are poor! Such dainties are not
for the children of poverty."

He passed along, until he came to the ale-house where he intended to
get his pennyworth of tobacco. For the first time a thought of
self-denial entered his mind, as he stood by the door, with his hand in
his pocket, feeling for his solitary copper.

"This would buy Lizzy an orange," he said to himself. "But then," was
quickly added, "I would have no tobacco to-day, nor to-morrow, for I
won't be paid for these boots before Saturday, when Barton gets his
wages."

Then came a long, hesitating pause. There was before the mind of Claire
the image of the faint and feeble child with the refreshing orange to
her lips; and there was also the image of himself encheered for two
long days by his pipe. But could he for a moment hesitate, if he really
loved that sick child? is asked. Yes, he could hesitate, and yet love
the little sufferer; for to one of his order of mind and habits of
acting and feeling, a self-indulgence like that of the pipe, or a
regular draught of beer, becomes so much like second nature, that it is
as it were a part of the very life; and to give it up, costs more than
a light effort.

The penny was between his fingers, and he took a single step toward the
ale-house door; but so vividly came back the image of little Lizzy,
that he stopped suddenly. The conflict, even though the spending of a
single penny was concerned, now became severe: love for the child plead
earnestly, and as earnestly plead the old habit that seemed as if it
would take no denial.

It was his last penny that was between the cobbler's fingers. Had there
been two pennies in his pocket, all difficulty would have immediately
vanished. Having thought of the orange, he would have bought it with
one of them, and supplied his pipe with the other. But, as affairs now
stood, he must utterly deny himself, or else deny his child.

For minutes the question was debated.

"I will see as I come back," said Claire at last, starting on his
errand, and thus, for the time, making a sort of a compromise. As he
walked along, the argument still went on in his mind. The more his
thoughts acted in this new channel, the more light came into the
cobbler's mind, at all times rather dark and dull. Certain
discriminations, never before thought of, were made; and certain
convictions forced themselves upon him.

"What is a pipe of tobacco to a healthy man, compared with an orange to
a sick child!" u