"Well, Miss Penny," said nurse, proceeding to look through a pile of
little stockings, "when a poor woman's lost her husband, and is left
with six children to bring up on nothing, she's glad of something to
clothe them with."

Penny felt interested. "Our Mrs Dicks" had been her mother's maid, and
after she married the children had often been to visit her, and
considered her a great friend. Sometimes they went to tea with her, and
once she had given Nancy, Penny's second sister, a lovely fluffy kitten.

Penny was fond of Mrs Dicks, and it seemed dreadful to think that she
must now bring up six children on nothing. She felt, however, that she
must inquire into the thing a little more.

"Why must she bring up her six children on nothing?" she asked, letting
her work fall into her lap.

"Because," said nurse shortly, "she hasn't got any money or anyone to
work for her. But if I were you, Miss Penny, I'd get on with my
needlework, and not waste time asking so many questions."

"Well," said Penny, making fruitless attempts to thread her needle, "I
suppose mother will help her to get some money. I shall ask her to let
me give her some out of the charity-box--only I'm afraid there isn't
much in it now."

"If you really wanted to help her," said nurse, who saw an excellent
opportunity for making a useful suggestion, "you might make some things
for her baby; she hasn't much time for sewing, poor soul."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly do that," said Penny decidedly, "because, you
know, I hate needlework so. I couldn't do any extra, it would take all
my time."

Nurse rolled up a tight bundle of clothes and left the room without
answering, and Penny, with her frowning little face bent over her work,
went on thinking about Mrs Dicks and her six children. She wondered
whether they had enough to eat now; if they were to be brought up on
nothing, they probably had not, she thought, and she felt anxious to
finish her task that she might run and ask mother about it, and how she
could best help with the money out of the charity-box. So she cobbled
over the last stitches rather hastily, and put the work away; but she
found after all that her mother was too busy to attend to her just then.
The next step, therefore, was to ascertain the state of the
charity-box, and she took it down from the mantel-piece in the play-room
and gave it a little shake. It made quite a rich sound; but Penny knew
by experience what a noise coppers ca