you had gone home, I suppose you would have had
the cane. Ha! ha! ha!'

All the people laughed at this, and I stood crying.

'Don't cry,' said the fruiteress, 'you shall not go back to Smith's
again. I will see if I cannot get you another place, and a pair of
stockings and shoes too, for you are barefoot.'

'So she is,' said the man who had laughed so heartily; 'she seems to
belong to the ragged regiment, to be sure. But how comes it, child, that
your father and mother did not look after you a little?'

At the mention of these dear names, my tears flowed afresh, and I sobbed
out that I had no father or mother. The good-natured fruiteress
absolutely wept; several women, who had come round us, shed tears; and
the men said it was a great deal too bad that poor orphans should be
treated so barbarously.

'Well,' said the man who had laughed so much, 'pitying will do her but
little good without something more substantial, so there's twopence for
you, child, towards a pair of shoes; and if all these good people will
give you as much you will soon be shod.'

They did so far follow his example as to give me some a penny and some a
halfpenny, so that in a short time I had one shilling and sevenpence
halfpenny. They then went away, the fruiteress assuring them that I
should have shoes and stockings, and that she had no doubt but that she
could get me a place at a gardener's in the country where I might be
comfortable. When the people were all gone, she told me to come into the
shop and warm myself; but when she looked at my face, scratched with the
ice and smeared with mud, she said:

'I think a good washing will be the best thing for you, for you cannot
be made comfortable till you are clean.'

She then gave me soap, water, a towel, and I was not a little glad of
having the means of washing myself well. She then looked at my feet,
which were much cut with the ice, and still bleeding.

'Poor child,' said she, 'I think you have suffered enough for breaking a
pie-dish. However, its done, and you shall soak your feet well with warm
water; and when my little girls come with my dinner I will see if I
cannot find you a pair of shoes.'

I accordingly washed my feet well, which was a comfort I had not
experienced for many months. The good woman threw away my old stockings
and shoes, and, doubling a piece of carpet under my feet, told me to sit
by the fire till her children brought the dinner.

Thus refreshed, and seated on a