eyes, and 'Good-night, mum,' sez he. 'My friend's
been gone for an hour. An early bird he is, and I've been asleep by
myself. If you please, I'll just settle our little score. It's the last
for a long time, for I'm bound to-morrow for the China Seas, eastward.
Oh, mum, a sailor's life!' So he pays, changing a half-sovereign, like a
gentleman, and out he goes, and that's the last I ever see o' poor Dicky
Shields till he was brought in this afternoon, out of the snow-cart,
cold and stiff, sir."

"And how do you suppose all this happened? How did Shields get _into_
the cart?"

"Well, that's just what they've been wondering at, though the cart
was handy and uncommon convenient for a man as 'ad too much, if 'ad he
'_ad_; as believe it I cannot, seeing a glass of hot rum and water would
not intoxicate a babe. May be he felt faint, and laid down a bit, and
never wakened. But, Lord a mercy, what's _that_?" screamed Mrs. Gullick,
leaping to her feet in terror.

The latched door which communicated with the staircase had been burst
open, and a small brown bear had rushed erect into the room, and, with a
cry, had thrown itself on Mrs. Gullick's bosom.

"Well, if ever I '_ad_ a fright!" that worthy lady exclaimed, turning
toward the startled Maitland, and embracing at the same time the little
animal in an affectionate clasp. "Well, if _ever_ there was such a child
as you, Lizer! What is the matter with you _now_?"

"Oh, mother," cried the bear, "I dreamed of that big Bird I saw on the
roof, and I ran down-stairs before I was 'arf awake, I was that horful
frightened."

"Well, you just go up-stairs again--and here's a sweet-cake
for you--and you take this night-light," said Mrs. Gullick, producing
the articles she mentioned, "and put it in the basin careful, and
knock on the floor with the poker if you want me. If it wasn't for that
bearskin Mr. Toopny was kind enough to let you keep, you'd get your
death o' cold, you would, running about in the night. And look 'ere,
Lizer," she added, patting the child affectionately on the shoulder, "do
get that there Bird out o' your head. It's just nothing but indigestion
comes o' you and the other children--himps they may well call you,
and himps I'm sure you are--always wasting your screws on pasty and
lemonade and raspberry vinegar. Just-nothing but indigestion."

Thus admonished, the bear once more threw its arms, in a tight embrace,
about Mrs. Gullick's neck; and then, without lavish