e had got well on with her meal, to which she applied
herself in a keen and business-like manner, Nancy could not forbear
asking:

"Where do you live?"

Kettles held the slice away from her mouth just long enough to say, very
quickly:

"Anchoranopally," and immediately fastened her teeth into it again.

The children looked at Nurse for an explanation.

"It's the `Anchor and Hope Alley,' she means, my dears, turning out of
the High Street just below here."

Pennie nodded seriously. She knew where the Anchor and Hope Alley was,
and also that it was called the lowest quarter in Nearminster. She
looked at Kettles with greater interest than ever, and longed to make
some inquiries about her home and surroundings. This was so evident in
her face that poor Nurse's uneasiness increased. If Kettles began to
talk she might drop into language and mention details quite usual in
Anchor and Hope Alley, but also quite unfit for Pennie and Nancy to
hear. What was to be done? Kettles' slice of bread seemed endless, and
here was Pennie on the point of speaking to her again. Nurse rushed
nervously in with a question, which she repented as soon as she had put
it:

"What's your father doing now, Kettles?"

"Drinkin'," answered Kettles at once. "He come home last night, and--"

"There, there, that'll do," said Nurse hastily. "We don't want to hear
about that just now. You finish your tea and run home to mother."

And in spite of beseeching looks from the girls, Kettles was shortly
afterwards hurried away with her jug of tea-leaves, and Nurse gave a
great sigh of relief as the big boots went clumping down the stairs.

"She's far nicer than Mrs Grump," said Nancy when they were left alone
with Nurse, "only you don't let her talk half enough. I wanted to ask
her lots of things. Is her name really Kettles? and how did you come to
know her? and why does she wear such large boots?"

It appeared that Kettles' real name was Keturah, but being, Nurse
explained, a hard sort of name to say, it had got changed into Kettles.
"Her mother, a decent, hard-working woman, came to the College to scrub
and clean sometimes. She was very poor, and had a great many children
and a bad husband." Here Nurse shook her head.

"What do you give her tea-leaves for?" asked Pennie.

"Why, my dear, when folks are too poor to buy fresh tea, they're glad
enough to get it after it's been once used."

"We've enjoyed ourselves tremendously," said N