her fell
away, for she was just worn out; and she lay upon the floor, and she
kept on moaning, 'There is no God! there is no God!' after all she have
taught us to say our prayers to. And there was nothing for baby to draw
ever since."

For once in his life Mr. Mordacks held his tongue; and his face, which
was generally fiercer than his mind, was now far behind it in ferocity.
He thought within himself, "Well, I am come to something, to have
let such things be going on in a matter which pertains to
my office--pigeon-hole 100! This comes of false delicacy, my
stumbling-block perpetually! No more of that. Now for action."

Geraldine looked up at him, and said, "Oh, please, sir." And then she
ran off, to show the way toward little Tommy.

The coal-cellar flew open before the foot of Mordacks; but no Tommy
appeared, till his sister ran in. The poor little fellow was quite
dazzled with the light; and the grime on his cheeks made the inrush
of fresh air come like wasps to him. "Now, Tommy, you be good," said
Geraldine; "trouble enough has been made about you."

The boy put out his under lip, and blinked with great amazement. After
such a quantity of darkness and starvation, to be told to be good was
a little too bad. His sense of right and wrong became fluid with
confusion; he saw no sign of anything to eat; and the loud howl of an
injured heart began to issue from the coaly rampart of neglected teeth.

"Quite right, my boy," Mr. Mordacks said. "You have had a bad time, and
are entitled to lament. Wipe your nose on your sleeve, and have at it
again."

"Dirty, dirty things I hear. Who is come into my house like this? My
house and my baby belong to me. Go away all of you. How can I bear this
noise?"

Mrs. Carroway stood in the passage behind them, looking only fit to die.
One of her husband's watch-coats hung around her, falling nearly to her
feet; and the long clothes of her dead baby, which she carried, hung
over it, shaking like a white dog's tail. She was standing with her bare
feet well apart, and that swing of hip and heel alternate which mothers
for a thousand generations have supposed to lull their babies into sweet
sleep.

For once in his life the general factor had not the least idea of the
proper thing to do. Not only did he not find it, but he did not even
seek for it, standing aside rather out of the way, and trying to look
like a calm spectator. But this availed him to no account whatever. He
was the onl