ought she had stretched hers a
long distance. So she had. And yet she might have given the child at her
door a few pennies. But street-beggars were so often thieves!

Meanwhile the little beggar girl wandered on. For nearly a week she had
slept in the station-house and begged a little during the day, just
enough to keep body and soul together. She used to sell matches and
pins, but she had no capital to buy a new stock, and there were so many
in the trade. A month ago the old woman with whom she had lived died
suddenly. Then she had to live the best she could.

She went on asking now and then for a penny. Some gave the forlorn
little beggar a scowl, some did not even deign to look, and one or two
men spoke roughly to her. Oh! She was so hungry and so cold.

[Illustration: "_She came to a restaurant._"]

The bright sunshine did not seem to warm her a bit. She looked wistfully
into basement windows. She stared at the merry, happy children who ran
by in warm clothing. Her shoes were out to the ground; her tatters
flapped in the biting wind.

It was growing colder and colder. She ran along until she came to a
restaurant. Such a delightful, savory smell came through the grating,
and a faint warmth that was most grateful to her. Not a mouthful of
anything had she eaten since yesterday noon. People went along with
great market baskets full; men with bundles in their arms, girls and
boys with Christmas gifts,--all hurrying homeward.

"Move on, move on, there!" said the stern voice of a policeman.

What if she was arrested and sent to prison? She would have something to
eat. And the pain gnawing at her stomach was so hard to bear. There was
a jacket she might steal--the men around would be sure to see her. She
reached out her hand.

No, she couldn't. She never had been a thief. She remembered her mother,
who had died two years ago. The pretty lady getting into the carriage
had made her think of _her_! Oh! how good it was that the dear mother
could never be hungry again. And she had said, "Jennie, _never tell a
lie, never steal_."

She sat down on a doorstep and began to cry. It was very cold now, and
she was so chilled that the tears froze on her thin cheeks. She curled
herself up in the corner. If she could only get to sleep.

"Hillo!" said a cheerful voice, and some one shook her by the shoulder.
"You'll freeze to death here! It's pinching cold! You better run home."

"Lemme be. I haven't any home. And I was almost