ive into a
parlour and shut the door.

"Come now, little Pax," she said, setting the boy in a chair in front of
her, "you needn't try to deceive _me_. I'd know you among a thousand in
any disguise. If you were to blacken your face with coal-tar an inch
thick your impertinence would shine through. You know that the burglar
is little Bones's father; you've a pretty good guess that I let him off.
You have come here for some purpose in connection with him. Come--out
with it, and make a clean breast."

Little Pax did make a clean breast then and there, was washed white,
supped and slept at The Rosebud, returned to town next day by the first
train, and had soon the pleasure of informing Tottie that the intended
burglary had been frustrated, and that her father wasn't "took" after
all.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

SHOWS HOW ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER, AND SO ON.

It is a mere truism to state that many a chain of grave and far-reaching
events is set in motion by some insignificant trifle. The touching of a
trigger by a child explodes a gun which extinguishes a valuable life,
and perhaps throws a whole neighbourhood into difficulties. The
lighting of a match may cause a conflagration which shall "bring down"
an extensive firm, some of whose dependants, in the retail trade, will
go down along with it, and cause widespreading distress, if not ruin,
among a whole army of greengrocers, buttermen, and other small fry.

The howling of a bad baby was the comparatively insignificant event
which set going a certain number of wheels, whose teeth worked into the
cogs which revolved in connection with our tale.

The howling referred to awoke a certain contractor near Pimlico with a
start, and caused him to rise off what is popularly known as the "wrong
side." Being an angry man, the contractor called the baby bad names,
and would have whipped it had it been his own. Going to his office
before breakfast with the effects of the howl strong upon him, he met a
humble labourer there with a surly "Well, what do you want?"

The labourer wanted work. The contractor had no work to give him. The
labourer pleaded that his wife and children were starving. The
contractor didn't care a pinch of snuff for his wife or children, and
bade him be off. The labourer urged that the times were very hard, and
he would be thankful for any sort of job, no matter how small. He
endeavoured to work on the contractor's feelings by referring to the
pr