at and a jacket and a gown."

"You dare not," the girl said passionately, her face flushed scarlet;
"you dare not, Jack."

"No," Jack said consciously, "I know I dare not, though I should like
to; but why don't I dare?"

"Because it would be an insult, a gross insult, Jack, and you dare not
insult me."

"No lass, I darena; but why should it be an insult? that's what I canna
make out; why wouldn't it be an insult to offer you a gold brooch worth
three or four pounds, and yet be an insult to offer you the other
things? what's the difference?"

Nelly had calmed down now when she saw that the question was a
hypothetical one, and that Jack had not, as she at first supposed,
bought clothes for her.

She thought for some time. "I suppose, Jack, the difference is this.
It's the duty of a girl's father and mother to buy fit clothes for her,
and if they don't it's either their fault, or it's because they are too
poor. So to give clothes is an interference and a sort of reproach. A
brooch is not necessary; it's a pretty ornament, and so a lad may give
it to his lass wi'out shame."

"Yes, I suppose it must be that," Jack said thoughtfully. "I'm glad I've
got some sort of answer."

CHAPTER XIII.

A HEAVY LOSS.

"I thought, sir, that you promised to say nothing about that
soup-kitchen money," Jack said rather indignantly one evening a
fortnight after he had gone to work again.

"Here all the women of the place seem to know about it, and as I was
coming home from work to-day, there was Mrs. Thompson run out and shook
me by the hand and would ha' kissed me if I'd let her, and said I'd
saved her children's lives. I ha' been thinking of going away; I can't
stand this; and I thought you promised to say nowt about it."

"'Nothing,' Jack," corrected Mr. Merton. "It is a long time since I
heard you say 'nowt.' No, Jack, I did not promise; you told me to say
nothing about it, but I was careful not to promise. Sit down, lad,
you're a little hot now, and I am not surprised, but I am sure that you
will credit me for having acted for the best."

Jack sat down with a little grunt, and with the expression of
dissatisfaction on his face in no way mollified.

"In the first place, Jack, you will, I know, be sorry to hear that I am
going away."

"Going away!" Jack exclaimed, leaping to his feet, all thought of his
grievance gone at once. "Oh! Mr. Merton."

"I told you, you will remember, Jack, when the strike first began,