having obstacles put in their way. But they seldom have
fair play; as a general rule they meet with foul play, and foul play from
those who live by selling them stones made into a great variety of shapes
and sizes so as to form a tolerable imitation of bread.

Some are lucky enough to meet with few obstacles, some are plucky enough
to over-ride them, but in the greater number of cases, if people are
saved at all they are saved so as by fire.

While Ernest was with me Ellen was looking out for a shop on the south
side of the Thames near the "Elephant and Castle," which was then almost
a new and a very rising neighbourhood. By one o'clock she had found
several from which a selection was to be made, and before night the pair
had made their choice.

Ernest brought Ellen to me. I did not want to see her, but could not
well refuse. He had laid out a few of his shillings upon her wardrobe,
so that she was neatly dressed, and, indeed, she looked very pretty and
so good that I could hardly be surprised at Ernest's infatuation when the
other circumstances of the case were taken into consideration. Of course
we hated one another instinctively from the first moment we set eyes on
one another, but we each told Ernest that we had been most favourably
impressed.

Then I was taken to see the shop. An empty house is like a stray dog or
a body from which life has departed. Decay sets in at once in every part
of it, and what mould and wind and weather would spare, street boys
commonly destroy. Ernest's shop in its untenanted state was a dirty
unsavoury place enough. The house was not old, but it had been run up by
a jerry-builder and its constitution had no stamina whatever. It was
only by being kept warm and quiet that it would remain in health for many
months together. Now it had been empty for some weeks and the cats had
got in by night, while the boys had broken the windows by day. The
parlour floor was covered with stones and dirt, and in the area was a
dead dog which had been killed in the street and been thrown down into
the first unprotected place that could be found. There was a strong
smell throughout the house, but whether it was bugs, or rats, or cats, or
drains, or a compound of all four, I could not determine. The sashes did
not fit, the flimsy doors hung badly; the skirting was gone in several
places, and there were not a few holes in the floor; the locks were
loose, and paper was torn and dirty; the stair