ough which she saw her father, and
the prison, and the dark living river that flowed through it and flowed
on.

[Illustration: "Mr. Clennam Followed Her Home."

Page 65]

This was the life, and this the history, of Little Dorrit, until the son
of a lady, Mrs. Clennam, to whose house Amy went to do needlework,
became interested in the pale, patient little creature. He followed
her to her home one day and when he found that it was the debtor's
prison, he walked in. Learning her sad history from her father, Arthur
Clennam resolved to do his best to try to get him released and to help
them all.

One day when he was walking home with Amy to try to find out the names
of some of the people her father owed money to, a voice was heard
calling, "Little mother, little mother," and a strange figure came
bouncing up to them and fell down, scattering her basketful of potatoes
on the ground. "Oh Maggie," said Amy, "what a clumsy child you are!"

She was about eight and twenty, with large bones, large features, large
hands and feet, large eyes, and no hair. Amy told Mr. Clennam that
Maggie was the granddaughter of her old nurse, who had been dead a long
time, and that her grandmother had been very unkind to her and beat her.

"When Maggie was ten years old she had a fever, and she has never grown
older since."

"Ten years old," said Maggie. "But what a nice hospital! So comfortable,
wasn't it? Such a 'e'v'nly place! Such beds there is there! Such
lemonades! Such oranges! Such delicious broth and wine! Such chicking!
Oh, AIN'T it a delightful place to stop at!"

"Poor Maggie thought that a hospital was the nicest place in all the
world, because she had never seen another home as good. For years and
years she looked back to the hospital as a sort of heaven on earth."

"Then when she came out, her grandmother did not know what to do with
her, and was very unkind. But after some time Maggie tried to improve,
and was very attentive and industrious and now she can earn her own
living entirely, sir!"

Amy did not say who had taken pains to teach and encourage the poor
half-witted creature, but Mr. Clennam guessed from the name "little
mother" and the fondness of the poor creature for Amy.

One cold, wet evening, Amy and Maggie went to Mr. Clennam's house to
thank him for having freed Edward from the prison, and on coming out
found it was too late to get home, as the gate was locked. They tri