es were of that unnatural hue worn by one who has for
years been debased by drink.

"Yah!" roared the man, half-closing his bleared eyes. "Leave the bairn
alone."

"O Izick!" gasped the woman.

"Here, none o' that!" cried the farmer fiercely. "Don't you frighten my
wife."

"Let the bairn alone," growled the man again.

"How came you by him!" said the woman recovering herself. "I'm sure he
can't be your'n."

"Not mine!" growled the man in a hoarse, harsh voice. "You let the
bairn be. I'll soon show you about that. Hi! chick!"

The little fellow scrambled to him, and putting his tiny chubby arms
about the man's coarse neck, nestled his head upon his shoulder, and
turned to gaze at the farmer and his wife.

"Not my bairn!" growled the man; "what d'yer say to that?"

"Lor, Izick, only look," said the woman in a whisper. "My!"

"Well, what are yer starin' at?" growled the man defiantly; "didn't
think he were your bairn, did you!"

"Come away, missus," said the farmer; and the woman reluctantly climbed
back into the gig.

"It don't seem right, Izick, for him to have such a bairn as that," said
the woman, who could not keep her eyes off the child.

"Ah, well! it ar'n't no business of our'n. Go along!"

This was to the horse, who went off directly in a shambling trot, and
the gig rattled along the road; but as long as they remained in sight,
the farmer's wife stared back at the little fellow, and the
rough-looking tramp glared at her from among the heather and ling.

"Must be getting on--must be getting on," he growled to himself; and he
kept on muttering in a low tone as he tried to stagger to his feet, but
for a time his joints seemed to be so stiff that he could only get to
his knees, and he had to set the child down.

Then after quite a struggle, during which he kept on muttering in a
strange incoherent manner, he contrived to get upon his feet, and stood
holding on by a branch of the birch-tree, while the child stared in his
repellent face.

The next minute he staggered into the road and began to walk away,
reeling strangely like a drunken man, talking wildly the while; but he
seemed to recall the fact that he had left the child behind, and he
staggered back to where a block of stone lay by the water-side, and sat
down. "Here, chick!" he growled.

His aspect and the tone of his voice were sufficient to frighten the
little fellow away, but he did not seem in the least alarmed, and placed
his