r husband occupied showed
them to be well-to-do; Marcella had so far found them well-kept; and
though the evil she was sent to investigate was said to be notorious,
she had as yet discovered nothing of it for herself. It seemed to her
that she must be either stupid, or that there must be something about
her which made Mrs. Vincent more secretive with her than with others;
and neither alternative pleased her.

To-day, however, as she stopped at the Vincents' door, she noticed that
the doorstep, which was as a rule shining white, was muddy and
neglected. Then nobody came to open, though she knocked and rang
repeatedly. At last a neighbour, who had been watching the strange
nurse through her own parlour window, came out to the street.

"I think, miss," she said, with an air of polite mystery, "as you'd
better walk in. Mrs. Vincent 'asn't been enjyin' very good 'ealth this
last few days."

Marcella turned the handle, found it yielded, and went in. It was after
six o'clock, and the evening sun streamed in through a door at the back
of the house. But in the Vincents' front parlour the blinds were all
pulled down, and the only sound to be heard was the fretful wailing of a
child. Marcella timidly opened the sitting-room door.

The room at first seemed to her dark. Then she perceived Mrs. Vincent
sitting by the grate, and the two children on the floor beside her. The
elder, the little invalid, was simply staring at his mother in a
wretched silence; but the younger, the baby of three, was restlessly
throwing himself hither and thither, now pulling at the woman's skirts,
now crying lustily, now whining in a hungry voice, for "Mama! din-din!
Mama! din-din!"

Mrs. Vincent neither moved nor spoke, even when Marcella came in. She
sat with her hands hanging over her lap in a desolation incapable of
words. She was dirty and unkempt; the room was covered with litter; the
breakfast things were still on the table; and the children were
evidently starving.

Marcella, seized with pity, and divining what had happened, tried to
rouse and comfort her. But she got no answer. Then she asked for
matches. Mrs. Vincent made a mechanical effort to find them, but
subsided helpless with a shake of the head. At last Marcella found them
herself, lit a tire of some sticks she discovered in a cupboard, and put
on the kettle. Then she cut a slice of bread and dripping for each of
the children--the only eatables she could find--and after she had
dre