nd swollen feet; 'has all
my agony of care brought her to this at last! Was I a happy man once,
and have I lost happiness and all I had, for this!'

'If we were in the country now,' said the child, with assumed
cheerfulness, as they walked on looking about them for a shelter, we
should find some good old tree, stretching out his green arms as if he
loved us, and nodding and rustling as if he would have us fall asleep,
thinking of him while he watched. Please God, we shall be there
soon--to-morrow or next day at the farthest--and in the meantime let us
think, dear, that it was a good thing we came here; for we are lost in
the crowd and hurry of this place, and if any cruel people should
pursue us, they could surely never trace us further. There's comfort
in that. And here's a deep old doorway--very dark, but quite dry, and
warm too, for the wind don't blow in here--What's that!'

Uttering a half shriek, she recoiled from a black figure which came
suddenly out of the dark recess in which they were about to take
refuge, and stood still, looking at them.

'Speak again,' it said; 'do I know the voice?'

'No,' replied the child timidly; 'we are strangers, and having no money
for a night's lodging, were going to rest here.'

There was a feeble lamp at no great distance; the only one in the
place, which was a kind of square yard, but sufficient to show how poor
and mean it was. To this, the figure beckoned them; at the same time
drawing within its rays, as if to show that it had no desire to conceal
itself or take them at an advantage. The form was that of a man,
miserably clad and begrimed with smoke, which, perhaps by its contrast
with the natural colour of his skin, made him look paler than he really
was. That he was naturally of a very wan and pallid aspect, however,
his hollow cheeks, sharp features, and sunken eyes, no less than a
certain look of patient endurance, sufficiently testified. His voice
was harsh by nature, but not brutal; and though his face, besides
possessing the characteristics already mentioned, was overshadowed by a
quantity of long dark hair, its expression was neither ferocious nor
bad.

'How came you to think of resting there?' he said. 'Or how,' he added,
looking more attentively at the child, 'do you come to want a place of
rest at this time of night?'

'Our misfortunes,' the grandfather answered, 'are the cause.'

'Do you know,' said the man, looking still more earnestly at Nell,