bring me pen, ink, and paper!" he exclaimed, on entering the room, with
a grand air--for a pint of ale, recently taken, had begun to operate.

Bones, falling in with his friend's humour, rummaged about until he
found the stump of a quill, a penny inkbottle, and a dirty sheet of
paper. These he placed on a rickety table, and Aspel wrote a scrawly
note, in which he gave himself very bad names, and begged Mr Blurt to
come and see him, as he had got into a scrape, and could by no means see
his way out of it. Having folded the note very badly, he rose with the
intention of going out to post it, but his friend offered to post it for
him.

Accepting the offer, he handed him the note and flung himself down in a
heap on the straw mattress in the dark corner, where he had first become
acquainted with Bones. In a few seconds he was in a deep lethargic
slumber.

"What a wretched spectacle!" exclaimed Bones, touching him with his toe,
and, in bitter mockery, quoting the words that Aspel had once used
regarding himself.

He turned to leave the room, and was met by Mrs Bones.

"There's a friend o' yours in the corner, Molly. Don't disturb him.
I'm goin' to post a letter for him, and will be back directly."

Bones went out, posted the letter in the common sewer, and returned
home.

During the brief interval of his absence Tottie had come in--on a visit
after her prolonged sojourn in the country. She was strangling her
mother with a kiss when he entered.

"Oh, mother! I'm _so_ happy, and _so_ sorry!" she exclaimed, laughing
and sobbing at once.

Tottie was obviously torn by conflicting emotions. "Take your time,
darling," said Mrs Bones, smoothing the child's hair with her red
toil-worn hand.

"Ay, take it easy, Tot," said her father, with a meaning glance, that
sent a chill to the child's heart, while he sat down on a stool and
began to fill his pipe. "What's it all about?"

"Oh! it's the beautiful country I've been in. Mother, you can't think--
the green fields and the trees, and, oh! the flowers, and no bricks--
almost no houses--and--But did you know"--her grief recurred here--"that
Mr Aspel 'as bin lost? an' I've been tellin' _such_ lies! We came in
to town, Miss Lillycrop an' me, and we've heard about Mr Aspel from old
Mr Blurt, who's tryin' to find him out with 'vertisements in the papers
an' detectives an' a message-boy they call Phil, who's a friend of Mr
Aspel, an' also of Peter