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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/30555-h.zip b/30555-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c39fff --- /dev/null +++ b/30555-h.zip diff --git a/30555-h/30555-h.htm b/30555-h/30555-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9993c6f --- /dev/null +++ b/30555-h/30555-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4004 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Little Meg's Children, by Hesba Stretton +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H4.h4left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Meg's Children, by Hesba Stretton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Little Meg's Children + +Author: Hesba Stretton + +Illustrator: Harold Copping + +Release Date: November 28, 2009 [EBook #30555] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE MEG'S CHILDREN *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-cover"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-cover.jpg" ALT="Cover art" BORDER="2" WIDTH="491" HEIGHT="765"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Looking out for Father" BORDER="2" WIDTH="424" HEIGHT="664"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 424px"> +Looking out for Father +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg's Children +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY HESBA STRETTON +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Author of 'Jessica's First Prayer,'<BR> +'Alone in London,' 'Pilgrim Street,'<BR> +'No Place Like Home,' etc.<BR> +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +WITH A FRONTISPIECE BY HAROLD COPPING +<BR> +And other Illustrations +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LONDON +<BR> +THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY +<BR> +56 PATERNOSTER ROW AND 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD +<BR> +1905 +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Contents +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAP.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">MOTHERLESS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">LITTLE MEG AS A MOURNER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">LITTLE MEG'S CLEANING DAY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">LITTLE MEG'S TREAT TO HER CHILDREN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">LITTLE MEG'S NEIGHBOUR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">LITTLE MEG'S LAST MONEY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">LITTLE MEG'S DISAPPOINTMENT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">LITTLE MEG'S RED FROCK IN PAWN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">LITTLE MEG'S FRIENDS IN NEED</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">LITTLE MEG AS CHARWOMAN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">LITTLE MEG'S BABY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">THE END OF LITTLE MEG'S TROUBLE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">LITTLE MEG'S FATHER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">LITTLE MEG'S FAREWELL</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg's Children +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Motherless +</H3> + +<P> +In the East End of London, more than a mile from St Paul's Cathedral, +and lying near to the docks, there is a tangled knot of narrow streets +and lanes, crossing and running into one another, with blind alleys and +courts leading out of them, and low arched passages, and dark gullies, +and unsuspected slums, hiding away at the back of the narrowest +streets; forming altogether such a labyrinth of roads and dwellings, +that one needs a guide to thread a way among them, as upon pathless +solitudes or deserts of shifting sands. In the wider streets it is +possible for two conveyances to pass each other; for in some of them, +towards the middle of their length, a sweeping curve is taken out of +the causeway on either side to allow of this being done; but in the +smaller and closer streets there is room spared only for the passage to +and fro of single carts, while here and there may be found an alley so +narrow that the neighbours can shake hands, if they would, from +opposite windows. Many of the houses are of three or four stories, +with walls, inside and out, dingy and grimed with smoke, and with +windows that scarcely admit even the gloomy light which finds a way +through the thick atmosphere, and down between the high, close +buildings. +</P> + +<P> +A few years ago in one of these dismal streets there stood a still more +dismal yard, bearing the name of Angel Court, as if there yet lingered +among those grimy homes and their squalid occupants some memories of a +brighter place and of happier creatures. Angel Court was about nine +feet wide, and contained ten or twelve houses on each side, with one +dwelling at the further end, blocking up the thoroughfare, and +commanding a view down the close, stone-paved yard, with its +interlacing rows of clothes-lines stretched from window to window, upon +which hung the yellow, half-washed rags of the inhabitants. This end +house was three stories high, without counting a raised roof of red +tiles, forming two attics; the number of rooms in all being eight, each +one of which was held by a separate family, as were most of the other +rooms in the court. To possess two apartments was almost an +undreamed-of luxury. +</P> + +<P> +There was certainly an advantage in living in the attics of the end +house in Angel Court, for the air was a trifle purer there and the +light clearer than in the stories below. From the small windows might +be seen the prospect, not only of the narrow court, but of a vast +extent of roofs, with a church spire here and there, and the glow of +the sky behind them, when the sun was setting in a thick purplish cloud +of smoke and fog. There was greater quiet also, and more privacy up in +the attics than beneath, where all day long people were trampling up +and down the stairs, and past the doors of their neighbours' rooms. +The steep staircase ended in a steeper ladder leading up to the attics, +and very few cared to climb up and down it. It was perhaps for these +reasons that the wife of a sailor, who had gone to sea eight months +before, had chosen to leave a room lower down, for which he had paid +the rent in advance, in order to mount into higher and quieter quarters +with her three children. +</P> + +<P> +Whatever may have been her reason, it is certain that the sailor's +wife, who had been ailing before her husband's departure, had, for some +weeks past, been unable to descend the steep ladder into the maze of +busy streets, to buy the articles necessary for her little household, +and that she had steadily refused all aid from her neighbours, who soon +left off pressing it upon her. The only nurse she had, and the only +person to whom she would entrust her errands, was her eldest child, a +small, spare, stunted girl of London growth, whose age could not be +more than ten years, though she wore the shrewd, anxious air of a woman +upon her face, with deep lines wrinkling her forehead and puckering +about her keen eyes. Her small bony hands were hard with work; and +when she trod to and fro about the crowded room, from the bedside to +the fireplace, or from the crazy window to the creaking door, which let +the cold draughts blow in upon the ailing mother, her step was slow and +silent, less like that of a child than of a woman who was already weary +with much labour. The room itself was not large enough to cause a +great deal of work; but little Meg had had many nights of watching +lately, and her eyes were heavy for want of sleep, with the dark +circles underneath them growing darker every day. +</P> + +<P> +The evening had drawn in, but Meg's mother, her head propped up with +anything that could be made into a pillow, had watched the last glow of +the light behind the chimneys and the church spires, and then she +turned herself feebly towards the glimmer of a handful of coals burning +in the grate, beside which her little daughter was undressing a baby +twelve months old, and hushing it to sleep in her arms. Another child +had been put to bed already, upon a rude mattress in a corner of the +room, where she could not see him; but she watched Meg intently, with a +strange light in her dim eyes. When the baby was asleep at last, and +laid down on the mattress upon the floor, the girl went softly back to +the fire, and stood for a minute or two looking thoughtfully at the red +embers. +</P> + +<P> +'Little Meg!' said her mother, in a low, yet shrill voice. +</P> + +<P> +Meg stole across with a quiet step to the bedside, and fastened her +eyes earnestly upon her mother's face. +</P> + +<P> +'Do you know I'm going to die soon?' asked the mother. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' said Meg, and said no more. +</P> + +<P> +'Father'll be home soon,' continued her mother, 'and I want you to take +care of the children till he comes. I've settled with Mr Grigg +downstairs as nobody shall meddle with you till father comes back. +But, Meg, you've got to take care of that your own self. You've +nothing to do with nobody, and let nobody have nothing to do with you. +They're a bad crew downstairs, a very bad crew. Don't you ever let any +one of 'em come across the door-step. Meg, could you keep a secret?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, I could,' said Meg. +</P> + +<P> +'I think you could,' answered her mother, 'and I'll tell you why you +mustn't have nothing to do with the crew downstairs. Meg, pull the big +box from under the bed.' +</P> + +<P> +The box lay far back, where it was well hidden by the bed; but by dint +of hard pulling Meg dragged it out, and the sailor's wife gave her the +key from under her pillow. When the lid was open, the eyes of the +dying woman rested with interest and longing upon the faded finery it +contained—the bright-coloured shawl, and showy dress, and velvet +bonnet, which she used to put on when she went to meet her husband on +his return from sea. Meg lifted them out carefully one by one, and +laid them on the bed, smoothing out the creases fondly. There were her +own best clothes, too, and the children's; the baby's nankeen coat, and +Robin's blue cap, which never saw the light except when father was at +home. She had nearly emptied the box, when she came upon a small but +heavy packet. +</P> + +<P> +'That's the secret, Meg,' said her mother in a cautious whisper. +'That's forty gold sovereigns, as doesn't belong to me, nor father +neither, but to one of his mates as left it with him for safety. I +couldn't die easy if I thought it wouldn't be safe. They'd go rooting +about everywhere; but, Meg, you must never, never, never let anybody +come into the room till father's at home.' +</P> + +<P> +'I never will, mother,' said little Meg. +</P> + +<P> +'That's partly why I moved up here,' she continued. 'Why, they'd +murder you all if they couldn't get the money without. Always keep the +door locked, whether you're in or out; and, Meg dear, I've made you a +little bag to wear round your neck, to keep the key of the box in, and +all the money I've got left; it'll be enough till father comes. And if +anybody meddles, and asks you when he's coming, be sure say you expect +him home to-day or to-morrow. He'll be here in four weeks, on Robin's +birthday, may be. Do you know all you've got to do, little Meg?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' she answered. 'I'm to take care of the children, and the money +as belongs to one of father's mates; and I must wear the little bag +round my neck, and always keep the door locked, and tell folks I expect +father home to-day or to-morrow, and never let nobody come into our +room.' +</P> + +<P> +'That's right,' murmured the dying woman. 'Meg, I've settled all about +my burial with the undertaker and Mr Grigg downstairs; and you'll have +nothing to do but stay here till they take me away. If you like, you +and Robin and baby may walk after me; but be sure see everybody out, +and lock the door safe afore you start.' +</P> + +<P> +She lay silent for some minutes, touching one after another the clothes +spread upon the bed as Meg replaced them in the box, and then, locking +it, put the key into the bag, and hung it round her neck. +</P> + +<P> +'Little Meg,' said her mother, 'do you remember one Sunday evening us +hearing a sermon preached in the streets?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, mother,' answered Meg promptly. +</P> + +<P> +'What was it he said so often?' she whispered. 'You learnt the verse +once at school.' +</P> + +<P> +'I know it still,' said Meg. '"If ye then, being evil, know how to +give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Father +which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?"' +</P> + +<P> +'Ay, that's it,' she said faintly; 'and he said we needn't wait to be +God's children, but we were to ask Him for good things at once, because +He had sent His own Son to be our Saviour, and to die for us. "Them +that ask Him, them that ask Him"; he said it over and over again. Eh! +but I've asked Him a hundred times to let me live till father comes +home, or to let me take baby along with me.' +</P> + +<P> +'May be that isn't a good thing,' said Meg. 'God knows what are good +things.' +</P> + +<P> +The dying mother pondered over these words for some time, until a +feeble smile played upon her wan face. +</P> + +<P> +'It 'ud be a good thing anyhow,' she said, 'to ask Him to forgive me my +sins, and take me to heaven when I die—wouldn't it, Meg?' +</P> + +<P> +Yes, that's sure to be a good thing,' answered Meg thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +'Then I'll ask Him for that all night,' said her mother, 'and to be +sure take care of you all till father comes back. That 'ud be another +good thing.' +</P> + +<P> +She turned her face round to the wall with a deep sigh, and closed her +eyelids, but her lips kept moving silently from time to time. Meg +cried softly to herself in her chair before the fire, but presently she +dozed a little for very heaviness of heart, and dreamed that her +father's ship was come into dock, and she, and her mother, and the +children were going down the dingy streets to meet him. She awoke with +a start; and creeping gently to her mother's side, laid her warm little +hand upon hers. It was deadly cold, with a chill such as little Meg +had never before felt; and when her mother neither moved nor spoke in +answer to her repeated cries, she knew that she was dead. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg as a Mourner +</H3> + +<P> +For the next day, and the night following, the corpse of the mother lay +silent and motionless in the room where her three children were living. +Meg cried bitterly at first; but there was Robin to be comforted, and +the baby to be played with when it laughed and crowed in her face. +Robin was nearly six years old, and had gained a vague, dim knowledge +of death by having followed, with a troop of other curious children, +many a funeral that had gone out from the dense and dirty dwellings to +the distant cemetery, where he had crept forward to the edge of the +grave, and peeped down into what seemed to him a very dark and dreadful +depth. When little Meg told him mother was dead, and lifted him up to +kneel on the bedside and kiss her icy lips for the last time, his +childish heart was filled with an awe which almost made him shrink from +the sight of that familiar face, scarcely whiter or more sunken now +than it had been for many a day past. But the baby stroked the quiet +cheeks, whilst chuckling and kicking in Meg's arms, and shouted, 'Mam! +mam! mam!' until she caught it away, and pressing it tightly to her +bosom, sat down on the floor by the bed, weeping. +</P> + +<P> +'You've got no mam but me now, baby,' cried little Meg. She sat still +for a while, with Robin lying on the ground beside her, his face hidden +in her ragged frock; but the baby set up a pitiful little wail, and she +put aside her own grief to soothe it. +</P> + +<P> +'Hush! hush!' sang Meg, getting up, and walking with baby about the +room. 'Hush, hush, my baby dear! By-by, my baby, by-by!' +</P> + +<P> +Meg's sorrowful voice sank into a low, soft, sleepy tone, and presently +the baby fell fast asleep, when she laid it upon Robin's little +mattress, and covered it up gently with an old shawl. Robin was +standing at the foot of the bed, gazing at his mother with wide-open, +tearless eyes; and little Meg softly drew the sheet again over the pale +and rigid face. +</P> + +<P> +'Robbie,' she said, 'let's sit in the window a bit.' +</P> + +<P> +They had to climb up to the narrow window-sill by a broken chair which +stood under it; but when they were there, and Meg had her arm round +Robin, to hold him safe, they could see down into Angel Court, and into +the street beyond, with its swarms of busy and squalid people. Upon +the stone pavement far below them a number of children of every age and +size, but all ill-clothed and ill-fed, were crawling about, in and out +of the houses, and their cries and shrieks came up to them in their +lofty seat; but of late their mother had not let them run out to play +in the streets, and they were mostly strangers to them except by sight. +Now and then Meg and Robin cast a glance inwards at the quiet and still +form of their mother, lying as if silently watching them with her +half-closed eyes, and when they spoke to one another they spoke in +whispers. +</P> + +<P> +'Mother is going to live with the angels,' said Meg. +</P> + +<P> +'What are angels?' asked Robin, his glittering black eyes glancing at +the bed where she lay in her deep sleep. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, I'm not quite sure,' answered Meg. 'Only they're beautiful +people, who are always white and clean, and shining, like that big +white cloud up in the sky. They live somewhere up in the sky, where +it's always sunny, and bright, and blue.' +</P> + +<P> +'How 'll mother get up there?' inquired Robin. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, I suppose,' replied Meg, after some reflection, 'after they've +put her in the ground, the angels 'll come and take her away. I read +once of a poor beggar, oh such a poor beggar! full of sores, and he +died, and the angels carried him away somewhere. I thought, may be, +they'd come for mother in the night; but I suppose they let people be +buried first now, and fetch 'em away after.' +</P> + +<P> +'I should like to see some angels,' said Robin. +</P> + +<P> +They were silent again after that, looking down upon the quarrelling +children, and the drunken men and women staggering about the yard +below. Now and then a sharper scream rang through the court, as some +angry mother darted out to cuff one or another of the brawling groups, +or to yell some shrill reproach at the drunken men. No sound came to +the ears of the listening children except the din and jarring tumult of +the crowded city; but they could see the white clouds floating slowly +across the sky over their heads, which seemed to little Meg like the +wings of the waiting angels, hovering over the place where her mother +lay dead. +</P> + +<P> +'Meg,' said Robin, 'why do they call this Angel Court? Did the angels +use to live here?' +</P> + +<P> +'I don't think they ever could,' she answered sadly, 'or it must have +been a long, long time ago. Perhaps they can't come here now, so +they're waiting for mother to be taken out to the burying-ground afore +they can carry her up to the sky. May be that's it.' +</P> + +<P> +'Meg,' whispered Robin, pressing closer to her side, 'what's the devil?' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, I don't know,' cried Meg; 'only he's dreadfully, dreadfully +wicked.' +</P> + +<P> +'As wicked as father is when he's drunk?' asked Robin. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, a hundred million times wickeder,' answered Meg eagerly. 'Father +doesn't get drunk often; and you mustn't be a naughty boy and talk +about it.' +</P> + +<P> +It was already a point of honour with little Meg to throw a cloak over +her father's faults; and she spoke so earnestly that Robin was strongly +impressed by it. He asked no more questions for some time. +</P> + +<P> +'Meg,' he said at last, 'does the devil ever come here?' +</P> + +<P> +'I don't think he does,' answered Meg, with a shrewd shake of her small +head; 'I never see him, never. Folks are bad enough without him, I +guess. No, no; you needn't be frightened of seeing him, Robbie.' +</P> + +<P> +'I wish there wasn't any devil,' said Robin. +</P> + +<P> +'I wish everybody in London was good,' said Meg. +</P> + +<P> +They sat a while longer on the window-sill, watching the sparrows, all +fluffy and black, fluttering and chattering upon the house-tops, and +the night fog rising from the unseen river, and hiding the tall masts, +which towered above the buildings. It was dark already in the court +below; and here and there a candle had been lit and placed in a window, +casting a faint twinkle of light upon the gloom. The baby stirred, and +cried a little; and Meg lifted Robin down from his dangerous seat, and +put two or three small bits of coal upon the fire, to boil up the +kettle for their tea. She had done it often before, at the bidding of +her mother; but it seemed different now. Mother's voice was silent, +and Meg had to think of everything herself. Soon after tea was over +she undressed Robin and the baby, who soon fell asleep again; and when +all her work was over, and the fire put out, little Meg crept in beside +them on the scanty mattress, with her face turned towards the bed, that +she might see the angels if they came to carry her mother away. But +before long her eyelids drooped over her drowsy eyes, and, with her arm +stretched lightly across both her children, she slept soundly till +daybreak. +</P> + +<P> +No angels had come in the night; but early in the morning a +neighbouring undertaker, with two other men, and Mr Grigg, the +landlord, who lived on the ground-floor, carried away the light burden +of the coffin which contained Meg's mother. She waited until all were +gone, and then she locked the door carefully, and with baby in her +arms, and Robin holding by her frock, she followed the funeral at a +distance, and with difficulty, through the busy streets. The brief +burial service was ended before they reached the cemetery, but Meg was +in time to show Robin the plate upon the coffin before the grave-digger +shovelled down great spadefuls of earth upon it. They stood watching, +with sad but childish curiosity, till all was finished; and then Meg, +with a heavy and troubled heart, took them home again to their lonely +attic in Angel Court. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg's Cleaning Day +</H3> + +<P> +For a few days Meg kept up closely in her solitary attic, playing with +Robin and tending baby; only leaving them for a few necessary minutes, +to run to the nearest shop for bread or oatmeal. Two or three of the +neighbours took the trouble to climb the ladder, and try the latch of +the door, but they always found it locked; and if Meg answered at all, +she did so only with the door between them, saying she was getting on +very well, and she expected father home to-day or to-morrow. When she +went in and out on her errands, Mr Grigg, a gruff, surly man, who kept +everybody about him in terror, did not break his promise to her mother, +that he would let no one meddle with her; and very quickly the brief +interest of Angel Court in the three motherless children of the absent +sailor died away into complete indifference, unmingled with curiosity: +for everybody knew the full extent of their neighbours' possessions; +and the poor furniture of Meg's room, where the box lay well hidden and +unsuspected under the bedstead, excited no covetous desires. The +tenant of the back attic, a girl whom Meg herself had seen no oftener +than once or twice, was away on a visit of six weeks, having been +committed to a House of Correction for being drunk and disorderly in +the streets; so that by the close of the week in which the sailor's +wife died no foot ascended or descended the ladder, except that of +little Meg. +</P> + +<P> +There were two things Meg set her heart upon doing before father came +home: to teach Robin his letters, and baby to walk alone. Robin was a +quick, bright boy, and was soon filled with the desire to surprise his +father by his new accomplishment; and Meg and he laboured diligently +together over the Testament, which had been given to her at a night +school, where she had herself learned to read a little. But with the +baby it was quite another thing. There were babies in the court, not +to be compared with Meg's baby in other respects, who, though no older, +could already crawl about the dirty pavement and down into the gutter, +and who could even toddle unsteadily, upon their little bare feet, over +the stone flags. Meg felt it as a sort of reproach upon her, as a +nurse, to have her baby so backward. But the utmost she could prevail +upon it to do was to hold hard and fast by a chair, or by Robin's fist, +and gaze across the great gulf which separated her from Meg and the +piece of bread and treacle stretched out temptingly towards her. It +was a wan, sickly baby with an old face, closely resembling Meg's own, +and meagre limbs, which looked as though they would never gain strength +enough to bear the weight of the puny body; but from time to time a +smile kindled suddenly upon the thin face, and shone out of the serious +eyes—a smile so sweet, and unexpected, and fleeting, that Meg could +only rush at her, and catch her in her arms, thinking there was not +such another baby in the world. This was the general conclusion to +Meg's efforts to teach her to walk, but none the less she put her +through the same course of training a dozen times a day. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes, when her two children were asleep, little Meg climbed up to +the window-sill and sat there alone, watching the stars come out in +that sky where her mother was gone to live. There were nights when the +fog was too thick for her to see either them or the many glittering +specks made by the lamps in the maze of streets around her; and then +she seemed to herself to be dwelling quite alone with Robin and baby, +in some place cut off both from the sky above and the earth beneath. +But by-and-by, as she taught Robin out of the Testament, and read in it +herself two or three times a day, new thoughts of God and His life came +to her mind, upon which she pondered, after her childish fashion, as +she sat in the dark, looking out over the great vast city with its +myriads of fellow-beings all about her, none of whom had any knowledge +of her loneliness, or any sympathy with her difficulties. +</P> + +<P> +After a week was past, Meg and her children made a daily expedition +down to the docks, lingering about in any out-of-the-way corner till +they could catch sight of some good-natured face, which threatened no +unkind rebuff, and then Meg asked when her father's ship would come in. +Very often she could get no satisfactory answer, but whenever she came +across any one who knew the Ocean King, she heard that it would most +likely be in dock by the end of October. Robin's birthday was the last +day in October, so her mother's reckoning had been correct. Father +would be home on Robbie's birthday; yet none the less was Meg's anxious +face to be seen day after day about the docks, seeking someone to tell +her over again the good news. +</P> + +<P> +The last day but one arrived, and Meg set about the scrubbing and the +cleaning of the room heartily, as she had seen her mother do before her +father's return. Robin was set upon the highest chair, with baby on +his lap, to look on at Meg's exertions, out of the way of the wet +flooring, upon which she bestowed so much water that the occupant of +the room below burst out upon the landing, with such a storm of threats +and curses as made her light heart beat with terror. When the cleaning +of the room was done, she trotted up and down the three flights of +stairs with a small can, until she had filled, as full as it would +hold, a broken tub, which was to serve as a bath for Robin and baby. +It was late in the evening when all was accomplished, and Meg looked +around her with a glow of triumph on the clean room and the fresh faces +of the children. Very weary she felt, but she opened her Testament, in +which she had not had time to give Robin a lesson that day, and she +read a verse half aloud to herself. +</P> + +<P> +'Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give +you rest.' +</P> + +<P> +'I wish I could go to Jesus,' sighed little Meg, 'for I've worked very +hard all day; and He says He'd give me rest. Only I don't know where +to go.' +</P> + +<P> +She laid her head down on the pillow beside the baby's slumbering face, +and almost before it rested there a deep sleep had come. Perhaps Meg's +sigh had gone to Jesus, and it was He who gave her rest; 'for so He +giveth His beloved sleep.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg's Treat to Her Children +</H3> + +<P> +Robin's birthday dawned brightly, even into the dark deep shadows of +Angel Court, and Meg was awakened by the baby's two hands beating upon +her still drowsy face, and trying to lift up her closed eyelids with +its tiny fingers. She sprang up with a light heart, for father was +coming home to-day. For the first time since her mother's death she +dragged the box from under the bed, and with eager hands unlocked the +lid. She knew that she dare not cross the court, she and the children, +arrayed in the festive finery, without her father to take care of them; +for she had seen other children stripped of all their new and showy +clothes before they could reach the shelter of the larger streets. +</P> + +<P> +But Meg was resolved that Robin and baby at least should not meet their +father in rags. She took out the baby's coat and hood, too small now +even for the little head it was to cover, and Robin's blue cap and +brown holland pinafore. These things she made up into a bundle, +looking longingly at her own red frock, and her bonnet with green +ribbons: but Meg shook her head at herself admonishingly. It never +would do to risk an appearance in such gorgeous attire. The very +utmost she could venture upon was to put some half-worn shoes on her +own feet and Robin's; for shoes were not in fashion for the children of +Angel Court, and the unusual sound of their tread would attract quite +as much attention as little Meg dare risk. She dressed her children +and set them on the bed, while she put her own rough hair as smooth as +she could by a little glass in the lid of the trunk. Her bonnet, which +had originally belonged to her mother, had been once of black silk, but +it was now brown with years, and the old shawl she pinned over the +ragged bodice of her frock was very thin and torn at the edges; but +Meg's heart was full of hope, and nothing could drive away the smile +from her careworn face this morning. With the baby in her arms she +carefully descended the ladder, having put the door-key into the bag +round her neck along with the key of the box and her last half-crown. +Then with stealthy steps she stole along under the houses, hushing +Robin, who was inclined to make an unnecessary clatter in his shoes; +but fortunately the inhabitants of Angel Court were not early risers, +and Meg was off in good time, so they reached the outer streets safely, +without notice or attack. Before going down to the docks Meg drew +Robin into an empty archway, and there exchanged his ragged cap and +pinafore for those she had put up into her bundle. Having dressed the +baby also, she sat and looked at them both for a minute in mute +admiration and delight. There could not be a prettier boy than Robin +in all London, she was sure, with his bright black eyes and curly hair, +that twisted so tightly round her fingers. As for the baby with her +shrewd old-womanish face, and the sweet smile which spoke a good deal +plainer than words, Meg could scarcely keep from kissing her all the +time. How pleased and proud father would be! But when she remembered +how she should have to tell him that mother was dead and buried, and +none of them would ever see her again, Meg's eyes were blinded with +tears, and hiding her face in the baby's neck, she cried, whether for +joy or sorrow she could hardly tell; until Robin broke out into a loud +wail of distress and terror, which echoed noisily under the low vault +of the archway. +</P> + +<P> +Little Meg roused herself at the sound of Robin's cry, and taking his +hand in hers, with the baby upon her arm, she loitered about the +entrance to the dockyard, till a good-tempered looking burly man came +near to them. Meg planted herself bravely in his way, and looked up +wistfully into his red face. +</P> + +<P> +'Please, sir,' she said, 'could you tell me if father's ship's come in +yet?' +</P> + +<P> +'Father's ship!' repeated the man in a kindly voice. 'Why, what's the +name of father's ship?' +</P> + +<P> +'The Ocean King,' said Meg, trembling. +</P> + +<P> +'It's in the river, my little lass,' he said, 'but it won't be in dock +till night. Father can't be at home afore to-morrow morning at the +soonest.' +</P> + +<P> +'Thank you kindly, sir,' answered Meg, her voice faltering with her +great joy. Her task was ended, then. To-morrow she would give up the +key of the box with its secret treasure, which she hardly dared to +think about, and then she could feel like a child once more. She did +feel almost as gay as Robin who was pattering and stamping proudly +along in his shoes, and in the consciousness that it was his birthday. +Nobody else had such a thing as a birthday, so far as he knew; +certainly none of his acquaintances in Angel Court, not even Meg +herself, for Meg's birthday was lost in the depth of the ten years +which had passed over her head. He scarcely knew what it was, for he +could neither see it nor touch it; but he had it, for Meg told him so, +and it made him feel glad and proud. It was a bright, warm, sunny +autumn day, with enough freshness in the breeze coming off the unseen +river to make the air sweet and reviving; for Meg was skirting about +the more open streets, without venturing to pass through the closer and +dirtier alleys. +</P> + +<P> +'Robbie,' she said after a time, when they had come to a halt upon the +steps of a dwelling-house, 'Robbie, I'll give you a treat to-day, +because it's your birthday. We'll not go home till it's dark; and I'll +take you to see Temple Gardens.' +</P> + +<P> +'What are Temple Gardens?' demanded Robin, his eyes eager for an answer. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, you'll see,' said Meg, not quite able to explain herself. 'I went +there once, ever so many years ago, when I was a little girl. You'll +like 'em ever so!' +</P> + +<P> +'Do we know the road?' asked Robin doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +'I should think so!' replied Meg; 'and if we didn't, there's the +police. What's the police good for, if they couldn't tell a person +like me the road to Temple Gardens? We'll have such a nice day!' +</P> + +<P> +The children trotted along briskly till they reached the broad +thoroughfares and handsome shops of the main streets which traverse +London, where a constant rush of foot passengers upon the pavement, and +of conveyances in the roadway, hurry to and fro from morning to +midnight. Poor little Meg stood for a few minutes aghast and stunned, +almost fearful of committing herself and her children to the mighty +stream; but Robin pulled her on impatiently. He had been once as far +as the Mansion House, before the time when their mother's long illness +had made them almost prisoners in their lonely attic; and Meg herself +had wandered several times as far as the great church of St Paul. +After the first dread was over, she found a trembling, anxious +enjoyment in the sight of the shops, and of the well-dressed people in +the streets. At one of the windows she was arrested by a full-size +vision of herself, and Robin, and the baby, reflected in a great glass, +a hundred times larger than the little square in the box-lid at home. +She could not quite keep down a sigh after her own red frock and best +bonnet; but she comforted herself quickly with the thought that people +would look upon her as the nurse of Robin and baby, sent out to take +them a walk. +</P> + +<P> +They did not make very rapid progress, for they stopped to look in at +many shop windows, especially where there were baby-clothes for sale, +or where there were waxen figures of little boys, life-size, dressed in +the newest fashions, with large eyes of glass beads, not unlike Robin's +own black ones. The passage of the crossings was also long and +perilous. Meg ran first with the baby, and put her down safely on the +other side in some corner of a doorway; then with a sinking and +troubled heart, least any evil person should pick her up, and run away +with her as a priceless treasure, she returned for Robin. In this way +she got over several crossings, until they reached the bottom of +Ludgate Hill, where she stood shivering and doubting for a long time, +till she fairly made up her mind to speak to the majestic policeman +looking on calmly at the tumult about him. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, if you please, Mr Police,' said Meg, in a plaintive voice, 'I want +to get these two little children over to the other side, and I don't +know how to do it, except you'd please to hold baby while I take Robbie +across.' +</P> + +<P> +The policeman looked down from his great height, without bending his +stiff neck, upon the childish creature who spoke to him, and Meg's +spirit sank with the fear of being ordered back again. But he picked +up Robin under his arm, and bidding her keep close beside him, he +threaded his way through the throng of carriages. This was the last +danger; and now with restored gaiety Meg travelled on with her two +children. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-046"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-046.jpg" ALT="The policeman picked up Robin under his arm, and threaded his way through the throng of carriages." BORDER="2" WIDTH="401" HEIGHT="593"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 401px"> +The policeman picked up Robin under his arm, and threaded his way through the throng of carriages. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +By-and-by they turned from the busy Fleet Street under a low archway, +and in a minute they were out of the thunder of the streets which had +almost drowned their voices, and found themselves in a place so quiet +and so calm, with a sort of grave hush in the very air, that Robin +pressed close to Meg's side, with something of the silent and subdued +awe with which he might have entered a church. There were houses here, +and courts, but not houses and courts like those from which they had +come. Here and there they came upon a long corridor, where the sun +shone between the shadows of the pillars supporting the roof; and they +looked along them with wondering eyes, not knowing where they could +lead to, and too timid to try to find out. It was not a deserted +place, but the number of people passing to and fro were few enough to +make it seem almost a solitude to these poor children, who had +travelled hither from the over-crowded slums of the East End. They +could hear their own voices, when they spoke, ring out in such clear, +echoing tones, that Meg hushed Robin, lest some of the grave, stern, +thoughtful gentlemen who passed them should bid them begone, and leave +the Temple to its usual stillness. The houses seemed to them so large +and grand, that Meg, who had heard once of the Queen, and had a dim +notion of her as a lady of extraordinary greatness and grandeur, +whispered to Robin confidentially that she thought the Queen must live +here. +</P> + +<P> +They came upon a fountain in the centre of a small plot of grass and +flowers, enclosed within high railings; and Robin uttered a shrill cry +of delight, which rang noisily through the quiet court where its waters +played in the sunshine. But at last they discovered, with hearts as +eagerly throbbing as those of the explorers of some new country, the +gardens, the real Temple Gardens! The chrysanthemums were in full +blossom, with all their varied tints, delicate and rich, glowing under +the brightness of the noontide sun; and Robin and Meg stood still, +transfixed and silent, too full of an excess of happiness to speak. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, Meg, what is it? what is it?' cried Robin at last, with +outstretched hands, as if he would fain gather them all into his arms. +'Is it gardens, Meg? Is this Temple Gardens?' +</P> + +<P> +Meg could not answer at first, but she held Robin back from the +flowers. She did not feel quite at home in this strange, sweet, sunny +place; and she peeped in cautiously through the half-open iron gate +before entering. There were a few other children there, with their +nursemaids, but she felt there was some untold difference between her +and them. But Robin's delight had given him courage, and he rushed in +tumultuously, running along the smooth walks in an ecstasy of joy; and +Meg could do nothing else but follow. Presently, as nobody took any +notice of her, she gave herself up to the gladness of the hour, and +toiled up and down, under the weight of the baby, wherever Robin wished +to go, until he consented to rest a little while upon a seat which +faced the river, where they could see the boats pass by. This was the +happiest moment to Meg. She thought of her father's ship coming up the +river, bringing him home to her and the children; and she had almost +lost the recollection of where she was, when Robin, who had been very +quiet for some time, pulled her by the shawl. +</P> + +<P> +'Look, Meg,' he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +He pointed to a seat not far from them, where sat a lady, in a bright +silk dress, and a velvet bonnet with a long rich feather across it. +There were two children with her, a girl of Meg's age, and a boy about +as big as Robin, dressed like a little Highlander, with a kilt of many +colours, and a silver-mounted pouch, and a dirk, which he was +brandishing about before his mother, who looked on, laughing fondly and +proudly at her boy. Meg gazed, too, until she heard Robin sob, and +turning quickly to him, she saw the tears rolling quickly down his +sorrowful face. 'Nobody laughs to me, Meg,' said Robin. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh yes, Robbie, I laugh to you,' cried Meg; 'and father 'll laugh when +he comes home to-morrow; and maybe God laughs to us, only we can't see +His face.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'd like to go home,' sobbed Robin; and Meg took her baby upon her +tired arm, and turned her steps eastward once more. As they left +Temple Gardens, languid and weary, Meg saw the friendly man who had +spoken kindly to them that morning at the docks passing by in an empty +dray, and meeting her wistful eyes, he pulled up for a minute. +</P> + +<P> +'Hullo, little woman!' he shouted. 'Are you going my way?' +</P> + +<P> +He pointed his whip towards St Paul's, and Meg nodded, for her voice +could not have reached him through the din. +</P> + +<P> +'Hoist them children up here, that's a good fellow,' he said to a man +who was standing by idle; and in a few seconds more they were riding +triumphantly along Fleet Street in such a thrill and flutter of delight +as Meg's heart had never felt before, while Robin forgot his sorrows, +and cheered on the horses with all the power of his shrill voice. The +dray put them down at about half a mile from Angel Court, while it was +still broad daylight, and Robin was no longer tired. Meg changed her +last half-crown, and spent sixpence of it lavishly in the purchase of +some meat pies, upon which they feasted sumptuously, in the shelter of +a doorway leading to the back of a house. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg's Neighbour +</H3> + +<P> +When their feast was over, the children sauntered on slowly, not +wishing to enter Angel Court till it was dark enough for Robin's and +baby's finery to pass by unseen; but as soon as it was dark they turned +out of the main thoroughfare into the dingy streets more familiar to +them. As they entered the house Meg heard the deep gruff voice of Mr +Grigg calling to her, and she went into his room, trembling, and +holding the baby very tightly in her arms. It was a small room, the +same size as their own attic, and the litter and confusion throughout +made it impossible to go in more than a step or two. Mr Grigg was +seated at a stained wooden table, upon which stood two large cups and a +black bottle of gin, with a letter lying near to Mr Grigg's large and +shaking hand. Coming in from the fresh air of the night, Meg coughed a +little with the mingled fumes of gin and tobacco; but she coughed +softly for fear of giving offence. +</P> + +<P> +'Here's a letter come for your mother, little Meg,' said Mr Grigg, +seizing it eagerly, 'I'll read it to you if you like.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh no, thank you, sir,' answered Meg quickly; 'father's coming home, +and he'll read it to-morrow morning. His ship's in the river, and +it'll be in dock to-night for certain. So he'll be home to-morrow.' +</P> + +<P> +Upon hearing this news Mr Grigg thought it best to deliver up the +letter to Meg, but he did it so reluctantly that she hurried away lest +he should reclaim it. Robin was already halfway upstairs, but she soon +overtook him, and a minute afterwards reached their own door. She was +about to put the baby down to take out the key, when, almost without +believing her own eyes, she saw that it was in the lock, and that a +gleam of firelight shone through the chinks of the door. Meg lifted +the latch with a beating heart, and looked in before venturing to +enter. The fire was lighted, but there seemed to be no other +disturbance or change in the attic since the morning, except that in +her mother's low chair upon the hearth there sat a thin slight woman, +like her mother, with the head bowed down, and the face hidden in the +hands. Meg paused, wonder-stricken and speechless, on the door-sill; +but Robin ran forward quickly, with a glad shout of 'Mother! mother!' +</P> + +<P> +At the sound of Robin's step and cry the woman lifted up her face. It +was a white, thin face, but younger than their mother's, though the +eyes were red and sunken, as if with many tears, and there was a gloom +upon it, as if it had never smiled a happy smile. Meg knew it in an +instant as the face of the tenant of the back attic, who had been in +jail for six weeks, and her eye searched anxiously the dark corner +under the bed, where the box was hidden. It seemed quite safe and +untouched, but still Meg's voice was troubled as she spoke. +</P> + +<P> +'I thought I'd locked up all right,' she said, stepping into the room, +while Robin took refuge behind her, and regarded the stranger closely +from his place of safety. +</P> + +<P> +'Ay, it was all right,' answered the girl, 'only you see my key 'd +unlock it; and I felt cold and low coming out of jail to-day; and I'd +no coal, nor bread, nor nothing. So I came in here, and made myself +comfortable. Don't you be crusty, little Meg. You'd be the same if +you'd been locked up for six weeks. I wish I were dead, I do.' +</P> + +<P> +The girl spoke sadly, and dropped her head again upon her hands, while +Meg stood in the middle of the floor, not knowing what to do or say. +She sat down after a while upon the bedstead, and began taking off the +baby's things, pondering deeply all the time what course of action she +ought to follow. She could place herself so as to conceal completely +the box under the bed; but if the girl's key would unlock her attic +door, how was she ever to leave it for a moment in safety? Then the +thought flashed across her that father would be at home to-morrow, and +she would no longer have to take care of the hidden treasure. In the +meantime Robin had stolen up to the stranger's side, and after closely +considering her for some moments, he stroked her hand with his own +small fingers. +</P> + +<P> +'I thought you were mother, I did,' he said. 'It's my birthday to-day.' +</P> + +<P> +For one instant the girl looked at him with a smile in her sunken eyes, +and then she lifted him on to her lap, and laid her face upon his curly +head, sobbing bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +'Little Meg,' she said, 'your mother spoke kind to me once, and now +she's dead and gone. I wonder why I wasn't took instead o' her?' +</P> + +<P> +Meg's tender heart closed itself no longer against the stranger. She +got up from her seat, and crossing the floor to the fireside, she put +the baby down by Robin on her lap. +</P> + +<P> +'You didn't ought to go into a person's room without asking leave,' she +said; 'but if you'll hold baby for me, I'll soon get tea. I've got a +little real tea left, and father 'll buy some more to-morrow. You mind +the children till it's ready.' +</P> + +<P> +It was soon ready, and they drank and ate together, with few words. +Meg was intent upon getting her weary children to bed as soon as +possible, and after it was over she undressed them at once. Before +Robin got into bed she addressed the girl hesitatingly. +</P> + +<P> +'Robbie always says his prayers aloud to me,' she said; 'you won't +mind, will you?' +</P> + +<P> +'Go on,' answered the girl, with a sob. +</P> + +<P> +'Robbie,' said Meg, as he knelt at her knee, with his hands held up +between both her hands, 'Robbie, it's your birthday to-day; and if I +was you I'd ask God for something more than other days. I'd ask Him to +bless everybody as well as us if I was you. If everybody was good, +it'd be so nice.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, Meg,' replied Robin promptly, closing his black eyes before he +began his prayer. 'Pray God, bless father on the big sea, and bless +me, and Meg, and baby, and take care of us all. Pray God, bless +everybody, 'cept the devil. Amen.' +</P> + +<P> +But Robin did not get up from his knees. He dropped his head upon +Meg's lap, and when she moved he cried, 'Stop a minute!' Meg waited +patiently until he lifted up his face again, and shutting his eyes very +tightly, said, 'Pray God, bless everybody, and the devil, and make him +a good man. Amen.' +</P> + +<P> +'Robbie,' said Meg mournfully, 'I don't think the devil can be made +good. He doesn't want to be good. If anybody wants to be good, God +can make 'em good, anybody in all the world; but He won't if they don't +want to.' +</P> + +<P> +Robin was already half asleep, and gave little heed to Meg's words. +She tucked him snugly into his place beside baby, and stooping over +them, kissed both their drowsy faces with a loving and lingering +tenderness. Then she turned to the fire, and saw the strange girl +there upon her knees before her mother's chair, weeping again in a +passion of tears. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg's Last Money +</H3> + +<P> +'What's the matter with you?' asked Meg, laying her small rough hand +upon the girl's head. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, Meg, Meg!' she cried, 'I do want to be good, and I can't. You +don't know how wicked I am; but once I was a good little girl like you. +And now I can never, never be good again.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, you can,' answered little Meg, 'if you ask God.' +</P> + +<P> +'You don't know anything about it,' she said, pushing away Meg's hand. +</P> + +<P> +'I don't know much,' replied Meg meekly; 'but Jesus says in the Bible, +that if our fathers 'll give us good things, God 'll much more give +good things to anybody as asks for 'em.' +</P> + +<P> +'But I'm too bad to ask Him,' said the girl. +</P> + +<P> +'I don't know what's to be done, then,' answered Meg. 'The Bible says, +"Those that ask Him"; and if you are too bad to ask Him, I suppose He +won't give you any good things.' +</P> + +<P> +The girl made no reply, but crouching down upon the hearth at Meg's +feet, she sat looking into the fire with the expression of one who is +thinking deeply. Meg too was silent for a time, smiling now and then +as she recollected that father would be at home to-morrow. +</P> + +<P> +'I don't know what you're called,' said Meg, after a very long silence. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, they call me Kitty, and Puss, and Madcap, and all sorts o' names,' +answered the girl, with a deep sigh. +</P> + +<P> +'But that's not your christen name?' said Meg. +</P> + +<P> +'No,' she replied. +</P> + +<P> +'What does your mother call you?' asked Meg. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment little Meg was terrified, for the girl seized her hands in +a strong and painful grasp, and her red eyes flamed with anger; but she +loosed her hold gradually, and then, in a choking voice, she said, +'Don't you never speak to me about my mother!' +</P> + +<P> +'Have you got any money, Kitty?' inquired Meg, by way of turning the +conversation. +</P> + +<P> +'Not a rap,' said Kitty, laughing hoarsely. +</P> + +<P> +'I've got two shillings left,' continued Meg, 'and I'll give you one; +only, if you please, you mustn't come into my room again, at least till +father's at home. I promised mother not to let anybody at all come +here. You'll not be angry, will you?' +</P> + +<P> +'No, I'm not angry,' said Kitty gently, 'and you must always do what +your mother told you, little Meg. She spoke kind to me once, she did. +So I'll go away now, dear, and never come in again: but you wouldn't +mind me listening at the door when Robbie's saying his prayers +sometimes?' +</P> + +<P> +'No,' answered Meg; 'and you may listen when I read up loud, if you +like. I always read something afore I go to bed, and I'll speak up +loud enough for you to hear.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'll listen,' said Kitty, standing up to go to her own dark, cold +attic, and looking round sadly at Meg's tidy room, all ready as it was +for her father's arrival. 'I suppose you'd not mind me kissing the +children afore I go?' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh no,' said Meg, going with her to the bedside, and looking down +fondly upon the children's sleeping faces. The baby's pale small face +wore a smile upon it, as did Robin's also, for he was dreaming of the +gardens he had visited on his birthday. The girl bent over them, but +she drew back without kissing them, and with a sharp painful tone in +her voice she said, 'I wish I was dead, I do.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg's Disappointment +</H3> + +<P> +If Meg had been up early on Robin's birthday, she was out of bed and +about her preparations still earlier the next morning. She had time to +go over again most of her brushing and rubbing of the scanty furniture +before the children awoke. She reached out all their best clothes, and +her own as well, for she did not intend to go down to the docks to meet +her father, but thought it would be best to wait at home for his +arrival. Her hands were full, and her thoughts also, for some time; +and it was not till the nearest clock struck eleven that she could +consider all her preparations completed. +</P> + +<P> +When all her work was done, Meg helped Robin up to the window-sill, and +climbed after him herself to the perilous seat, with the baby held fast +upon her lap. It was the first time the baby had been allowed to +occupy this dangerous place, and for the first few minutes Meg was not +without her fears; but it was weary and languid this morning, and sat +quite still upon her lap, with its little head resting upon her +shoulder, and its grave eyes looking out inquiringly upon the strange +world in which it found itself. Meg and Robin watched every man who +entered the court; and every now and then Robin would clap his hands, +and shout loudly, 'Father, father!' making Meg's arms tremble, and her +heart beat fast with expectation. But it was nine months since he had +gone away, and Robin had almost forgotten him, so that it always proved +not to be her father. Hour after hour passed by, and Meg cut up the +last piece of bread for the children and herself, and yet he never +came; though they stayed faithfully at their post, and would not give +up looking for him as long as the daylight lasted. But the night drew +near at last, an early night, for it was the first day in November, and +London fogs grow thick then; and Meg kindled the fire again, and sat +down by it, unwilling to undress the children before he came. So she +sat watching and waiting, until the baby fell into a broken, sobbing +slumber on her lap, and Robin lay upon the floor fast asleep. +</P> + +<P> +At length Meg resolved to lay the children in bed, dressed as they +were, and steal down herself to the docks, under the shelter of the +fog, to see if she could learn any news of the Ocean King. She drew +the old shawl over her head, which well covered her red frock, and +taking off her shoes and stockings—for father would not miss them in +the night—she crept unseen and unheard down the dark staircase, and +across the swarming, noisy court. The fog was growing thicker every +minute, yet she was at no loss to find her way, so familiar it was to +her. But when she reached the docks, the darkness of the night, as +well as that of the fog, hid from her the presence of her good-natured +friend, if indeed he was there. There were strange noises and rough +voices to be heard, and from time to time the huge figure of some tall +man appeared to her for an instant in the gloom, and vanished again +before little Meg could find courage to speak to him. She drew back +into a corner, and peered eagerly, with wistful eyes, into the thick +yellow mist which hid everything from them, while she listened to the +clank of iron cables, and the loud sing-song of the invisible sailors +as they righted their vessels. If she could only hear her father's +voice among them! She felt sure she should know it among a hundred +others, and she was ready to cry aloud the moment it reached her +ears—to call 'Father!' and he would be with her in an instant, and she +in his arms, with her own clasped fast about his neck. Oh, if he would +but speak out of the darkness! Meg's keen eyes grew dim with tears, +and her ears seemed to become dull of hearing, from the very longing to +see and hear more clearly. But she rubbed away the tears with her +shawl, and pushed the tangled hair away behind her small ears, and with +her hands pressed against her heart, to deaden its throbbing, she +leaned forward to pierce, if possible, through the thick dark veil +which separated her from her father. +</P> + +<P> +She had been there a long time when the thought crossed her, that +perhaps after all he had been knocking at the door at home, and trying +to open it; waking up the children, and making them cry and scream with +terror at finding themselves quite alone. She started up to hurry +away; but at that moment a man came close by, and in the extremity of +her anxiety Meg stopped him. +</P> + +<P> +'Please,' she said earnestly, 'is the Ocean King come in yet?' +</P> + +<P> +'Ay,' was the answer. 'Came in last night, all right and tight.' +</P> + +<P> +'Father must be come home, then,' thought Meg, speeding away swiftly +and noiselessly with her bare feet along the streets to Angel Court. +She glanced up anxiously to her attic window, which was all in +darkness, while the lower windows glimmered with a faint light from +within. The landlord's room was full of a clamorous, quarrelling crew +of drunkards; and Meg's spirit sank as she thought—suppose father had +been up to their attic, and finding it impossible to get in at once, +had come down, and begun to drink with them! She climbed the stairs +quickly, but all was quiet there; and she descended again to hang about +the door, and listen, and wait; either to discover if he was there, or +to prevent him turning in when he did come. Little Meg's heart was +full of a woman's heaviest care and anxiety, as she kept watch in the +damp and the gloom of the November night, till even the noisy party +within broke up, and went their way, leaving Angel Court to a brief +season of quietness. +</P> + +<P> +Meg slept late in the morning, but she was not disturbed by any knock +at the door. Robin had crept out of bed and climbed up alone to the +window-sill, where fortunately the window was shut and fastened; and +the first thing Meg's eyes opened upon was Robin sitting there, in the +tumbled clothes in which he had slept all night. The morning passed +slowly away in mingled hope and fear; but no step came up the ladder to +their door, and Kitty had gone out early in the morning, before Meg was +awake. She spent her last shilling in buying some coal and oatmeal; +and then, because it was raining heavily, she stationed herself on the +topmost step of the stairs, with Robin and baby, waiting with +ever-growing dread for the long-delayed coming of her father. +</P> + +<P> +It was growing dark again before any footstep came further than the +landing below, and then it was a soft, stealthy, slipshod step, not +like the strong and measured tread of a man. It was a woman who +climbed the steep ladder, and Meg knew it could be no one else but +Kitty. The girl sat down on the top step beside them, and took Robin +upon her lap. +</P> + +<P> +'What are you all doing out here, little Meg?' she said, in a low, +gentle voice, which Meg could scarcely believe to be the same as that +which had sometimes frightened her by its shrill shrieks of drunken +merriment. +</P> + +<P> +'We're looking for father,' she answered weariedly. 'He's never come +yet, and I've spent all my money, and we've got no candles.' +</P> + +<P> +'Meg,' said Kitty, 'I can pay you back the shilling you gave me on +Tuesday night.' +</P> + +<P> +'But you mustn't come into our room, if you do,' answered Meg. +</P> + +<P> +'No, no, I'll not come in,' said she, pressing a shilling into Meg's +hand. 'But why hasn't father come home?' +</P> + +<P> +'I don't know,' sobbed Meg. 'His ship came in the night of Robbie's +birthday, that's two days ago; and he's never come yet.' +</P> + +<P> +'The ship come in!' repeated Kitty, in a tone of surprise. 'What's the +name o' the ship, Meg?' +</P> + +<P> +'Father's ship's the Ocean King,' said Robin proudly. +</P> + +<P> +'I'll hunt him up,' cried Kitty, rising in haste. 'I'll find him, if +he's anywhere in London. I know their ways, and where they go to, when +they come ashore, little Meg. Oh! I'll hunt him out. You put the +children to bed, dear; and then you sit up till I come back, if it's +past twelve o'clock, I'll bring him home, alive or dead. Don't cry no +more, little Meg.' +</P> + +<P> +She called softly up the stairs to say these last words, for she had +started off immediately. Meg did as she had told her, and then waited +with renewed hope for her return. It was past midnight before Kitty +tapped quietly at the door, and she went out to her on the landing. +But Kitty was alone, and Meg could hardly stand for the trembling which +came upon her. +</P> + +<P> +'Haven't you found father?' she asked. +</P> + +<P> +'I've found out where he is,' answered Kitty. 'He's at the other end +of the world, in hospital. He was took bad a-coming home—so bad, they +was forced to leave him behind them; and he'll work his way back when +he's well enough, so Jack says, one of his mates. He says he may come +back soon, or come back late, and that's all he knows about him. What +shall you do, little Meg?' +</P> + +<P> +'Mother said I was to be sure to take care of the children till father +comes home,' she answered, steadying her voice; 'and I'll do it, please +God. I can ask Him to help me, and He will. He'll take care of us.' +</P> + +<P> +'He hasn't took care o' me,' said Kitty bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +'May be you haven't asked Him,' said Meg. +</P> + +<P> +Kitty was silent for a minute, and then she spoke in a voice half +choked with sobs. +</P> + +<P> +'It's too late now,' she said, 'but He'll take care of you, never fear; +and oh! I wish He'd let me help Him. I wish I could do something for +you, little Meg; for your mother spoke kind to me once, and made me +think of my own mother. There, just leave me alone, will you? I'm off +to bed now, and you go to bed too. I'll help you all I can.' +</P> + +<P> +She pushed Meg back gently into her attic, and closed the door upon +her; but Meg heard her crying and moaning aloud in her own room, until +she herself fell asleep. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg's Red Frock in Pawn +</H3> + +<P> +Meg felt very forlorn when she opened her heavy eyelids the next +morning. It was certain now that her father could not be home for some +time, it might be a long time; and how was she to buy bread for her +children and herself? She took down her mother's letter from the end +of a shelf which supplied the place of a chimney-piece, and looked at +it anxiously; but she dared not ask anybody to read it for her, lest it +should contain some mention of the money hidden in the box; and that +must be taken care of in every way, because it did not belong to her, +or father even, but to one of his mates. She had no friend to go to in +all the great city. Once she might have gone to the teacher at the +school where she had learned to read a little; but that had been in +quite a different part of London, on the other side of the river, and +they had moved from it before her father had started on his last +voyage. Meg sat thinking and pondering sadly enough, until suddenly, +how she did not know, her fears were all taken away, and her childish +heart lightened. She called Robin, and bade him kneel down beside her, +and folding baby's hands together, she closed her own eyes, and bowed +her head, while she asked God for the help He had promised to give. +</P> + +<P> +'Pray God,' said little Meg, 'You've let mother die, and father be took +bad at the other side of the world, and there's nobody to take care of +us 'cept You, and Jesus says, if we ask You, You'll give us bread and +everything we want, just like father and mother. Pray God, do! I'm +not a grown-up person yet, and Robin's a very little boy, and baby +can't talk or walk at all; but there's nobody else to do anythink for +us, and we'll try as hard as we can to be good. Pray God, bless father +at the other side of the world, and Robbie, and baby, and me; and bless +everybody, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.' +</P> + +<P> +Meg rose from her knees joyfully, feeling sure that her prayer was +heard and would be answered. She went out with her children to lay out +the shilling Kitty had returned to her the day before; and when they +come in she and Robin sat down to a lesson in reading. The baby was +making a pilgrimage of the room from chair to chair, and along the +bedstead; but all of a sudden she balanced herself steadily upon her +tiny feet, and with a scream of mingled dread and delight, which made +Meg and Robin look up quickly, she tottered across the open floor to +the place where they were sitting, and hid her face in Meg's lap, +quivering with joy and wonder. Meg's gladness was full, except that +there was a little feeling of sorrow that neither father nor mother was +there to see it. +</P> + +<P> +'Did God see baby walk?' inquired Robin. +</P> + +<P> +'I should think He did!' said Meg confidently; and her slight sorrow +fled away. God could not help loving baby, she felt sure of that, nor +Robin; and if He loved them, would He not take care of them Himself, +and show her how to take care of them, till father was at home? The +day passed almost as happily as Robin's birthday; though the rain came +down in torrents, and pattered through the roof, falling splash, splash +into the broken tub, with a sound something like the fountain in Temple +Gardens. +</P> + +<P> +But when Kitty's shilling was gone to the last farthing, and not a +spoonful of meal remained in the bag, it was not easy to be happy. +Robin and baby were both crying for food; and there was no coal to make +a fire, nor any candle to give them light during the long dark evenings +of November. Kitty was out all day now, and did not get home till +late, so Meg had not seen her since the night she had brought the news +about her father. But a bright thought came to her, and she wondered +at herself for not having thought of it before. She must pawn her best +clothes; her red frock and bonnet with green ribbons. There was a +natural pang at parting with them, even for a time; but she comforted +herself with the idea that father would get them back for her as soon +as he returned. She reached them out of the box, feeling carefully +lest she should take any of Robin's or the baby's by mistake in the +dark; and then she set off with her valuable bundle, wondering how many +shillings she would get for them, and whether she could make the money +last till her father came. The pawnbroker's shop was a small, dingy +place in Rosemary Lane; and it, and the rooms above it, were as full as +they could be with bundles such as poor Meg carried under her old +shawl. A single gas-light was flaring away in the window, and a +hard-featured, sharp-eyed man was reading a newspaper behind the +counter. Meg laid down her bundle timidly, and waited till he had +finished reading his paragraph; after which he opened it, spread out +the half-worn frock, and held up the bonnet on his fist, regarding them +both with a critical and contemptuous eye. Some one else had entered +the shop, but Meg was too absorbed and too anxious to take any heed of +it The pawnbroker rolled the frock up scornfully, and gave it a push +towards her. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-084"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-084.jpg" ALT="The pawnbroker spread out the half-worn frock, and held up the bonnet on his fist." BORDER="2" WIDTH="404" HEIGHT="582"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 404px"> +The pawnbroker spread out the half-worn frock, and held up the bonnet on his fist. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +'Tenpence for the two,' he said, looking back at his newspaper. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh! if you please,' cried little Meg, in an agony of distress, 'you +must give me more than tenpence. I've got two little children, and no +bread, nor coals, nor candles. I couldn't buy scarcely anythink with +only tenpence. Indeed, indeed, my red frock's worth a great deal more; +it's worth I don't know how many shillings.' +</P> + +<P> +'You go home, little Meg,' said Kitty's voice behind her, 'and I'll +bring you three shillings for the frock, and one for the bonnet; four +for the two. Mr Sloman's an old friend o' mine, he is; and he'll +oblige you for my sake. There, you run away, and I'll manage this +little bit o' business for you.' +</P> + +<P> +Meg ran away as she was told, glad enough to leave her business with +Kitty. By-and-by she heard her coming upstairs, and went out to meet +her. Kitty placed four shillings in her hand. +</P> + +<P> +'Meg,' she said, 'you let me do that sort o' work for you always. +They'll cheat you ever so; but I wouldn't, not to save my life, if +you'll only trust me. You ask me another time. Is that the way God +takes care of you?' +</P> + +<P> +'He does take care of me,' answered Meg, with a smile; 'or may be you +wouldn't have come into the shop just now, and I should have got only +tenpence. I suppose that's taking care of me, isn't it?' +</P> + +<P> +'I don't know,' said Kitty. 'Only let me do that for you when you want +it done again.' +</P> + +<P> +It was not very long before it wanted to be done again; and then Meg by +daylight went through the contents of the box, choosing out those +things which could best be spared, but leaving Robin's and baby's fine +clothes to the last. She clung to these with a strong desire to save +them, lest it should happen that her father came home too poor to +redeem them. The packet of money, tied up and sealed, fell at last to +the bottom of the almost empty box, and rolled noisily about whenever +it was moved, but no thought of taking any of it entered into Meg's +head. She was almost afraid of looking at it herself, lest the secret +of it being there should get known in Angel Court; and whenever she +mentioned it in her prayers, which she did every night, asking God to +take care of it, she did not even whisper the words, much less speak +them aloud, as she did her other requests, but she spoke inwardly only, +for fear lest the very walls themselves should hear her. No one came +near her attic, except Kitty, and she kept her promise faithfully. +Since the four bearers had carried away her mother's coffin, and since +the night Kitty came out of jail, the night of Robin's birthday, no +stranger's foot had crossed the door-sill. +</P> + +<P> +But November passed, and part of December, and Meg's stock of clothes, +such as were of any value at the pawn-shop, was almost exhausted. At +the end of the year the term for which her father had paid rent in +advance would be over, and Mr Grigg might turn her and her children out +into the streets. What was to be done? How was she to take care of +Robin, and baby, and the money belonging to one of father's mates? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg's Friends in Need +</H3> + +<P> +These were hard times for little Meg. The weather was not severely +cold yet, or the children would have been bitterly starved up in their +cold attic, where Meg was obliged to be very careful of the coal. All +her mother's clothes were in pledge now, as well as her own and +Robin's; and it seemed as if it would soon come to pawning their poor +bed and their scanty furniture. Yet Meg kept up a brave spirit, and, +as often as the day was fine enough, took her children out into the +streets, loitering about the cook-shops, where the heat from the cellar +kitchens lent a soothing warmth to their shivering bodies. +</P> + +<P> +About the middle of December the first sharp frost set in, and Meg felt +herself driven back from this last relief. She had taken the children +out as usual, but she had no shoes to put on their feet, and nothing +but their thin old rags to clothe them with. Robin's feet were red and +blue with cold, like her own; but Meg could not see her own, and did +not feel the cold as much for them as for Robin's. His face had lost a +little of its roundness and freshness, and his black eyes some of their +brightness since his birthday; and poor Meg's heart bled at the sight +of him as he trudged along the icy pavement of the streets at her side. +There was one cook-shop from which warm air and pleasant odours came up +through an iron grating, and Meg hurried on to it to feel its grateful +warmth; but the shutters of the shop were not taken down, and the +cellar window was unclosed. Little Meg turned away sadly, and bent her +bare and aching feet homewards again, hushing baby, who wailed a +pitiful low wail in her ears. Robin, too, dragged himself painfully +along, for he had struck his numbed foot against a piece of iron, and +the wound was bleeding a little. They had turned down a short street +which they had often passed through before, at the end of which was a +small shop, displaying in its window a few loaves of bread, and some +bottles containing different kinds of sweetmeats, such as they had +indulged in sometimes in the palmy days when father was at home. The +door was divided in the middle, and the lower half was closed, while +the upper stood open, giving a full view of the shop within. Meg's old +brown bonnet just rose above the top of the closed half, and her +wistful face turned for a moment towards the tempting sight of a whole +shelf full of loaves; but she was going on slowly, when a kindly voice +hailed her from the dark interior. +</P> + +<P> +'Hollo, little woman!' it shouted, 'I haven't set eyes on you this many +a day. How's Robbie and baby.' +</P> + +<P> +'They're here, sir, thank you,' answered Meg, in a more womanly way +than ever, for she felt very low to-day. 'We're only doing middling, +thank you, sir.' +</P> + +<P> +'Why, father's ship's come in,' said her good-natured friend from the +docks, coming forward and wiping his lips, as if he had just finished a +good meal. 'What makes you be doing only middling?' +</P> + +<P> +'Father didn't come home in the ship,' replied Meg, her voice faltering +a little. +</P> + +<P> +'Come in and tell us all about it,' he said. 'Hollo, Mrs Blossom! just +step this way, if you please.' +</P> + +<P> +There was a little kitchen at the back of the shop, from which came a +very savoury smell of cooking, as the door opened, and a round, fat, +rosy-cheeked woman, of about fifty years of age, looked out +inquiringly. She came a step or two nearer the door, as Meg's friend +beckoned to her with a clasp-knife he held in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +'These little 'uns look cold and hungry, don't they, Mrs Blossom?' he +said. 'You smell something as smells uncommon good, don't you?' he +asked of Meg, who had sniffed a little, unconsciously. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, please, sir,' answered Meg. +</P> + +<P> +'I've ate as much as ever I can eat for to-day,' said her friend, 'so +you give 'em the rest, Mrs Blossom, and I'll be off. Only just tell me +why father's not come home in his ship.' +</P> + +<P> +'He was took bad on the other side of the world,' replied Meg, looking +up tearfully into his good-tempered face, 'and they was forced to leave +him behind in a hospital. That's why.' +</P> + +<P> +'And what's mother doing?' he asked. +</P> + +<P> +'Mother's dead,' she answered. +</P> + +<P> +'Dead!' echoed her friend. 'And who's taking care of you young 'uns?' +</P> + +<P> +'There's nobody to take care of us but God,' said Meg, simply and +softly. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, I never!' cried Mrs Blossom, seizing the baby out of Meg's, and +clasping it in her own arms. 'I never heard anything like that.' +</P> + +<P> +'Nor me,' said the man, catching up Robin, and bearing him off into the +warm little kitchen, where a saucepan of hot tripe was simmering on the +hob, and a round table, with two plates upon it, was drawn up close to +the fire. He put Robin down on Mrs Blossom's seat, and lifted Meg into +a large arm-chair he had just quitted. +</P> + +<P> +'I guess you could eat a morsel of tripe,' he said, ladling it out in +overflowing spoonfuls upon the plates. 'Mrs Blossom, some potatoes, if +you please, and some bread; and do you feed the baby whilst the little +woman gets her dinner. Now, I'm off. Mrs Blossom, you settle about +'em coming here again.' +</P> + +<P> +He was off, as he said, in an instant. Meg sat in her large arm-chair, +grasping a big knife and fork in her small hands, but she could not +swallow a morsel at first for watching Robin and the baby, who was +sucking in greedily spoonfuls of potatoes, soaked in the gravy. Mrs +Blossom urged her to fall to, and she tried to obey; but her pale face +quivered all over, and letting fall her knife and fork, she hid it in +her trembling hands. +</P> + +<P> +'If you please, ma'am, I'm only so glad,' said little Meg as soon as +she could command her voice. 'Robbie and baby were so hungry, and I +hadn't got anythink to give 'em.' +</P> + +<P> +'I suppose you aint hungry yourself neither,' observed Mrs Blossom, a +tear rolling down a little channel between her round cheeks and her +nose. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, but ain't I!' said Meg, recovering herself still more. 'I've had +nothink since last night, and then it were only a crust as Kitty give +me.' +</P> + +<P> +'Well, dear, fall to, and welcome,' answered Mrs Blossom. 'And who's +Kitty?' +</P> + +<P> +'It's a grown-up person as lives in the back attic,' answered Meg, +after eating her first mouthful. 'She helps me all she can. She's +took all my things to the pawn-shop for me, because she can get more +money than me. She's as good as can be to us.' +</P> + +<P> +'Are all your things gone to pawn?' inquired Mrs Blossom. +</P> + +<P> +'I've got baby's cloak and hood left,' she replied mournfully. 'He +wouldn't give more than a shilling for 'em, and I thought it wasn't +worth while parting with 'em for that. I tried to keep Robbie's cap +and pinafore, that were as good as new, but I were forced to let 'em +go. And our shoes, ma'am,' added Meg, taking Robin's bare and bleeding +foot into her hand: 'see what poor Robbie's done to himself.' +</P> + +<P> +'Poor little dear!' said Mrs Blossom pityingly. 'I'll wash his poor +little feet for him when he's finished his dinner. You get on with +yours likewise, my love.' +</P> + +<P> +Meg was silent for some minutes, busily feasting on the hot tripe, and +basking in the agreeable warmth of the cosy room. It was a wonderfully +bright little spot for that quarter of London, but the brightness was +all inside. Outside, at about three feet from the window, rose a wall +so high as to shut out every glimpse of the sky; but within everything +was so clean and shining, even to the quarried floor, that it was +difficult to believe in the mud and dirt of the streets without. Mrs +Blossom herself looked fresh and comely, like a countrywoman; but there +was a sad expression on her round face, plain enough to be seen when +she was not talking. +</P> + +<P> +'My dear,' she said when Meg laid down her knife and fork, and assured +her earnestly that she could eat no more, 'what may you be thinking of +doing?' +</P> + +<P> +'I don't hardly know,' she answered. 'I expect father home every day. +If I could only get enough for the children, and a crust or two for me, +we could get along. But we can't do nothink more, I know.' +</P> + +<P> +'You'll be forced to go into the house,' said Mrs Blossom. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, no, no, no!' cried little Meg, drawing Robin to her, and with a +great effort lifting him on to her lap, where he almost eclipsed her. +'I couldn't ever do that. We'll get along somehow till father comes +home.' +</P> + +<P> +'Where is it you live?' inquired Mrs Blossom. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, it's not a nice place at all,' said Meg, who dreaded having any +visitor. 'It's along Rosemary Lane, and down a street, and then down +another smaller street, and up a court. That's where it is.' +</P> + +<P> +Mrs Blossom sat meditating a few minutes, with the baby on her lap, +stretching itself lazily and contentedly before the fire; while Meg, +from behind Robin, watched her new friend's face anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +'Well,' she said, 'you come here again to-morrow, and I'll ask Mr +George what's to be done. That was Mr George as was here, and he's my +lodger. He took you in, and maybe he'll agree to do something.' +</P> + +<P> +'Thank you, ma'am,' said Meg gratefully. 'Please, have you any little +children of your own?' +</P> + +<P> +The tears ran faster now down Mrs Blossom's cheeks, and she was obliged +to wipe them away before she could answer. +</P> + +<P> +'I'd a little girl like you,' she said, 'ten years ago. Such a pretty +little girl, so rosy, and bright, and merry, as all the folks round +took notice of. She was like the apple of my eye, she was.' +</P> + +<P> +'What was she called?' asked Meg, with an eager interest. +</P> + +<P> +'Why, the neighbours called her Posy because her name was Blossom,' +said Mrs Blossom, smiling amidst her tears. 'We lived out in the +country, and I'd a little shop, and a garden, and kept fowls, and pigs, +and eggs; fresh eggs, such as the like are never seen in this part o' +London. Posy they called her, and a real posy she was.' +</P> + +<P> +Mrs Blossom paused, and looked sadly down upon the happy baby, shaking +her head as if she was sorely grieved at heart. +</P> + +<P> +'And Posy died?' said Meg softly. +</P> + +<P> +'No, no!' cried Mrs Blossom. 'It 'ud been a hundred times better if +she'd died. She grew up bad. I hope you'll never live to grow up bad, +little girl. And she ran away from home; and I lost her, her own +mother that had nursed her when she was a little baby like this. I'd +ha' been thankful to ha' seen her lying dead afore my eyes in her +coffin.' +</P> + +<P> +'That's bad,' said little Meg, in a tone of trouble and tender pity. +</P> + +<P> +'It's nigh upon three years ago,' continued Mrs Blossom, looking down +still upon the baby, as if she were telling her; 'and I gave up my shop +to my son's wife, and come here, thinking maybe she'd step in some day +or other to buy a loaf of bread or something, because I knew she'd come +up to London. But she's never so much as passed by the +window—leastways when I've been watching, and I'm always watching. I +can't do my duty by Mr George for staring out o' the window.' +</P> + +<P> +'Watching for Posy?' said little Meg. +</P> + +<P> +'Ay, watching for Posy,' repeated Mrs Blossom, 'and she never goes by.' +</P> + +<P> +'Have you asked God to let her go by?' asked Meg. +</P> + +<P> +'Ay, my dear,' said Mrs Blossom. 'I ask Him every blessed day o' my +life.' +</P> + +<P> +'Then she's sure to come some day,' said Meg joyfully. 'There's no +mistake about that, because Jesus says it in the Bible, and He knows +all about God. You've asked Him, and He'll do it. It's like father +coming. I don't know whether he'll come to-day or to-morrow, or when +it'll be; but he will come.' +</P> + +<P> +'God bless and love you!' cried Mrs Blossom, suddenly putting baby down +in Meg's lap, and clasping all three of them in her arms. 'I'll +believe it, I will. He's sent you to give me more heart. God love you +all!' +</P> + +<P> +It was some while before Mrs Blossom regained her composure; but when +she did, and it was time for Meg and the children to go home before it +was quite dark, she bound up Robin's foot in some rags, and gave Meg a +loaf to carry home with her, bidding her be sure to come again the next +day. Meg looked back to the shop many times before turning the corner +of the street, and saw Mrs Blossom's round face, with its white cap +border, still leaning over the door, looking after them, and nodding +pleasantly each time she caught Meg's backward glance. At the corner +they all three turned round, Meg holding up baby as high as her arms +could reach, and after this last farewell they lost sight of their new +friend. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg as Charwoman +</H3> + +<P> +Meg and her children did not fail to make their appearance the next +morning at Mrs Blossom's shop, where she welcomed them heartily, and +made them comfortable again by the kitchen fire. When they were well +warmed, and had finished some bread, and some coffee which had been +kept hot for them, Mrs Blossom put on a serious business air. +</P> + +<P> +'Mr George and me have talked you over,' she said, 'and he's agreed to +something. I can't do my duty by him as I should wish, you know why; +and I want a little maid to help me.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, if you please,' faltered little Meg, 'I couldn't leave our attic. +I promised mother I wouldn't go away till father comes home. Don't be +angry, please.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm not angry, child,' continued Mrs Blossom. 'I only want a little +maid to come mornings, and go away nights, like a char-woman.' +</P> + +<P> +'Mother used to go charing sometimes,' remarked Meg. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm not a rich woman,' resumed Mrs Blossom, 'and Mr George has his old +father to keep, as lives down in my own village, and I know him well; +so we can't give great wages. I'd give you a half-quartern loaf a day, +and Mr George threepence for the present, while it's winter. Would +that suit your views?' +</P> + +<P> +'What could I do with Robbie and baby?' asked Meg, with an air of +perplexed thought. +</P> + +<P> +'Couldn't you leave 'em with a neighbour?' suggested Mrs Blossom. +</P> + +<P> +Meg pondered deeply for a while. Kitty had told her the night before +that she had got some sailors' shirts to sew, and would stay at home to +make them. She could trust Robin and the baby with Kitty, and instead +of lighting a fire in her own attic she could give her the coals, and +so save her fuel, as part payment for taking charge of the children. +Yet Meg felt a little sad at the idea of leaving them for so long a +time, and seeing so little of them each day, and she knew they would +miss her sorely. But nothing else could be done, and she accepted Mrs +Blossom's offer thankfully. +</P> + +<P> +'You needn't be here afore nine o' the morning,' said Mrs Blossom; +'it's too early for Posy to be passing by; and you can go away again as +soon as it's dark in the evening. You mustn't get any breakfast, you +know, because that's in our bargain; and I'd never grudge you a meal's +meat for the children either, bless 'em! They shall come and have a +good tea with us sometimes, they shall—specially on Sundays, when Mr +George is at home; and if you'd only got your clothes out o' pawn, we'd +all go to church together. But we'll see, we'll see.' +</P> + +<P> +Meg entered upon her new duties the next morning, after committing the +children, with many lingering kisses and last good-byes, into Kitty's +charge, who promised faithfully to be as kind to them as Meg herself. +If it had not been for her anxiety with regard to them, she would have +enjoyed nothing better than being Mrs Blossom's little maid. The good +woman was so kindly and motherly that she won Meg's whole heart; and to +see her sit by the shop window, knitting a very large long stocking for +Mr George, but with her eyes scanning every woman's face that went by, +made her feel full of an intense and childish interest. She began +herself to watch for Posy, as her mother described her; and whenever +the form of a grown-up girl darkened the doorway, she held her breath +to listen if Mrs Blossom called her by that pet name. Mr George also +was very good to Meg in his bluff way, and bought her a pair of nearly +new shoes with his first week's wages, over and above the threepence a +day which he paid her. With Mrs Blossom she held many a conversation +about the lost girl, who had grown up wicked, and was therefore worse +than dead; and before long Mr George observed that Meg had done her a +world of good. +</P> + +<P> +Christmas Day was a great treat to Meg; for though Mr George went down +into the country to see his old father, Mrs Blossom invited her and the +children to come to dinner, and to stay with her till it was the little +ones' bedtime. When they sat round the fire in the afternoon she told +them wonderful stories about the country—of its fields, and gardens, +and lanes. +</P> + +<P> +'I like gardens,' said Robin, 'but I don't like lanes.' +</P> + +<P> +'Why don't you like lanes?' asked Mrs Blossom. +</P> + +<P> +'I know lots of lanes,' he answered. 'There's Rosemary Lane, and it's +not nice, nor none of 'em. They ain't nice like Temple Gardens.' +</P> + +<P> +'Rosemary Lane!' repeated Mrs Blossom. 'Why, the lanes in the country +are nothing like the lanes in London. They're beautiful roads, with +tall trees growing all along 'em, and meeting one another overhead; and +there are roses and honeysuckles all about the hedges, and birds +singing, and the sun shining. Only you don't know anything about +roses, and honeysuckles, and birds.' +</P> + +<P> +'Are there any angels there?' asked Robin, fastening his glistening +eyes upon her intently. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, no,' said Mrs Blossom, 'not as I know of.' +</P> + +<P> +'Is the devil in the country?' pursued Robin. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' answered Mrs Blossom, 'I suppose he's there pretty much the same +as here. Folks can be wicked anywhere, or else my Posy wouldn't have +grown up bad.' +</P> + +<P> +Robin asked no more questions, and Mrs Blossom was glad to talk of +something else. It was a very happy day altogether, but it came too +quickly to an end. Meg wrapped up her children well before turning out +into the cold streets, and Mrs Blossom gave them a farewell kiss each, +with two to Meg because she was such a comfort to her. +</P> + +<P> +When they reached their own attic they heard Kitty call to them, and +Meg opened her door. She was sitting without any fire, stitching away +as for her life at a coarse striped shirt, lighted only by a small +farthing candle; but she laid down her task for a minute, and raised +her thin pale face, and her eyes half blinded with tears and hard work. +</P> + +<P> +'Where have you been all day, little Meg?' she asked. +</P> + +<P> +'Me and the children have been at Mrs Blossom's, answered Meg, 'because +it's Christmas Day: and I wish you'd been there as well, Kitty. We'd +such a good dinner and tea. She gave me a bit of cake to bring home, +and you shall have some of it.' +</P> + +<P> +'No, no,' said Kitty, 'it 'ud choke me.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, it couldn't; it's as nice as nice can be,' said Meg. 'You must +just have a taste of it.' +</P> + +<P> +'Did you go talking about that Posy again?' asked Kitty, bending +diligently over her work. +</P> + +<P> +'We always talk about her,' answered Meg, 'every day. Mrs Blossom's +watching for her to go by all day long, you know.' +</P> + +<P> +'She'll never go by,' said Kitty shortly. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, she's certain sure to go by some day,' cried Meg. 'Mrs Blossom +asks God to let her go by, every day of her life; and He's positive to +do it.' +</P> + +<P> +'If she's grown up so wicked,' argued Kitty, 'she didn't ought to go +back to her mother, and her such a good woman. God won't send her back +to her mother, you'll see.' +</P> + +<P> +'But if God sent her back, her mother 'ud never think of her being +wicked, she loves her so,' said little Meg. 'If Robbie were ever so +naughty, I'd keep on loving him till he was good again.' +</P> + +<P> +'Well, Posy'll never go home no more,' said Kitty; and hot tears fell +fast upon her work. +</P> + +<P> +'She will, she will,' cried Meg. 'I expect her every day, like father. +Perhaps they'll both come home to-morrow. I wish you'd ask God to let +Posy and father come home to-morrow.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm too bad to ask God for anything,' sobbed Kitty. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, I don't know,' said Meg sorrowfully. 'You're not bad to me or +the children. But I must go to bed now. Let us kiss you afore we go. +Mrs Blossom kissed me twice, and said I was a comfort to her.' +</P> + +<P> +Kitty threw down her work, and clasped Meg strongly in her arms, +pressing down Meg's head upon her breast, and crying, 'Oh, my dear +little Meg! My good little Meg!' Then she put them all three gently +out of her room, and bade them good-night and God bless them, in a +husky and tremulous voice. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg's Baby +</H3> + +<P> +The new year came, but Meg's father had not arrived. Kitty was having +a mad outburst, as if she had so long controlled herself that now it +was necessary to break out into extra wickedness. She came home late +every night, very drunk, and shouting loud snatches of songs, which +wakened up the inmates of the lower stories, and drew upon her a storm +of oaths. But she continued always good-natured and kind to Meg, and +insisted upon having the daily charge of Robin and the baby, though Meg +left them in her care with a very troubled and anxious spirit. Things +were looking very dark to the poor little woman; but she kept up as +brave a heart as she could, waiting from day to day for that +long-deferred coming of her father, in which she believed so firmly. +</P> + +<P> +It was a little later than usual one evening, for the days were +creeping out since the new year, when Meg climbed wearily upstairs to +Kitty's attic, in search of her children, but found that they were not +there. Mr Grigg told her that he had seen Kitty take them out with her +in the afternoon; and even while he was speaking, Meg saw her +staggering and rolling into the court, with the baby fast asleep in her +drunken arms. Meg took it from her without a word, and led Robin away +upstairs. Robin's face was flushed, and his hand was very hot; but the +baby lay in her arms heavily, without any movement or sign of life, +except that the breath came through her parted lips, and her eyelids +stirred a little. Meg locked the door of her attic, and laid her baby +on the bed, while she lighted the fire and got their tea ready. Robin +looked strange, but he chattered away without ceasing, while he watched +her set the things in readiness. But the baby would not awake. It lay +quite still on Meg's lap, and she poured a little warm tea into its +mouth, but it did not swallow it, only slept there with heavy eyelids, +and moving neither finger nor foot, in a strange, profound slumber. It +was smaller and thinner than when mother died, thought Meg; and she +lifted up the lifeless little hand to her lips, half hoping that its +eyes would unclose a little more, and that sweet, loving smile, with +which it always welcomed her return, would brighten its languid face. +But baby was too soundly asleep to smile. +</P> + +<P> +Little Meg sat up all night, with the baby lying on her lap, moaning a +little now and then as its slumbers grew more broken, but never lifting +up its eyelids to look into her face and know it. When the morning +dawned it was still the same. Could the baby be ill? asked Meg of +herself. It did not seem to be in any pain; yet she carried it to the +door, and called softly for Kitty to come and look at it; but there was +no reply, only from below came up harsh sounds of children screaming +and angry women quarrelling. Oaths and threats and shrieks were all +the answer Meg's feeble cry received. She sat down again on her +mother's low chair before the fire, and made the baby comfortable on +her lap; while Robin stood at her knee, looking down pitifully at the +tiny, haggard, sleeping face, which Meg's little hand could almost +cover. What was she to do? There was no one in Angel Court whom she +dare call to her help. Baby might even die, like the greater number of +the babies born in that place, whose brief lives ended quickly, as if +existence was too terrible a thing in the midst of such din and +squalor. At the thought that perhaps baby was going to die, two or +three tears of extreme anguish rolled down little Meg's cheeks, and +fell upon baby's face; but she could not cry aloud, or weep many tears. +She felt herself falling into a stupor of grief and despair, when Robin +laid his hand upon her arm. +</P> + +<P> +'Why don't you ask God to waken baby?' he asked. +</P> + +<P> +'I don't know whether it 'ud be a good thing,' she answered. 'Mother +said she'd ask Him over and over again to let her take baby along with +her, and that 'ud be better than staying here. I wish we could all go +to heaven; only I don't know whatever father 'ud do if he come home and +found us all dead.' +</P> + +<P> +'Maybe God'll take me and baby,' said Robbie thoughtfully, 'and leave +you to watch for father.' +</P> + +<P> +'I only wish baby had called me Meg once afore she went,' cried little +Meg. +</P> + +<P> +The baby stirred a little upon her knees, and stretched out its feeble +limbs, opening its blue eyes wide and looking up into her face with its +sweet smile of welcome. Then the eyelids closed again slowly, and the +small features put on a look of heavenly calm and rest. Meg and Robin +gazed at the change wonderingly without speaking; but when after a few +minutes Meg laid her hand gently upon the smooth little forehead, the +same chill struck to her heart as when she had touched her mother's +dead face. +</P> + +<P> +It did not seem possible to little Meg that baby could really be dead. +She chafed its puny limbs, as she had seen her mother do, and walked up +and down the room singing to it, now loudly, now softly; but no change +came upon it, no warmth returned to its death-cold frame, no life to +its calm face. She laid it down at length upon the bed, and crossed +its thin wee arms upon its breast, and then stretching herself beside +it, with her face hidden from the light, little Meg gave herself up to +a passion of sorrow. +</P> + +<P> +'If I'd only asked God, for Christ's sake,' she cried to herself, +'maybe He'd have let baby wake, though I don't know whether it's a good +thing. But now she's gone to mother, and father'll come home, and +he'll find nobody but me and Robbie, and the money safe. Oh! I wish +I'd asked God.' +</P> + +<P> +'Meg,' said Robin, after she had worn herself out with sobs and tears, +and was lying silently beside baby, 'I'm very poorly. I think I'll go +to live with the angels, where mother and baby are gone.' +</P> + +<P> +Meg started up, and gazed anxiously at Robin. His bright eyes were +dimmed, and his face was flushed and heavy; he was stretched on the +floor near the fire, in a listless attitude, and did not care to move, +when she knelt down beside him, and put her arm under his head. It +ached, he said; and it felt burning hot to her touch. Meg's heart +stood still for a moment, and then she dropped her tear-stained +sorrowful face upon her hands. +</P> + +<P> +'Pray God,' she cried, 'don't take Robbie away as well as baby. Maybe +it wasn't a good thing for baby to stay, now mother's dead, though I've +done everythink I could, and there's been nobody to take care of us but +You. But, pray God, do let Robbie stay with me till father comes home; +for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.' +</P> + +<P> +Meg rose from her knees, and lifted up Robin as gently as she could, +soothing him, and talking fondly to him as she took off his clothes. +When that was finished she laid him on the same bed where the baby was +sleeping its last long sleep, with its tiny face still wearing an +unspeakable calm; for Robin's little mattress had been sold some time +ago. The day was just at an end, that sorrowful day, and a lingering +light from the west entered through the attic window, and lit up the +white, peaceful features with the flushed and drowsy face of Robin +beside it. Meg felt as if her heart would surely break as she stooped +over them, and kissed them both, her lips growing cold as they touched +baby's smiling mouth. Then drawing her old shawl over her head, she +locked the attic door securely behind her, and ran as fast as her feet +could carry her to Mrs Blossom's house. +</P> + +<P> +'Robbie's very ill,' gasped Meg, breathlessly, as she burst into the +shop, the shutters of which were already put up, though it was still +early in the night, 'and I want a doctor for him. Where shall I find a +doctor?' +</P> + +<P> +Mrs Blossom had her bonnet and cloak on, and looked very pale and +flurried. When she answered Meg she kept her hand pressed against her +heart. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm just a-going to one,' she said, 'the best at this end o' London, +Dr Christie, and you'd better come along with me. He knows me well. +Meg, I've seen somebody go by to-day as was like Posy, only pale and +thin; but when I ran out, she was gone like a shadow. I'm a-going to +tell Dr Christie; he knows all about Posy and me.' +</P> + +<P> +But Meg scarcely heard what Mrs Blossom said. All her thoughts and +interest centred in Robin, and she felt impatient of the slow progress +of her companion. They seemed to her to be going a long, long way, +until they came to better streets and larger houses; and by-and-by they +saw a carriage standing before a door, and a gentleman came out and got +into it hurriedly. +</P> + +<P> +'Why, bless me!' exclaimed Mrs Blossom, 'there's Dr Christie. Stop +him, Meg, stop him!' +</P> + +<P> +Meg needed no urging, but rushed blindly across the street. There was +all at once a strange confusion about her, a trampling of horses' feet, +and a rattling of wheels, with a sudden terror and pain in herself; and +then she knew no more. All was as nothing to her—baby and Robin alone +in the attic, and Mrs Blossom and Posy—all were gone out of her mind +and memory. She had thrown herself before the horses' heads, and they +had trampled her down under their feet. +</P> + +<P> +When little Meg came to herself again it was broad daylight, and she +was lying in a room so bright and cheerful that she could neither +imagine where she was nor how she came there. There was a good fire +crackling noisily in the low grate, with a brass guard before it, and +over the chimney-piece was a pretty picture of angels flying upwards +with a child in their arms. All round the walls there hung other +pictures of birds and flowers, coloured gaily, and glittering in gilded +frames. Another little bed like the one she lay in stood in the +opposite corner, but there was nobody in it, and the place was very +quiet. She lay quite still, with a dreamy thought that she was somehow +in heaven, until she heard a pleasant voice speaking in the next room, +the door of which was open, so that the words came readily to her ears. +</P> + +<P> +'I only wish we knew where the poor little thing comes from,' said the +voice. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm vexed I don't,' answered Mrs Blossom. 'I've asked her more than +once, and she's always said it's down a street off Rosemary Lane, and +along another street, and up a court. But there's a girl called Kitty +living in the back attic, as takes care of the children when Meg's +away. She's sure to be taking care o' them now.' +</P> + +<P> +In an instant memory came back to little Meg. She recollected bending +over Robin and the baby to kiss them before she came away, and locking +the door safely upon them. Oh! what had become of Robbie in the night? +She raised herself up in bed, and uttered a very bitter cry, which +brought to her quickly Mrs Blossom and a strange lady. +</P> + +<P> +'I want Robbie,' she cried. 'I must get up and go to him directly. +It's my Robbie that's ill, and baby's dead. I'm not ill, but Robbie's +ill, if he isn't dead, like baby, afore now. Please to let me get up.' +</P> + +<P> +'Tell me all about it,' said Mrs Blossom, sitting down on the bed and +taking Meg into her arms. 'We're in Dr Christie's house, and he'll go +and see Robbie in a minute, he says.' +</P> + +<P> +'Baby died yesterday morning,' answered Meg, with tearless eyes, for +her trouble was too great for tears; 'and then Robbie was took ill, and +I put them both in bed, and kissed them, and locked the door, and came +away for a doctor, and there's been nobody to take care of 'em all +night, only God.' +</P> + +<P> +Meg's eyes burned no longer, but filled with tears as she thought of +God, and she laid her head upon Mrs Blossom's shoulder, and wept aloud. +</P> + +<P> +'God has taken care of them,' said Mrs Christie, but she could say no +more. +</P> + +<P> +'Where is it you live, deary?' asked Mrs Blossom. +</P> + +<P> +'It's at Angel Court,' answered Meg. 'But there mustn't nobody go +without me. Please to let me get up. I'm not ill.' +</P> + +<P> +'You're very much bruised and hurt, my poor child,' said Mrs Christie. +</P> + +<P> +'I must go,' pleaded Meg urgently, 'I must get up, I promised mother +I'd never let anybody go into our room, and they mustn't go without me. +They're my children, please. If your little children were ill, you'd +go to 'em wouldn't you? Let me get up this minute.' +</P> + +<P> +It was impossible to withstand little Meg's earnestness. Mrs Blossom +dressed her tenderly, though Meg could not quite keep back the groan +which rose to her quivering lips when her bruised arm was moved. A cab +was called, and then Mrs Blossom and Meg, with Dr Christie, got into +it, and drove away quickly to Angel Court. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The End of Little Meg's Trouble +</H3> + +<P> +It was early in the evening after Meg had gone in search of a doctor, +that Kitty came home, more sober than she had been for several nights, +and very much ashamed of her last outbreak. She sat down on the top of +the stairs, listening for little Meg to read aloud, but she heard only +the sobs and moanings of Robin, who called incessantly for Meg, without +getting any answer. Kitty waited for some time, hearkening for her +voice, but after a while she knocked gently at the door. There was no +reply, but after knocking again and again she heard Robin call out in a +frightened tone. +</P> + +<P> +'What's that?' he cried. +</P> + +<P> +'It's me, your own Kitty,' she said; 'where's little Meg?' +</P> + +<P> +'I don't know,' said Robin, 'she's gone away, and there's nobody but me +and baby; and baby's asleep, and so cold.' +</P> + +<P> +'What are you crying for, Robbie?' asked Kitty. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm crying for everything,' said Robin. +</P> + +<P> +'Don't you be frightened, Robbie,' she said soothingly; 'Kitty'll stay +outside the door, and sing pretty songs to you, till Meg comes home.' +</P> + +<P> +She waited a long time, till the clocks struck twelve, and still Meg +did not come. From time to time Kitty spoke some reassuring words to +Robin, or sang him some little songs she remembered from her own +childhood; but his cries grew more and more distressing, and at length +Kitty resolved to break her promise, and unlock Meg's door once again +to move the children into her own attic. +</P> + +<P> +She lit a candle, and entered the dark room. The fire was gone out, +and Robin sat up on the pillow, his face wet with tears and his black +eyes large with terror. The baby, which lay beside him, seemed very +still, with its wasted puny hands crossed upon its breast; so quiet and +still that Kitty looked more closely, and held the light nearer to its +slumbering face. What could ail it? What had brought that awful smile +upon its tiny face? Kitty touched it fearfully with the tip of her +finger; and then she stood dumb and motionless before the terrible +little corpse. +</P> + +<P> +She partly knew, and partly guessed, what had done this thing. She +recollected, but vaguely enough, that one of her companions, who had +grown weary of the little creature's pitiful cry, had promised to quiet +it for her, and how speedily it had fallen off into a profound, +unbroken slumber. And there it lay, in the same slumber perhaps. She +touched it again; but no, the sleep it slept now was even deeper than +that—a sleep so sound that its eyelids would never open again to this +world's light, nor its sealed lips ever utter a word of this world's +speech. Kitty could scarcely believe it; but she could not bear to +stay in that mute, gentle, uncomplaining presence; and she lifted up +Robin to carry him into her own room. Oh that God had but called her +away when she was an innocent baby like that! +</P> + +<P> +Robin's feverishness was almost gone; and now, wrapped in Kitty's gown +and rocked to sleep on her lap, he lay contented and restful, while she +sat thinking in the dark, for the candle soon burned itself out, until +the solemn grey light of the morning dawned slowly in the east. She +had made up her mind now what she would do. There was only one more +sin lying before her. She had grown up bad, and broken her mother's +heart, and now she had brought this great overwhelming sorrow upon poor +little Meg. There was but one end to a sinful life like hers, and the +sooner it came the better. She would wait till Meg came home and give +up Robin to her, for she would not hurry on to that last crime before +Meg was there to take care of him. Then she saw herself stealing along +the streets, down to an old pier she knew of, where boats had ceased to +ply, and where no policeman would be near to hinder her, or any one +about to rescue her; and then she would fling herself, worthless and +wretched as she was, into the rapid river, which had borne so many +worthless wretches like her upon its strong current into the land of +darkness and death, of which she did not dare to think. That was what +she would do, saying nothing to any one; and if she could ask anything +of God, it would be that her mother might never find out what had +become of her. +</P> + +<P> +So Kitty sat with her dark thoughts long after Angel Court had awakened +to its ordinary life, its groans, and curses, and sobs; until the sun +looked in cheerily upon her and Robin, as it did upon Meg in Mrs +Christie's nursery. She did not care to put him down, for he looked +very pretty, and happy, and peaceful in his soft sleep, and whenever +she moved he stirred a little, and pouted his lips as if to reproach +her. Besides, it was the last time she would hold a child in her arms; +and though they ached somewhat, they folded round him fondly. At last +she heard a man's step upon the ladder mounting to the attics, and +Meg's voice speaking faintly. Could it be that her father was come +home at last? Oh! what would their eyes see when they opened that +door? Kitty held her breath to listen for the first sound of anguish +and amazement; but it was poor little Meg's voice which reached her +before any other. +</P> + +<P> +'Robbie! oh, Robbie!' she cried, in a tone of piercing terror, 'what +has become of my little Robbie?' +</P> + +<P> +'He's safe, he's here, Meg,' answered Kitty, starting to her feet, and +rushing with him to Meg's attic. +</P> + +<P> +It was no rough, weather-beaten seaman, who was just placing Meg on a +chair, as if he had carried her upstairs; but some strange, well-clad +gentleman, and behind him stood an elderly woman, who turned sharply +round as she heard Kitty's voice. +</P> + +<P> +'Posy!' cried Mrs Blossom. +</P> + +<P> +No one but her own mother could have known again the bright, merry, +rosy girl, whom the neighbours called Posy, in the thin, withered, +pallid woman who stood motionless in the middle of the room. Even Meg +forgot for a moment her fears for Robin. Dr Christie had only time to +catch him from her failing arms, before she fell down senseless upon +the floor at her mother's feet. +</P> + +<P> +'Let me do everything for her,' exclaimed Mrs Blossom, pushing away Dr +Christie; 'she's my Posy, I tell you. You wouldn't know her again, but +I know her. I'll do everything for her; she's my girl, my little one; +she's the apple of my eye.' +</P> + +<P> +But it was a very long time before Mrs Blossom, with Dr Christie's +help, could bring Posy to life again; and then they lifted her into her +poor bed, and Dr Christie left her mother alone with her, and went back +to Meg. Robin was ailing very little, he said: but the baby? Yes, the +baby must have died even if little Meg had fetched him at once. +Nothing could have saved it, and it had suffered no pain, he added +tenderly. +</P> + +<P> +'I think I must take you two away from this place,' said Dr Christie. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, no, no,' answered Meg earnestly; 'I must stay till father comes, +and I expect him to-day or to-morrow. Please, sir, leave me and Robbie +here till he comes.' +</P> + +<P> +'Then you must have somebody to take care of you,' said Dr Christie. +</P> + +<P> +'No, please, sir,' answered Meg, in a low and cautious voice, 'mother +gave me a secret to keep that I can't tell to nobody, and I promised +her I'd never let nobody come into my room till father comes home. I +couldn't help you, and Mrs Blossom, and Kitty coming in this time; but +nobody mustn't come in again.' +</P> + +<P> +'My little girl,' said Dr Christie kindly, 'I dare say your mother +never thought of her secret becoming a great trouble to you. Could you +not tell it to me?' +</P> + +<P> +'No,' replied Meg, 'it's a very great secret; and please, when baby's +buried like mother, me and Robbie must go on living here alone till +father comes.' +</P> + +<P> +'Poor child!' said Dr Christie, rubbing his eyes, 'did you know baby +was quite dead?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' she answered, 'but I didn't ask God to let baby live, because +mother said she'd like to take her with her. But I did ask Him to make +Robin well, and bring back Posy; and now there's nothing for Him to do +but let father come home. I knew it was all true; it's in the Bible, +and if I'm not one of God's own children, it says, "Them that ask Him." +So I asked Him.' +</P> + +<P> +Meg's voice sank, and her head dropped; for now that she was at home +again, and Robin was found to be all right, her spirit failed her. Dr +Christie went out upon the landing, and held a consultation with Mrs +Blossom, in which they agreed that for the present, until Meg was well +enough to take care of herself, she should be nursed in Kitty's attic, +with her own door kept locked, and the key left in her possession. So +Dr Christie carried Meg into the back attic, and laid her upon Kitty's +mattress. Kitty was cowering down on the hearth, with her face buried +on her knees, and did not look up once through all the noise of Meg's +removal; though when her mother told her what they were doing she made +a gesture of assent to it. Dr Christie went away; and Mrs Blossom, who +wanted to buy many things which were sorely needed in the poor attic, +put her arm fondly round Kitty's neck. +</P> + +<P> +'Posy,' she said, 'you wouldn't think to go and leave little Meg alone +if I went out to buy some things, and took Robin with me?' +</P> + +<P> +'No, I'll stop,' said Kitty, but without lifting her head. When they +were alone together, Meg raised herself as well as she could on the arm +that was not hurt, and looked wistfully at Kitty's bowed-down head and +crouching form. +</P> + +<P> +'Are you really Posy?' she asked. +</P> + +<P> +'I used to be Posy,' answered Kitty, in a mournful voice. +</P> + +<P> +'Didn't I tell you God would let your mother find you?' said Meg; 'it's +all come true, every bit of it.' +</P> + +<P> +'But God hasn't let baby live,' muttered Kitty. +</P> + +<P> +'I never asked Him for that,' she said falteringly; 'I didn't know as +baby was near going to die, and maybe it's a better thing for her to go +to mother and God. Angel Court ain't a nice place to live in, and she +might have growed up bad. But if people do grow up bad,' added Meg, in +a very tender tone, 'God can make 'em good again if they'd only ask +Him.' +</P> + +<P> +As little Meg spoke, and during the silence which followed, strange +memories began to stir in the poor girl's heart, recalled there by some +mysterious and Divine power. Words and scenes, forgotten since +childhood, came back with wonderful freshness and force. She thought +of a poor, guilty, outcast woman, reviled and despised by all save One, +who had compassion even for her, forgave all her sins, stilled the +clamour of her accusers, and said, 'Thy faith hath saved thee; go in +peace.' She remembered the time when the records of His infinite love +had been repeated by her innocent young lips and pondered in her maiden +heart. Like some echo from the distant past she seemed to hear the +words, 'By Thine agony and bloody sweat; by Thy cross and passion; by +Thy precious death and burial, good Lord deliver us. O Lamb of God, +that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh! Meg! Meg!' cried Kitty, almost crawling to the corner where she +lay, and falling down beside her on the floor, with her poor pale face +still hidden from sight, 'ask God for me to be made good again.' +</P> + +<P> +Little Meg stretched out her unbruised arm, and laid her hand upon +Kitty's bended head. +</P> + +<P> +'You must ask Him for yourself,' she said, after thinking for a minute +or two: 'I don't know as it 'ud do for me to ask God, if you didn't as +well.' +</P> + +<P> +'What shall I say, Meg?' asked Kitty. +</P> + +<P> +'If I was you,' said Meg, 'and had grow'd up wicked, and run away from +mother, I'd say, "Pray God, make me a good girl again, and let me be a +comfort to mother till she dies; for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen."' +</P> + +<P> +There was a dead silence in the back attic, except for the near noise +and distant din which came from the court below, and the great +labyrinth of streets around. Little Meg's eyes shone lovingly and +pityingly upon Kitty, who looked up for an instant, and caught their +light. Then she dropped her head down upon the mattress, and gave way +to a storm of tears and sobs. +</P> + +<P> +'O God,' she cried, 'do have mercy upon me, and make me good again, if +it's possible. Help me to be a good girl to mother. God forgive me +for Jesus Christ's sake!' +</P> + +<P> +She sobbed out this prayer over and over again, until her voice fell +into a low whisper which even Meg could not hear; and so she lay upon +the floor beside the mattress until her mother came back. Mrs +Blossom's face was pale, but radiant with gladness, and Posy looked at +it for the first time fully. Then she gave a great cry of mingled joy +and sorrow, and running to her threw her arms round her neck, and laid +her face upon her shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +'God'll hear me and have mercy upon me,' she cried. 'I'm going to be +your Posy again, mother!' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg's Father +</H3> + +<P> +The baby was buried the next morning, after Meg had looked upon it for +the last time lying very peacefully and smilingly in its little coffin, +and had shed some tears that were full of sorrow yet had no bitterness +upon its dead face. Mrs Blossom took Robin to follow it to the grave, +leaving Kitty in charge of little Meg. The front attic door was +locked, and the key was under Meg's pillow, not to be used again until +she was well enough to turn it herself in the lock. The bag containing +the small key of the box, with the unopened letter which had come for +her mother, hung always round her neck, and her hand often clasped it +tightly as she slept. +</P> + +<P> +Meg was lying very still, with her face turned from the light, +following in her thoughts the little coffin that was being carried in +turns by Mrs Blossom and another woman whom she knew, through the noisy +streets, when Kitty heard the tread of a man's foot coming up the +ladder. It could be no one else but Dr Christie, she thought; but why +then did he stop at the front attic door, and rattle the latch in +trying to open it? Kitty looked out and saw a seafaring man, in worn +and shabby sailor's clothing, as if he had just come off a long voyage. +His face was brown and weather-beaten; and his eyes, black and bright, +were set deep in his head, and looked as if they were used to take +long, keen surveys over the glittering sea. He turned sharply round as +Kitty opened her door. +</P> + +<P> +'Young woman,' he said, 'do you know aught of my wife, Peggy Fleming, +and her children, who used to live here? Peggy wrote me word she'd +moved into the front attic.' +</P> + +<P> +'It's father,' called little Meg from her mattress on the floor; 'I'm +here, father! Robin and me's left; but mother's dead, and baby. Oh! +father, father! You've come home at last!' +</P> + +<P> +Meg's father brushed past Kitty into the room where Meg sat up in bed, +her face quivering, and her poor bruised arms stretched out to welcome +him. He sat down on the mattress and took her in his own strong arms, +while for a minute or two Meg lay still in them, almost like one dead. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh!' she said at last, with a sigh as if her heart had well-nigh +broken, 'I've took care of Robin and the money, and they're safe. Only +baby's dead. But don't you mind much, father; it wasn't a nice place +for baby to grow up in.' +</P> + +<P> +'Tell me all about it,' said Robert Fleming, looking at Kitty, but +still holding his little daughter in his arms; and Kitty told him all +she knew of her lonely life and troubles up in the solitary attic, +which no one had been allowed to enter; and from time to time Meg's +father groaned aloud, and kissed Meg's pale and wrinkled forehead +fondly. But he asked how it was she never let any of the neighbours, +Kitty herself, for instance, stay with her, and help her sometimes. +</P> + +<P> +'I promised mother,' whispered Meg in his ear, 'never to let nobody +come in, for fear they'd find out the box under the bed, and get into +it somehow. We was afraid for the money, you know, but it's all safe +for your mate, father; and here's the key, and a letter as came for +mother after she was dead.' +</P> + +<P> +'But this letter's from me to Peggy,' said her father, turning it over +and over; 'leastways it was wrote by the chaplain at the hospital, to +tell her what she must do. The money in the box was mine, Meg, no +mate's; and I sent her word to take some of it for herself and the +children.' +</P> + +<P> +'Mother thought it belonged to a mate of yours,' said Meg, 'and we was +the more afeared of it being stole.' +</P> + +<P> +'It's my fault,' replied Robert Fleming. 'I told that to mother for +fear she'd waste it if she knew it were mine. But if I'd only +known——' +</P> + +<P> +He could not finish his sentence, but stroked Meg's hair with his large +hand, and she felt some hot tears fall from his eyes upon her forehead. +</P> + +<P> +'Don't cry, father,' she said, lifting her small feeble hand to his +face. 'God took care of us, and baby too, though she's dead. There's +nothink now that He hasn't done. He's done everythink I asked Him.' +</P> + +<P> +'Did you ask Him to make me a good father?' said Fleming. +</P> + +<P> +'Why, you're always good to us, father,' answered Meg, in a tone of +loving surprise. 'You never beat us much when you get drunk. But +Robin and me always say, "Pray God, bless father." I don't quite know +what bless means, but it's something good.' +</P> + +<P> +'Ah!' said Fleming, with a deep sigh, 'He has blessed me. When I was +ill He showed me what a poor sinner I was, and how Jesus Christ came +into the world to save sinners, "of whom I am chief." Sure I can say +that if anybody can. But it says in the Bible, "He loved me, and gave +Himself for me." Yes, little Meg, He died to save me. I felt it. I +believed it. I came to see that I'd nobody to fly to but Jesus if I +wanted to be aught else but a poor, wicked, lost rascal, as got drunk, +and was no better than a brute. And so I turned it over and over in my +mind, lying abed; and now, please God, I'm a bit more like being a +Christian than I was. I reckon that's what bless means, little Meg.' +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke the door opened, and Mrs Blossom came in with Robin. It +was twelve months since Robin had seen his father, and now he was shy, +and hung back a little behind Mrs Blossom; but Meg called to him in a +joyful voice. +</P> + +<P> +'Come here, little Robbie,' she said; 'it's father, as we've watched +for so long.—He's a little bit afeared at first, father, but you'll +love him ever so when he knows you.' +</P> + +<P> +It was not long before Robin knew his father sufficiently to accept of +a seat on his knee, when Meg was put back into bed at Mrs Blossom's +entreaties. Fleming nursed his boy in silence for some time, while now +and then a tear glistened in his deep eyes as he thought over the +history of little Meg's sorrows. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm thinking,' said Mrs Blossom cheerfully, 'as this isn't the sort o' +place for a widow man and his children to stop in. I'm just frightened +to death o' going up and down the court. I suppose you're not thinking +o' settling here, Mr Fleming?' +</P> + +<P> +'No, no,' said Fleming, shaking his head: 'a decent man couldn't stop +here, let alone a Christian.' +</P> + +<P> +'Well, then, come home to us till you can turn yourself round,' +continued Mrs Blossom heartily; 'me and Mr George have talked it over, +and he says, "When little Meg's father do come, let 'em all come here: +Posy, and the little 'uns, and all. You'll have Posy and the little +'uns in your room, and I'll have him in mine. We'll give him some sort +o' a shakedown, and sailors don't use to lie soft." So if you've no +objections to raise, it's settled; and if you have, please to raise 'em +at once.' +</P> + +<P> +Robert Fleming had no objections to raise, but he accepted the cordial +invitation thankfully, for he was in haste to get out of the miserable +life of Angel Court. He brought the hidden box into the back attic, +and opened it before little Meg, taking out of it the packet of forty +pounds, and a number of pawn-tickets, which he looked at very +sorrowfully. After securing these he locked up the attic again, and +carrying Meg in his arms, he led the way down the stairs, and through +the court, followed closely by Mrs Blossom, Posy, and Robin. The sound +of brawling and quarrelling was loud as usual, and the children +crawling about the pavement were dirty and squalid as ever; they +gathered about Meg and her father, forming themselves into a dirty and +ragged procession to accompany them down to the street. Little Meg +looked up to the high window of the attic, where she had watched so +often and so long for her father's coming; and then she looked round, +with eyes full of pity, upon the wretched group about her; and closing +her eyelids, her lips moving a little, but without any words which even +her father could hear, she said in her heart, 'Pray God, bless +everybody, and make them good.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Little Meg's Farewell +</H3> + +<P> +About a month after Robert Fleming's return Dr Christie paid a visit to +Mrs Blossom's little house. He had been there before, but this was a +special visit; and it was evident some important plan had to be decided +upon. Dr Christie came to hear what Mrs Blossom had to say about it. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, sir,' said Mrs Blossom, 'a woman of my years, as always lived in +one village all her life till I came to London, it do seem a great move +to go across the sea. But as you all think as it 'ud be a good thing +for Posy, and as Mr Fleming do wish little Meg and Robin to go along +with us, which are like my own children, and as he's to be in the same +ship, I'm not the woman to say No. I'm a good hand at washing and +ironing, and sewing, and keeping a little shop, or anything else as +turns up; and there's ten years' good work in me yet; by which time +little Meg'll be a stout, grown-up young woman; to say nothing of Posy, +who's old enough to get her own living now. I can't say as I like the +sea, quite the contrairy; but I can put up with it; and Mr Fleming'll +be there to see as the ship goes all right, and doesn't lose hisself. +So I'll be ready by the time the ship's ready.' +</P> + +<P> +They were all ready in time as Mrs Blossom had promised, for there were +not many preparations to be made. Little Meg's red frock was taken out +of pawn, with all the other things, and Mrs Blossom went down to her +native village to visit it for the last time; but Posy shrank from +being seen there by the neighbours again. She, and Meg, and Robin went +once more for a farewell look at Temple Gardens. It was the first time +she had been in the streets since she had gone back to her mother, and +she seemed ashamed and alarmed at every eye that met hers. When they +stood looking at the river, with its swift, cruel current, Posy +shivered and trembled until she was obliged to turn away and sit down +on a bench. She was glad, she said, to get home again, and she would +go out no more till the day came when Mr George drove them all down to +the docks, with the few boxes which contained their worldly goods. +</P> + +<P> +Dr Christie and his wife were down at the ship to see them off, and +they kissed Meg tenderly as they bade her farewell. When the last +minute was nearly come, Mr George took little Meg's small hand in his +large one, and laid the other upon her head. +</P> + +<P> +'Little woman, tell us that verse again,' he said, 'that verse as +you've always gone and believed in, and acted on.' +</P> + +<P> +'That as mother and me heard preached from the streets?' asked Meg. +</P> + +<P> +Mr George nodded silently. +</P> + +<P> +'It's quite true,' said little Meg, in a tone of perfect confidence, +'because it's in the Bible, and Jesus said it. Besides, God did +everythink I asked Him. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good +gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Father which is in +heaven give good things to them that ask Him?"' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +SOME POPULAR STORIES BY +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HESBA STRETTON +</H3> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Author of "Jessica's First Prayer" +</H5> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Cobwebs and Cables. Engravings by GORDON BROWN. Imperial 16mo, gilt +edges, 5s. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Half Brothers. Crown 8vo, 5s. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Carola. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Through a Needle's Eye. Illustrated. Large crown 8vo, cloth, full +gilt, 3s. 6d. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +David Lloyd's Last Will. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Bede's Charity. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, gilt edges, 2s. 6d. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Children of Cloverley. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 2s. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Enoch Roden's Training. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 2s. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Fern's Hollow. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 2s. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Fishers of Derby Haven. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 2s. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +In the Hollow of his Hand. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 2s. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Pilgrim Street. A Story of Manchester Life. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, +2s. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A Thorny Path. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 2s. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Alone in London. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 1s. 6d. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Cassy. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 1s. 6d. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Crew of the Dolphin. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 1s. 6d. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The King's Servants. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 1s. 6d. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Little Meg's Children. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 1s. 6d. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Lord's Purse-Bearers. Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt, 1s. 6d. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Lost Gip. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 1s. 6d. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Max Kromer. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 1s. 6d. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Storm of Life. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Meg's Children, by Hesba Stretton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE MEG'S CHILDREN *** + +***** This file should be named 30555-h.htm or 30555-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/5/5/30555/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Little Meg's Children + +Author: Hesba Stretton + +Illustrator: Harold Copping + +Release Date: November 28, 2009 [EBook #30555] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE MEG'S CHILDREN *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Looking out for Father] + + + + + +Little Meg's Children + + +BY HESBA STRETTON + + + Author of 'Jessica's First Prayer,' + 'Alone in London,' 'Pilgrim Street,' + 'No Place Like Home,' etc. + + + + +WITH A FRONTISPIECE BY HAROLD COPPING + +And other Illustrations + + + + +LONDON + +THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY + +56 PATERNOSTER ROW AND 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD + +1905 + + + + +Contents + + +CHAP. + + I. MOTHERLESS + II. LITTLE MEG AS A MOURNER + III. LITTLE MEG'S CLEANING DAY + IV. LITTLE MEG'S TREAT TO HER CHILDREN + V. LITTLE MEG'S NEIGHBOUR + VI. LITTLE MEG'S LAST MONEY + VII. LITTLE MEG'S DISAPPOINTMENT + VIII. LITTLE MEG'S RED FROCK IN PAWN + IX. LITTLE MEG'S FRIENDS IN NEED + X. LITTLE MEG AS CHARWOMAN + XI. LITTLE MEG'S BABY + XII. THE END OF LITTLE MEG'S TROUBLE + XIII. LITTLE MEG'S FATHER + XIV. LITTLE MEG'S FAREWELL + + + + +Little Meg's Children + + +CHAPTER I + +Motherless + +In the East End of London, more than a mile from St Paul's Cathedral, +and lying near to the docks, there is a tangled knot of narrow streets +and lanes, crossing and running into one another, with blind alleys and +courts leading out of them, and low arched passages, and dark gullies, +and unsuspected slums, hiding away at the back of the narrowest +streets; forming altogether such a labyrinth of roads and dwellings, +that one needs a guide to thread a way among them, as upon pathless +solitudes or deserts of shifting sands. In the wider streets it is +possible for two conveyances to pass each other; for in some of them, +towards the middle of their length, a sweeping curve is taken out of +the causeway on either side to allow of this being done; but in the +smaller and closer streets there is room spared only for the passage to +and fro of single carts, while here and there may be found an alley so +narrow that the neighbours can shake hands, if they would, from +opposite windows. Many of the houses are of three or four stories, +with walls, inside and out, dingy and grimed with smoke, and with +windows that scarcely admit even the gloomy light which finds a way +through the thick atmosphere, and down between the high, close +buildings. + +A few years ago in one of these dismal streets there stood a still more +dismal yard, bearing the name of Angel Court, as if there yet lingered +among those grimy homes and their squalid occupants some memories of a +brighter place and of happier creatures. Angel Court was about nine +feet wide, and contained ten or twelve houses on each side, with one +dwelling at the further end, blocking up the thoroughfare, and +commanding a view down the close, stone-paved yard, with its +interlacing rows of clothes-lines stretched from window to window, upon +which hung the yellow, half-washed rags of the inhabitants. This end +house was three stories high, without counting a raised roof of red +tiles, forming two attics; the number of rooms in all being eight, each +one of which was held by a separate family, as were most of the other +rooms in the court. To possess two apartments was almost an +undreamed-of luxury. + +There was certainly an advantage in living in the attics of the end +house in Angel Court, for the air was a trifle purer there and the +light clearer than in the stories below. From the small windows might +be seen the prospect, not only of the narrow court, but of a vast +extent of roofs, with a church spire here and there, and the glow of +the sky behind them, when the sun was setting in a thick purplish cloud +of smoke and fog. There was greater quiet also, and more privacy up in +the attics than beneath, where all day long people were trampling up +and down the stairs, and past the doors of their neighbours' rooms. +The steep staircase ended in a steeper ladder leading up to the attics, +and very few cared to climb up and down it. It was perhaps for these +reasons that the wife of a sailor, who had gone to sea eight months +before, had chosen to leave a room lower down, for which he had paid +the rent in advance, in order to mount into higher and quieter quarters +with her three children. + +Whatever may have been her reason, it is certain that the sailor's +wife, who had been ailing before her husband's departure, had, for some +weeks past, been unable to descend the steep ladder into the maze of +busy streets, to buy the articles necessary for her little household, +and that she had steadily refused all aid from her neighbours, who soon +left off pressing it upon her. The only nurse she had, and the only +person to whom she would entrust her errands, was her eldest child, a +small, spare, stunted girl of London growth, whose age could not be +more than ten years, though she wore the shrewd, anxious air of a woman +upon her face, with deep lines wrinkling her forehead and puckering +about her keen eyes. Her small bony hands were hard with work; and +when she trod to and fro about the crowded room, from the bedside to +the fireplace, or from the crazy window to the creaking door, which let +the cold draughts blow in upon the ailing mother, her step was slow and +silent, less like that of a child than of a woman who was already weary +with much labour. The room itself was not large enough to cause a +great deal of work; but little Meg had had many nights of watching +lately, and her eyes were heavy for want of sleep, with the dark +circles underneath them growing darker every day. + +The evening had drawn in, but Meg's mother, her head propped up with +anything that could be made into a pillow, had watched the last glow of +the light behind the chimneys and the church spires, and then she +turned herself feebly towards the glimmer of a handful of coals burning +in the grate, beside which her little daughter was undressing a baby +twelve months old, and hushing it to sleep in her arms. Another child +had been put to bed already, upon a rude mattress in a corner of the +room, where she could not see him; but she watched Meg intently, with a +strange light in her dim eyes. When the baby was asleep at last, and +laid down on the mattress upon the floor, the girl went softly back to +the fire, and stood for a minute or two looking thoughtfully at the red +embers. + +'Little Meg!' said her mother, in a low, yet shrill voice. + +Meg stole across with a quiet step to the bedside, and fastened her +eyes earnestly upon her mother's face. + +'Do you know I'm going to die soon?' asked the mother. + +'Yes,' said Meg, and said no more. + +'Father'll be home soon,' continued her mother, 'and I want you to take +care of the children till he comes. I've settled with Mr Grigg +downstairs as nobody shall meddle with you till father comes back. +But, Meg, you've got to take care of that your own self. You've +nothing to do with nobody, and let nobody have nothing to do with you. +They're a bad crew downstairs, a very bad crew. Don't you ever let any +one of 'em come across the door-step. Meg, could you keep a secret?' + +'Yes, I could,' said Meg. + +'I think you could,' answered her mother, 'and I'll tell you why you +mustn't have nothing to do with the crew downstairs. Meg, pull the big +box from under the bed.' + +The box lay far back, where it was well hidden by the bed; but by dint +of hard pulling Meg dragged it out, and the sailor's wife gave her the +key from under her pillow. When the lid was open, the eyes of the +dying woman rested with interest and longing upon the faded finery it +contained--the bright-coloured shawl, and showy dress, and velvet +bonnet, which she used to put on when she went to meet her husband on +his return from sea. Meg lifted them out carefully one by one, and +laid them on the bed, smoothing out the creases fondly. There were her +own best clothes, too, and the children's; the baby's nankeen coat, and +Robin's blue cap, which never saw the light except when father was at +home. She had nearly emptied the box, when she came upon a small but +heavy packet. + +'That's the secret, Meg,' said her mother in a cautious whisper. +'That's forty gold sovereigns, as doesn't belong to me, nor father +neither, but to one of his mates as left it with him for safety. I +couldn't die easy if I thought it wouldn't be safe. They'd go rooting +about everywhere; but, Meg, you must never, never, never let anybody +come into the room till father's at home.' + +'I never will, mother,' said little Meg. + +'That's partly why I moved up here,' she continued. 'Why, they'd +murder you all if they couldn't get the money without. Always keep the +door locked, whether you're in or out; and, Meg dear, I've made you a +little bag to wear round your neck, to keep the key of the box in, and +all the money I've got left; it'll be enough till father comes. And if +anybody meddles, and asks you when he's coming, be sure say you expect +him home to-day or to-morrow. He'll be here in four weeks, on Robin's +birthday, may be. Do you know all you've got to do, little Meg?' + +'Yes,' she answered. 'I'm to take care of the children, and the money +as belongs to one of father's mates; and I must wear the little bag +round my neck, and always keep the door locked, and tell folks I expect +father home to-day or to-morrow, and never let nobody come into our +room.' + +'That's right,' murmured the dying woman. 'Meg, I've settled all about +my burial with the undertaker and Mr Grigg downstairs; and you'll have +nothing to do but stay here till they take me away. If you like, you +and Robin and baby may walk after me; but be sure see everybody out, +and lock the door safe afore you start.' + +She lay silent for some minutes, touching one after another the clothes +spread upon the bed as Meg replaced them in the box, and then, locking +it, put the key into the bag, and hung it round her neck. + +'Little Meg,' said her mother, 'do you remember one Sunday evening us +hearing a sermon preached in the streets?' + +'Yes, mother,' answered Meg promptly. + +'What was it he said so often?' she whispered. 'You learnt the verse +once at school.' + +'I know it still,' said Meg. '"If ye then, being evil, know how to +give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Father +which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?"' + +'Ay, that's it,' she said faintly; 'and he said we needn't wait to be +God's children, but we were to ask Him for good things at once, because +He had sent His own Son to be our Saviour, and to die for us. "Them +that ask Him, them that ask Him"; he said it over and over again. Eh! +but I've asked Him a hundred times to let me live till father comes +home, or to let me take baby along with me.' + +'May be that isn't a good thing,' said Meg. 'God knows what are good +things.' + +The dying mother pondered over these words for some time, until a +feeble smile played upon her wan face. + +'It 'ud be a good thing anyhow,' she said, 'to ask Him to forgive me my +sins, and take me to heaven when I die--wouldn't it, Meg?' + +Yes, that's sure to be a good thing,' answered Meg thoughtfully. + +'Then I'll ask Him for that all night,' said her mother, 'and to be +sure take care of you all till father comes back. That 'ud be another +good thing.' + +She turned her face round to the wall with a deep sigh, and closed her +eyelids, but her lips kept moving silently from time to time. Meg +cried softly to herself in her chair before the fire, but presently she +dozed a little for very heaviness of heart, and dreamed that her +father's ship was come into dock, and she, and her mother, and the +children were going down the dingy streets to meet him. She awoke with +a start; and creeping gently to her mother's side, laid her warm little +hand upon hers. It was deadly cold, with a chill such as little Meg +had never before felt; and when her mother neither moved nor spoke in +answer to her repeated cries, she knew that she was dead. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Little Meg as a Mourner + +For the next day, and the night following, the corpse of the mother lay +silent and motionless in the room where her three children were living. +Meg cried bitterly at first; but there was Robin to be comforted, and +the baby to be played with when it laughed and crowed in her face. +Robin was nearly six years old, and had gained a vague, dim knowledge +of death by having followed, with a troop of other curious children, +many a funeral that had gone out from the dense and dirty dwellings to +the distant cemetery, where he had crept forward to the edge of the +grave, and peeped down into what seemed to him a very dark and dreadful +depth. When little Meg told him mother was dead, and lifted him up to +kneel on the bedside and kiss her icy lips for the last time, his +childish heart was filled with an awe which almost made him shrink from +the sight of that familiar face, scarcely whiter or more sunken now +than it had been for many a day past. But the baby stroked the quiet +cheeks, whilst chuckling and kicking in Meg's arms, and shouted, 'Mam! +mam! mam!' until she caught it away, and pressing it tightly to her +bosom, sat down on the floor by the bed, weeping. + +'You've got no mam but me now, baby,' cried little Meg. She sat still +for a while, with Robin lying on the ground beside her, his face hidden +in her ragged frock; but the baby set up a pitiful little wail, and she +put aside her own grief to soothe it. + +'Hush! hush!' sang Meg, getting up, and walking with baby about the +room. 'Hush, hush, my baby dear! By-by, my baby, by-by!' + +Meg's sorrowful voice sank into a low, soft, sleepy tone, and presently +the baby fell fast asleep, when she laid it upon Robin's little +mattress, and covered it up gently with an old shawl. Robin was +standing at the foot of the bed, gazing at his mother with wide-open, +tearless eyes; and little Meg softly drew the sheet again over the pale +and rigid face. + +'Robbie,' she said, 'let's sit in the window a bit.' + +They had to climb up to the narrow window-sill by a broken chair which +stood under it; but when they were there, and Meg had her arm round +Robin, to hold him safe, they could see down into Angel Court, and into +the street beyond, with its swarms of busy and squalid people. Upon +the stone pavement far below them a number of children of every age and +size, but all ill-clothed and ill-fed, were crawling about, in and out +of the houses, and their cries and shrieks came up to them in their +lofty seat; but of late their mother had not let them run out to play +in the streets, and they were mostly strangers to them except by sight. +Now and then Meg and Robin cast a glance inwards at the quiet and still +form of their mother, lying as if silently watching them with her +half-closed eyes, and when they spoke to one another they spoke in +whispers. + +'Mother is going to live with the angels,' said Meg. + +'What are angels?' asked Robin, his glittering black eyes glancing at +the bed where she lay in her deep sleep. + +'Oh, I'm not quite sure,' answered Meg. 'Only they're beautiful +people, who are always white and clean, and shining, like that big +white cloud up in the sky. They live somewhere up in the sky, where +it's always sunny, and bright, and blue.' + +'How 'll mother get up there?' inquired Robin. + +'Well, I suppose,' replied Meg, after some reflection, 'after they've +put her in the ground, the angels 'll come and take her away. I read +once of a poor beggar, oh such a poor beggar! full of sores, and he +died, and the angels carried him away somewhere. I thought, may be, +they'd come for mother in the night; but I suppose they let people be +buried first now, and fetch 'em away after.' + +'I should like to see some angels,' said Robin. + +They were silent again after that, looking down upon the quarrelling +children, and the drunken men and women staggering about the yard +below. Now and then a sharper scream rang through the court, as some +angry mother darted out to cuff one or another of the brawling groups, +or to yell some shrill reproach at the drunken men. No sound came to +the ears of the listening children except the din and jarring tumult of +the crowded city; but they could see the white clouds floating slowly +across the sky over their heads, which seemed to little Meg like the +wings of the waiting angels, hovering over the place where her mother +lay dead. + +'Meg,' said Robin, 'why do they call this Angel Court? Did the angels +use to live here?' + +'I don't think they ever could,' she answered sadly, 'or it must have +been a long, long time ago. Perhaps they can't come here now, so +they're waiting for mother to be taken out to the burying-ground afore +they can carry her up to the sky. May be that's it.' + +'Meg,' whispered Robin, pressing closer to her side, 'what's the devil?' + +'Oh, I don't know,' cried Meg; 'only he's dreadfully, dreadfully +wicked.' + +'As wicked as father is when he's drunk?' asked Robin. + +'Oh, a hundred million times wickeder,' answered Meg eagerly. 'Father +doesn't get drunk often; and you mustn't be a naughty boy and talk +about it.' + +It was already a point of honour with little Meg to throw a cloak over +her father's faults; and she spoke so earnestly that Robin was strongly +impressed by it. He asked no more questions for some time. + +'Meg,' he said at last, 'does the devil ever come here?' + +'I don't think he does,' answered Meg, with a shrewd shake of her small +head; 'I never see him, never. Folks are bad enough without him, I +guess. No, no; you needn't be frightened of seeing him, Robbie.' + +'I wish there wasn't any devil,' said Robin. + +'I wish everybody in London was good,' said Meg. + +They sat a while longer on the window-sill, watching the sparrows, all +fluffy and black, fluttering and chattering upon the house-tops, and +the night fog rising from the unseen river, and hiding the tall masts, +which towered above the buildings. It was dark already in the court +below; and here and there a candle had been lit and placed in a window, +casting a faint twinkle of light upon the gloom. The baby stirred, and +cried a little; and Meg lifted Robin down from his dangerous seat, and +put two or three small bits of coal upon the fire, to boil up the +kettle for their tea. She had done it often before, at the bidding of +her mother; but it seemed different now. Mother's voice was silent, +and Meg had to think of everything herself. Soon after tea was over +she undressed Robin and the baby, who soon fell asleep again; and when +all her work was over, and the fire put out, little Meg crept in beside +them on the scanty mattress, with her face turned towards the bed, that +she might see the angels if they came to carry her mother away. But +before long her eyelids drooped over her drowsy eyes, and, with her arm +stretched lightly across both her children, she slept soundly till +daybreak. + +No angels had come in the night; but early in the morning a +neighbouring undertaker, with two other men, and Mr Grigg, the +landlord, who lived on the ground-floor, carried away the light burden +of the coffin which contained Meg's mother. She waited until all were +gone, and then she locked the door carefully, and with baby in her +arms, and Robin holding by her frock, she followed the funeral at a +distance, and with difficulty, through the busy streets. The brief +burial service was ended before they reached the cemetery, but Meg was +in time to show Robin the plate upon the coffin before the grave-digger +shovelled down great spadefuls of earth upon it. They stood watching, +with sad but childish curiosity, till all was finished; and then Meg, +with a heavy and troubled heart, took them home again to their lonely +attic in Angel Court. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Little Meg's Cleaning Day + +For a few days Meg kept up closely in her solitary attic, playing with +Robin and tending baby; only leaving them for a few necessary minutes, +to run to the nearest shop for bread or oatmeal. Two or three of the +neighbours took the trouble to climb the ladder, and try the latch of +the door, but they always found it locked; and if Meg answered at all, +she did so only with the door between them, saying she was getting on +very well, and she expected father home to-day or to-morrow. When she +went in and out on her errands, Mr Grigg, a gruff, surly man, who kept +everybody about him in terror, did not break his promise to her mother, +that he would let no one meddle with her; and very quickly the brief +interest of Angel Court in the three motherless children of the absent +sailor died away into complete indifference, unmingled with curiosity: +for everybody knew the full extent of their neighbours' possessions; +and the poor furniture of Meg's room, where the box lay well hidden and +unsuspected under the bedstead, excited no covetous desires. The +tenant of the back attic, a girl whom Meg herself had seen no oftener +than once or twice, was away on a visit of six weeks, having been +committed to a House of Correction for being drunk and disorderly in +the streets; so that by the close of the week in which the sailor's +wife died no foot ascended or descended the ladder, except that of +little Meg. + +There were two things Meg set her heart upon doing before father came +home: to teach Robin his letters, and baby to walk alone. Robin was a +quick, bright boy, and was soon filled with the desire to surprise his +father by his new accomplishment; and Meg and he laboured diligently +together over the Testament, which had been given to her at a night +school, where she had herself learned to read a little. But with the +baby it was quite another thing. There were babies in the court, not +to be compared with Meg's baby in other respects, who, though no older, +could already crawl about the dirty pavement and down into the gutter, +and who could even toddle unsteadily, upon their little bare feet, over +the stone flags. Meg felt it as a sort of reproach upon her, as a +nurse, to have her baby so backward. But the utmost she could prevail +upon it to do was to hold hard and fast by a chair, or by Robin's fist, +and gaze across the great gulf which separated her from Meg and the +piece of bread and treacle stretched out temptingly towards her. It +was a wan, sickly baby with an old face, closely resembling Meg's own, +and meagre limbs, which looked as though they would never gain strength +enough to bear the weight of the puny body; but from time to time a +smile kindled suddenly upon the thin face, and shone out of the serious +eyes--a smile so sweet, and unexpected, and fleeting, that Meg could +only rush at her, and catch her in her arms, thinking there was not +such another baby in the world. This was the general conclusion to +Meg's efforts to teach her to walk, but none the less she put her +through the same course of training a dozen times a day. + +Sometimes, when her two children were asleep, little Meg climbed up to +the window-sill and sat there alone, watching the stars come out in +that sky where her mother was gone to live. There were nights when the +fog was too thick for her to see either them or the many glittering +specks made by the lamps in the maze of streets around her; and then +she seemed to herself to be dwelling quite alone with Robin and baby, +in some place cut off both from the sky above and the earth beneath. +But by-and-by, as she taught Robin out of the Testament, and read in it +herself two or three times a day, new thoughts of God and His life came +to her mind, upon which she pondered, after her childish fashion, as +she sat in the dark, looking out over the great vast city with its +myriads of fellow-beings all about her, none of whom had any knowledge +of her loneliness, or any sympathy with her difficulties. + +After a week was past, Meg and her children made a daily expedition +down to the docks, lingering about in any out-of-the-way corner till +they could catch sight of some good-natured face, which threatened no +unkind rebuff, and then Meg asked when her father's ship would come in. +Very often she could get no satisfactory answer, but whenever she came +across any one who knew the Ocean King, she heard that it would most +likely be in dock by the end of October. Robin's birthday was the last +day in October, so her mother's reckoning had been correct. Father +would be home on Robbie's birthday; yet none the less was Meg's anxious +face to be seen day after day about the docks, seeking someone to tell +her over again the good news. + +The last day but one arrived, and Meg set about the scrubbing and the +cleaning of the room heartily, as she had seen her mother do before her +father's return. Robin was set upon the highest chair, with baby on +his lap, to look on at Meg's exertions, out of the way of the wet +flooring, upon which she bestowed so much water that the occupant of +the room below burst out upon the landing, with such a storm of threats +and curses as made her light heart beat with terror. When the cleaning +of the room was done, she trotted up and down the three flights of +stairs with a small can, until she had filled, as full as it would +hold, a broken tub, which was to serve as a bath for Robin and baby. +It was late in the evening when all was accomplished, and Meg looked +around her with a glow of triumph on the clean room and the fresh faces +of the children. Very weary she felt, but she opened her Testament, in +which she had not had time to give Robin a lesson that day, and she +read a verse half aloud to herself. + +'Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give +you rest.' + +'I wish I could go to Jesus,' sighed little Meg, 'for I've worked very +hard all day; and He says He'd give me rest. Only I don't know where +to go.' + +She laid her head down on the pillow beside the baby's slumbering face, +and almost before it rested there a deep sleep had come. Perhaps Meg's +sigh had gone to Jesus, and it was He who gave her rest; 'for so He +giveth His beloved sleep.' + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Little Meg's Treat to Her Children + +Robin's birthday dawned brightly, even into the dark deep shadows of +Angel Court, and Meg was awakened by the baby's two hands beating upon +her still drowsy face, and trying to lift up her closed eyelids with +its tiny fingers. She sprang up with a light heart, for father was +coming home to-day. For the first time since her mother's death she +dragged the box from under the bed, and with eager hands unlocked the +lid. She knew that she dare not cross the court, she and the children, +arrayed in the festive finery, without her father to take care of them; +for she had seen other children stripped of all their new and showy +clothes before they could reach the shelter of the larger streets. + +But Meg was resolved that Robin and baby at least should not meet their +father in rags. She took out the baby's coat and hood, too small now +even for the little head it was to cover, and Robin's blue cap and +brown holland pinafore. These things she made up into a bundle, +looking longingly at her own red frock, and her bonnet with green +ribbons: but Meg shook her head at herself admonishingly. It never +would do to risk an appearance in such gorgeous attire. The very +utmost she could venture upon was to put some half-worn shoes on her +own feet and Robin's; for shoes were not in fashion for the children of +Angel Court, and the unusual sound of their tread would attract quite +as much attention as little Meg dare risk. She dressed her children +and set them on the bed, while she put her own rough hair as smooth as +she could by a little glass in the lid of the trunk. Her bonnet, which +had originally belonged to her mother, had been once of black silk, but +it was now brown with years, and the old shawl she pinned over the +ragged bodice of her frock was very thin and torn at the edges; but +Meg's heart was full of hope, and nothing could drive away the smile +from her careworn face this morning. With the baby in her arms she +carefully descended the ladder, having put the door-key into the bag +round her neck along with the key of the box and her last half-crown. +Then with stealthy steps she stole along under the houses, hushing +Robin, who was inclined to make an unnecessary clatter in his shoes; +but fortunately the inhabitants of Angel Court were not early risers, +and Meg was off in good time, so they reached the outer streets safely, +without notice or attack. Before going down to the docks Meg drew +Robin into an empty archway, and there exchanged his ragged cap and +pinafore for those she had put up into her bundle. Having dressed the +baby also, she sat and looked at them both for a minute in mute +admiration and delight. There could not be a prettier boy than Robin +in all London, she was sure, with his bright black eyes and curly hair, +that twisted so tightly round her fingers. As for the baby with her +shrewd old-womanish face, and the sweet smile which spoke a good deal +plainer than words, Meg could scarcely keep from kissing her all the +time. How pleased and proud father would be! But when she remembered +how she should have to tell him that mother was dead and buried, and +none of them would ever see her again, Meg's eyes were blinded with +tears, and hiding her face in the baby's neck, she cried, whether for +joy or sorrow she could hardly tell; until Robin broke out into a loud +wail of distress and terror, which echoed noisily under the low vault +of the archway. + +Little Meg roused herself at the sound of Robin's cry, and taking his +hand in hers, with the baby upon her arm, she loitered about the +entrance to the dockyard, till a good-tempered looking burly man came +near to them. Meg planted herself bravely in his way, and looked up +wistfully into his red face. + +'Please, sir,' she said, 'could you tell me if father's ship's come in +yet?' + +'Father's ship!' repeated the man in a kindly voice. 'Why, what's the +name of father's ship?' + +'The Ocean King,' said Meg, trembling. + +'It's in the river, my little lass,' he said, 'but it won't be in dock +till night. Father can't be at home afore to-morrow morning at the +soonest.' + +'Thank you kindly, sir,' answered Meg, her voice faltering with her +great joy. Her task was ended, then. To-morrow she would give up the +key of the box with its secret treasure, which she hardly dared to +think about, and then she could feel like a child once more. She did +feel almost as gay as Robin who was pattering and stamping proudly +along in his shoes, and in the consciousness that it was his birthday. +Nobody else had such a thing as a birthday, so far as he knew; +certainly none of his acquaintances in Angel Court, not even Meg +herself, for Meg's birthday was lost in the depth of the ten years +which had passed over her head. He scarcely knew what it was, for he +could neither see it nor touch it; but he had it, for Meg told him so, +and it made him feel glad and proud. It was a bright, warm, sunny +autumn day, with enough freshness in the breeze coming off the unseen +river to make the air sweet and reviving; for Meg was skirting about +the more open streets, without venturing to pass through the closer and +dirtier alleys. + +'Robbie,' she said after a time, when they had come to a halt upon the +steps of a dwelling-house, 'Robbie, I'll give you a treat to-day, +because it's your birthday. We'll not go home till it's dark; and I'll +take you to see Temple Gardens.' + +'What are Temple Gardens?' demanded Robin, his eyes eager for an answer. + +'Oh, you'll see,' said Meg, not quite able to explain herself. 'I went +there once, ever so many years ago, when I was a little girl. You'll +like 'em ever so!' + +'Do we know the road?' asked Robin doubtfully. + +'I should think so!' replied Meg; 'and if we didn't, there's the +police. What's the police good for, if they couldn't tell a person +like me the road to Temple Gardens? We'll have such a nice day!' + +The children trotted along briskly till they reached the broad +thoroughfares and handsome shops of the main streets which traverse +London, where a constant rush of foot passengers upon the pavement, and +of conveyances in the roadway, hurry to and fro from morning to +midnight. Poor little Meg stood for a few minutes aghast and stunned, +almost fearful of committing herself and her children to the mighty +stream; but Robin pulled her on impatiently. He had been once as far +as the Mansion House, before the time when their mother's long illness +had made them almost prisoners in their lonely attic; and Meg herself +had wandered several times as far as the great church of St Paul. +After the first dread was over, she found a trembling, anxious +enjoyment in the sight of the shops, and of the well-dressed people in +the streets. At one of the windows she was arrested by a full-size +vision of herself, and Robin, and the baby, reflected in a great glass, +a hundred times larger than the little square in the box-lid at home. +She could not quite keep down a sigh after her own red frock and best +bonnet; but she comforted herself quickly with the thought that people +would look upon her as the nurse of Robin and baby, sent out to take +them a walk. + +They did not make very rapid progress, for they stopped to look in at +many shop windows, especially where there were baby-clothes for sale, +or where there were waxen figures of little boys, life-size, dressed in +the newest fashions, with large eyes of glass beads, not unlike Robin's +own black ones. The passage of the crossings was also long and +perilous. Meg ran first with the baby, and put her down safely on the +other side in some corner of a doorway; then with a sinking and +troubled heart, least any evil person should pick her up, and run away +with her as a priceless treasure, she returned for Robin. In this way +she got over several crossings, until they reached the bottom of +Ludgate Hill, where she stood shivering and doubting for a long time, +till she fairly made up her mind to speak to the majestic policeman +looking on calmly at the tumult about him. + +'Oh, if you please, Mr Police,' said Meg, in a plaintive voice, 'I want +to get these two little children over to the other side, and I don't +know how to do it, except you'd please to hold baby while I take Robbie +across.' + +The policeman looked down from his great height, without bending his +stiff neck, upon the childish creature who spoke to him, and Meg's +spirit sank with the fear of being ordered back again. But he picked +up Robin under his arm, and bidding her keep close beside him, he +threaded his way through the throng of carriages. This was the last +danger; and now with restored gaiety Meg travelled on with her two +children. + +[Illustration: The policeman picked up Robin under his arm, and +threaded his way through the throng of carriages.] + +By-and-by they turned from the busy Fleet Street under a low archway, +and in a minute they were out of the thunder of the streets which had +almost drowned their voices, and found themselves in a place so quiet +and so calm, with a sort of grave hush in the very air, that Robin +pressed close to Meg's side, with something of the silent and subdued +awe with which he might have entered a church. There were houses here, +and courts, but not houses and courts like those from which they had +come. Here and there they came upon a long corridor, where the sun +shone between the shadows of the pillars supporting the roof; and they +looked along them with wondering eyes, not knowing where they could +lead to, and too timid to try to find out. It was not a deserted +place, but the number of people passing to and fro were few enough to +make it seem almost a solitude to these poor children, who had +travelled hither from the over-crowded slums of the East End. They +could hear their own voices, when they spoke, ring out in such clear, +echoing tones, that Meg hushed Robin, lest some of the grave, stern, +thoughtful gentlemen who passed them should bid them begone, and leave +the Temple to its usual stillness. The houses seemed to them so large +and grand, that Meg, who had heard once of the Queen, and had a dim +notion of her as a lady of extraordinary greatness and grandeur, +whispered to Robin confidentially that she thought the Queen must live +here. + +They came upon a fountain in the centre of a small plot of grass and +flowers, enclosed within high railings; and Robin uttered a shrill cry +of delight, which rang noisily through the quiet court where its waters +played in the sunshine. But at last they discovered, with hearts as +eagerly throbbing as those of the explorers of some new country, the +gardens, the real Temple Gardens! The chrysanthemums were in full +blossom, with all their varied tints, delicate and rich, glowing under +the brightness of the noontide sun; and Robin and Meg stood still, +transfixed and silent, too full of an excess of happiness to speak. + +'Oh, Meg, what is it? what is it?' cried Robin at last, with +outstretched hands, as if he would fain gather them all into his arms. +'Is it gardens, Meg? Is this Temple Gardens?' + +Meg could not answer at first, but she held Robin back from the +flowers. She did not feel quite at home in this strange, sweet, sunny +place; and she peeped in cautiously through the half-open iron gate +before entering. There were a few other children there, with their +nursemaids, but she felt there was some untold difference between her +and them. But Robin's delight had given him courage, and he rushed in +tumultuously, running along the smooth walks in an ecstasy of joy; and +Meg could do nothing else but follow. Presently, as nobody took any +notice of her, she gave herself up to the gladness of the hour, and +toiled up and down, under the weight of the baby, wherever Robin wished +to go, until he consented to rest a little while upon a seat which +faced the river, where they could see the boats pass by. This was the +happiest moment to Meg. She thought of her father's ship coming up the +river, bringing him home to her and the children; and she had almost +lost the recollection of where she was, when Robin, who had been very +quiet for some time, pulled her by the shawl. + +'Look, Meg,' he whispered. + +He pointed to a seat not far from them, where sat a lady, in a bright +silk dress, and a velvet bonnet with a long rich feather across it. +There were two children with her, a girl of Meg's age, and a boy about +as big as Robin, dressed like a little Highlander, with a kilt of many +colours, and a silver-mounted pouch, and a dirk, which he was +brandishing about before his mother, who looked on, laughing fondly and +proudly at her boy. Meg gazed, too, until she heard Robin sob, and +turning quickly to him, she saw the tears rolling quickly down his +sorrowful face. 'Nobody laughs to me, Meg,' said Robin. + +'Oh yes, Robbie, I laugh to you,' cried Meg; 'and father 'll laugh when +he comes home to-morrow; and maybe God laughs to us, only we can't see +His face.' + +'I'd like to go home,' sobbed Robin; and Meg took her baby upon her +tired arm, and turned her steps eastward once more. As they left +Temple Gardens, languid and weary, Meg saw the friendly man who had +spoken kindly to them that morning at the docks passing by in an empty +dray, and meeting her wistful eyes, he pulled up for a minute. + +'Hullo, little woman!' he shouted. 'Are you going my way?' + +He pointed his whip towards St Paul's, and Meg nodded, for her voice +could not have reached him through the din. + +'Hoist them children up here, that's a good fellow,' he said to a man +who was standing by idle; and in a few seconds more they were riding +triumphantly along Fleet Street in such a thrill and flutter of delight +as Meg's heart had never felt before, while Robin forgot his sorrows, +and cheered on the horses with all the power of his shrill voice. The +dray put them down at about half a mile from Angel Court, while it was +still broad daylight, and Robin was no longer tired. Meg changed her +last half-crown, and spent sixpence of it lavishly in the purchase of +some meat pies, upon which they feasted sumptuously, in the shelter of +a doorway leading to the back of a house. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Little Meg's Neighbour + +When their feast was over, the children sauntered on slowly, not +wishing to enter Angel Court till it was dark enough for Robin's and +baby's finery to pass by unseen; but as soon as it was dark they turned +out of the main thoroughfare into the dingy streets more familiar to +them. As they entered the house Meg heard the deep gruff voice of Mr +Grigg calling to her, and she went into his room, trembling, and +holding the baby very tightly in her arms. It was a small room, the +same size as their own attic, and the litter and confusion throughout +made it impossible to go in more than a step or two. Mr Grigg was +seated at a stained wooden table, upon which stood two large cups and a +black bottle of gin, with a letter lying near to Mr Grigg's large and +shaking hand. Coming in from the fresh air of the night, Meg coughed a +little with the mingled fumes of gin and tobacco; but she coughed +softly for fear of giving offence. + +'Here's a letter come for your mother, little Meg,' said Mr Grigg, +seizing it eagerly, 'I'll read it to you if you like.' + +'Oh no, thank you, sir,' answered Meg quickly; 'father's coming home, +and he'll read it to-morrow morning. His ship's in the river, and +it'll be in dock to-night for certain. So he'll be home to-morrow.' + +Upon hearing this news Mr Grigg thought it best to deliver up the +letter to Meg, but he did it so reluctantly that she hurried away lest +he should reclaim it. Robin was already halfway upstairs, but she soon +overtook him, and a minute afterwards reached their own door. She was +about to put the baby down to take out the key, when, almost without +believing her own eyes, she saw that it was in the lock, and that a +gleam of firelight shone through the chinks of the door. Meg lifted +the latch with a beating heart, and looked in before venturing to +enter. The fire was lighted, but there seemed to be no other +disturbance or change in the attic since the morning, except that in +her mother's low chair upon the hearth there sat a thin slight woman, +like her mother, with the head bowed down, and the face hidden in the +hands. Meg paused, wonder-stricken and speechless, on the door-sill; +but Robin ran forward quickly, with a glad shout of 'Mother! mother!' + +At the sound of Robin's step and cry the woman lifted up her face. It +was a white, thin face, but younger than their mother's, though the +eyes were red and sunken, as if with many tears, and there was a gloom +upon it, as if it had never smiled a happy smile. Meg knew it in an +instant as the face of the tenant of the back attic, who had been in +jail for six weeks, and her eye searched anxiously the dark corner +under the bed, where the box was hidden. It seemed quite safe and +untouched, but still Meg's voice was troubled as she spoke. + +'I thought I'd locked up all right,' she said, stepping into the room, +while Robin took refuge behind her, and regarded the stranger closely +from his place of safety. + +'Ay, it was all right,' answered the girl, 'only you see my key 'd +unlock it; and I felt cold and low coming out of jail to-day; and I'd +no coal, nor bread, nor nothing. So I came in here, and made myself +comfortable. Don't you be crusty, little Meg. You'd be the same if +you'd been locked up for six weeks. I wish I were dead, I do.' + +The girl spoke sadly, and dropped her head again upon her hands, while +Meg stood in the middle of the floor, not knowing what to do or say. +She sat down after a while upon the bedstead, and began taking off the +baby's things, pondering deeply all the time what course of action she +ought to follow. She could place herself so as to conceal completely +the box under the bed; but if the girl's key would unlock her attic +door, how was she ever to leave it for a moment in safety? Then the +thought flashed across her that father would be at home to-morrow, and +she would no longer have to take care of the hidden treasure. In the +meantime Robin had stolen up to the stranger's side, and after closely +considering her for some moments, he stroked her hand with his own +small fingers. + +'I thought you were mother, I did,' he said. 'It's my birthday to-day.' + +For one instant the girl looked at him with a smile in her sunken eyes, +and then she lifted him on to her lap, and laid her face upon his curly +head, sobbing bitterly. + +'Little Meg,' she said, 'your mother spoke kind to me once, and now +she's dead and gone. I wonder why I wasn't took instead o' her?' + +Meg's tender heart closed itself no longer against the stranger. She +got up from her seat, and crossing the floor to the fireside, she put +the baby down by Robin on her lap. + +'You didn't ought to go into a person's room without asking leave,' she +said; 'but if you'll hold baby for me, I'll soon get tea. I've got a +little real tea left, and father 'll buy some more to-morrow. You mind +the children till it's ready.' + +It was soon ready, and they drank and ate together, with few words. +Meg was intent upon getting her weary children to bed as soon as +possible, and after it was over she undressed them at once. Before +Robin got into bed she addressed the girl hesitatingly. + +'Robbie always says his prayers aloud to me,' she said; 'you won't +mind, will you?' + +'Go on,' answered the girl, with a sob. + +'Robbie,' said Meg, as he knelt at her knee, with his hands held up +between both her hands, 'Robbie, it's your birthday to-day; and if I +was you I'd ask God for something more than other days. I'd ask Him to +bless everybody as well as us if I was you. If everybody was good, +it'd be so nice.' + +'Yes, Meg,' replied Robin promptly, closing his black eyes before he +began his prayer. 'Pray God, bless father on the big sea, and bless +me, and Meg, and baby, and take care of us all. Pray God, bless +everybody, 'cept the devil. Amen.' + +But Robin did not get up from his knees. He dropped his head upon +Meg's lap, and when she moved he cried, 'Stop a minute!' Meg waited +patiently until he lifted up his face again, and shutting his eyes very +tightly, said, 'Pray God, bless everybody, and the devil, and make him +a good man. Amen.' + +'Robbie,' said Meg mournfully, 'I don't think the devil can be made +good. He doesn't want to be good. If anybody wants to be good, God +can make 'em good, anybody in all the world; but He won't if they don't +want to.' + +Robin was already half asleep, and gave little heed to Meg's words. +She tucked him snugly into his place beside baby, and stooping over +them, kissed both their drowsy faces with a loving and lingering +tenderness. Then she turned to the fire, and saw the strange girl +there upon her knees before her mother's chair, weeping again in a +passion of tears. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Little Meg's Last Money + +'What's the matter with you?' asked Meg, laying her small rough hand +upon the girl's head. + +'Oh, Meg, Meg!' she cried, 'I do want to be good, and I can't. You +don't know how wicked I am; but once I was a good little girl like you. +And now I can never, never be good again.' + +'Yes, you can,' answered little Meg, 'if you ask God.' + +'You don't know anything about it,' she said, pushing away Meg's hand. + +'I don't know much,' replied Meg meekly; 'but Jesus says in the Bible, +that if our fathers 'll give us good things, God 'll much more give +good things to anybody as asks for 'em.' + +'But I'm too bad to ask Him,' said the girl. + +'I don't know what's to be done, then,' answered Meg. 'The Bible says, +"Those that ask Him"; and if you are too bad to ask Him, I suppose He +won't give you any good things.' + +The girl made no reply, but crouching down upon the hearth at Meg's +feet, she sat looking into the fire with the expression of one who is +thinking deeply. Meg too was silent for a time, smiling now and then +as she recollected that father would be at home to-morrow. + +'I don't know what you're called,' said Meg, after a very long silence. + +'Oh, they call me Kitty, and Puss, and Madcap, and all sorts o' names,' +answered the girl, with a deep sigh. + +'But that's not your christen name?' said Meg. + +'No,' she replied. + +'What does your mother call you?' asked Meg. + +For a moment little Meg was terrified, for the girl seized her hands in +a strong and painful grasp, and her red eyes flamed with anger; but she +loosed her hold gradually, and then, in a choking voice, she said, +'Don't you never speak to me about my mother!' + +'Have you got any money, Kitty?' inquired Meg, by way of turning the +conversation. + +'Not a rap,' said Kitty, laughing hoarsely. + +'I've got two shillings left,' continued Meg, 'and I'll give you one; +only, if you please, you mustn't come into my room again, at least till +father's at home. I promised mother not to let anybody at all come +here. You'll not be angry, will you?' + +'No, I'm not angry,' said Kitty gently, 'and you must always do what +your mother told you, little Meg. She spoke kind to me once, she did. +So I'll go away now, dear, and never come in again: but you wouldn't +mind me listening at the door when Robbie's saying his prayers +sometimes?' + +'No,' answered Meg; 'and you may listen when I read up loud, if you +like. I always read something afore I go to bed, and I'll speak up +loud enough for you to hear.' + +'I'll listen,' said Kitty, standing up to go to her own dark, cold +attic, and looking round sadly at Meg's tidy room, all ready as it was +for her father's arrival. 'I suppose you'd not mind me kissing the +children afore I go?' + +'Oh no,' said Meg, going with her to the bedside, and looking down +fondly upon the children's sleeping faces. The baby's pale small face +wore a smile upon it, as did Robin's also, for he was dreaming of the +gardens he had visited on his birthday. The girl bent over them, but +she drew back without kissing them, and with a sharp painful tone in +her voice she said, 'I wish I was dead, I do.' + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Little Meg's Disappointment + +If Meg had been up early on Robin's birthday, she was out of bed and +about her preparations still earlier the next morning. She had time to +go over again most of her brushing and rubbing of the scanty furniture +before the children awoke. She reached out all their best clothes, and +her own as well, for she did not intend to go down to the docks to meet +her father, but thought it would be best to wait at home for his +arrival. Her hands were full, and her thoughts also, for some time; +and it was not till the nearest clock struck eleven that she could +consider all her preparations completed. + +When all her work was done, Meg helped Robin up to the window-sill, and +climbed after him herself to the perilous seat, with the baby held fast +upon her lap. It was the first time the baby had been allowed to +occupy this dangerous place, and for the first few minutes Meg was not +without her fears; but it was weary and languid this morning, and sat +quite still upon her lap, with its little head resting upon her +shoulder, and its grave eyes looking out inquiringly upon the strange +world in which it found itself. Meg and Robin watched every man who +entered the court; and every now and then Robin would clap his hands, +and shout loudly, 'Father, father!' making Meg's arms tremble, and her +heart beat fast with expectation. But it was nine months since he had +gone away, and Robin had almost forgotten him, so that it always proved +not to be her father. Hour after hour passed by, and Meg cut up the +last piece of bread for the children and herself, and yet he never +came; though they stayed faithfully at their post, and would not give +up looking for him as long as the daylight lasted. But the night drew +near at last, an early night, for it was the first day in November, and +London fogs grow thick then; and Meg kindled the fire again, and sat +down by it, unwilling to undress the children before he came. So she +sat watching and waiting, until the baby fell into a broken, sobbing +slumber on her lap, and Robin lay upon the floor fast asleep. + +At length Meg resolved to lay the children in bed, dressed as they +were, and steal down herself to the docks, under the shelter of the +fog, to see if she could learn any news of the Ocean King. She drew +the old shawl over her head, which well covered her red frock, and +taking off her shoes and stockings--for father would not miss them in +the night--she crept unseen and unheard down the dark staircase, and +across the swarming, noisy court. The fog was growing thicker every +minute, yet she was at no loss to find her way, so familiar it was to +her. But when she reached the docks, the darkness of the night, as +well as that of the fog, hid from her the presence of her good-natured +friend, if indeed he was there. There were strange noises and rough +voices to be heard, and from time to time the huge figure of some tall +man appeared to her for an instant in the gloom, and vanished again +before little Meg could find courage to speak to him. She drew back +into a corner, and peered eagerly, with wistful eyes, into the thick +yellow mist which hid everything from them, while she listened to the +clank of iron cables, and the loud sing-song of the invisible sailors +as they righted their vessels. If she could only hear her father's +voice among them! She felt sure she should know it among a hundred +others, and she was ready to cry aloud the moment it reached her +ears--to call 'Father!' and he would be with her in an instant, and she +in his arms, with her own clasped fast about his neck. Oh, if he would +but speak out of the darkness! Meg's keen eyes grew dim with tears, +and her ears seemed to become dull of hearing, from the very longing to +see and hear more clearly. But she rubbed away the tears with her +shawl, and pushed the tangled hair away behind her small ears, and with +her hands pressed against her heart, to deaden its throbbing, she +leaned forward to pierce, if possible, through the thick dark veil +which separated her from her father. + +She had been there a long time when the thought crossed her, that +perhaps after all he had been knocking at the door at home, and trying +to open it; waking up the children, and making them cry and scream with +terror at finding themselves quite alone. She started up to hurry +away; but at that moment a man came close by, and in the extremity of +her anxiety Meg stopped him. + +'Please,' she said earnestly, 'is the Ocean King come in yet?' + +'Ay,' was the answer. 'Came in last night, all right and tight.' + +'Father must be come home, then,' thought Meg, speeding away swiftly +and noiselessly with her bare feet along the streets to Angel Court. +She glanced up anxiously to her attic window, which was all in +darkness, while the lower windows glimmered with a faint light from +within. The landlord's room was full of a clamorous, quarrelling crew +of drunkards; and Meg's spirit sank as she thought--suppose father had +been up to their attic, and finding it impossible to get in at once, +had come down, and begun to drink with them! She climbed the stairs +quickly, but all was quiet there; and she descended again to hang about +the door, and listen, and wait; either to discover if he was there, or +to prevent him turning in when he did come. Little Meg's heart was +full of a woman's heaviest care and anxiety, as she kept watch in the +damp and the gloom of the November night, till even the noisy party +within broke up, and went their way, leaving Angel Court to a brief +season of quietness. + +Meg slept late in the morning, but she was not disturbed by any knock +at the door. Robin had crept out of bed and climbed up alone to the +window-sill, where fortunately the window was shut and fastened; and +the first thing Meg's eyes opened upon was Robin sitting there, in the +tumbled clothes in which he had slept all night. The morning passed +slowly away in mingled hope and fear; but no step came up the ladder to +their door, and Kitty had gone out early in the morning, before Meg was +awake. She spent her last shilling in buying some coal and oatmeal; +and then, because it was raining heavily, she stationed herself on the +topmost step of the stairs, with Robin and baby, waiting with +ever-growing dread for the long-delayed coming of her father. + +It was growing dark again before any footstep came further than the +landing below, and then it was a soft, stealthy, slipshod step, not +like the strong and measured tread of a man. It was a woman who +climbed the steep ladder, and Meg knew it could be no one else but +Kitty. The girl sat down on the top step beside them, and took Robin +upon her lap. + +'What are you all doing out here, little Meg?' she said, in a low, +gentle voice, which Meg could scarcely believe to be the same as that +which had sometimes frightened her by its shrill shrieks of drunken +merriment. + +'We're looking for father,' she answered weariedly. 'He's never come +yet, and I've spent all my money, and we've got no candles.' + +'Meg,' said Kitty, 'I can pay you back the shilling you gave me on +Tuesday night.' + +'But you mustn't come into our room, if you do,' answered Meg. + +'No, no, I'll not come in,' said she, pressing a shilling into Meg's +hand. 'But why hasn't father come home?' + +'I don't know,' sobbed Meg. 'His ship came in the night of Robbie's +birthday, that's two days ago; and he's never come yet.' + +'The ship come in!' repeated Kitty, in a tone of surprise. 'What's the +name o' the ship, Meg?' + +'Father's ship's the Ocean King,' said Robin proudly. + +'I'll hunt him up,' cried Kitty, rising in haste. 'I'll find him, if +he's anywhere in London. I know their ways, and where they go to, when +they come ashore, little Meg. Oh! I'll hunt him out. You put the +children to bed, dear; and then you sit up till I come back, if it's +past twelve o'clock, I'll bring him home, alive or dead. Don't cry no +more, little Meg.' + +She called softly up the stairs to say these last words, for she had +started off immediately. Meg did as she had told her, and then waited +with renewed hope for her return. It was past midnight before Kitty +tapped quietly at the door, and she went out to her on the landing. +But Kitty was alone, and Meg could hardly stand for the trembling which +came upon her. + +'Haven't you found father?' she asked. + +'I've found out where he is,' answered Kitty. 'He's at the other end +of the world, in hospital. He was took bad a-coming home--so bad, they +was forced to leave him behind them; and he'll work his way back when +he's well enough, so Jack says, one of his mates. He says he may come +back soon, or come back late, and that's all he knows about him. What +shall you do, little Meg?' + +'Mother said I was to be sure to take care of the children till father +comes home,' she answered, steadying her voice; 'and I'll do it, please +God. I can ask Him to help me, and He will. He'll take care of us.' + +'He hasn't took care o' me,' said Kitty bitterly. + +'May be you haven't asked Him,' said Meg. + +Kitty was silent for a minute, and then she spoke in a voice half +choked with sobs. + +'It's too late now,' she said, 'but He'll take care of you, never fear; +and oh! I wish He'd let me help Him. I wish I could do something for +you, little Meg; for your mother spoke kind to me once, and made me +think of my own mother. There, just leave me alone, will you? I'm off +to bed now, and you go to bed too. I'll help you all I can.' + +She pushed Meg back gently into her attic, and closed the door upon +her; but Meg heard her crying and moaning aloud in her own room, until +she herself fell asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Little Meg's Red Frock in Pawn + +Meg felt very forlorn when she opened her heavy eyelids the next +morning. It was certain now that her father could not be home for some +time, it might be a long time; and how was she to buy bread for her +children and herself? She took down her mother's letter from the end +of a shelf which supplied the place of a chimney-piece, and looked at +it anxiously; but she dared not ask anybody to read it for her, lest it +should contain some mention of the money hidden in the box; and that +must be taken care of in every way, because it did not belong to her, +or father even, but to one of his mates. She had no friend to go to in +all the great city. Once she might have gone to the teacher at the +school where she had learned to read a little; but that had been in +quite a different part of London, on the other side of the river, and +they had moved from it before her father had started on his last +voyage. Meg sat thinking and pondering sadly enough, until suddenly, +how she did not know, her fears were all taken away, and her childish +heart lightened. She called Robin, and bade him kneel down beside her, +and folding baby's hands together, she closed her own eyes, and bowed +her head, while she asked God for the help He had promised to give. + +'Pray God,' said little Meg, 'You've let mother die, and father be took +bad at the other side of the world, and there's nobody to take care of +us 'cept You, and Jesus says, if we ask You, You'll give us bread and +everything we want, just like father and mother. Pray God, do! I'm +not a grown-up person yet, and Robin's a very little boy, and baby +can't talk or walk at all; but there's nobody else to do anythink for +us, and we'll try as hard as we can to be good. Pray God, bless father +at the other side of the world, and Robbie, and baby, and me; and bless +everybody, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.' + +Meg rose from her knees joyfully, feeling sure that her prayer was +heard and would be answered. She went out with her children to lay out +the shilling Kitty had returned to her the day before; and when they +come in she and Robin sat down to a lesson in reading. The baby was +making a pilgrimage of the room from chair to chair, and along the +bedstead; but all of a sudden she balanced herself steadily upon her +tiny feet, and with a scream of mingled dread and delight, which made +Meg and Robin look up quickly, she tottered across the open floor to +the place where they were sitting, and hid her face in Meg's lap, +quivering with joy and wonder. Meg's gladness was full, except that +there was a little feeling of sorrow that neither father nor mother was +there to see it. + +'Did God see baby walk?' inquired Robin. + +'I should think He did!' said Meg confidently; and her slight sorrow +fled away. God could not help loving baby, she felt sure of that, nor +Robin; and if He loved them, would He not take care of them Himself, +and show her how to take care of them, till father was at home? The +day passed almost as happily as Robin's birthday; though the rain came +down in torrents, and pattered through the roof, falling splash, splash +into the broken tub, with a sound something like the fountain in Temple +Gardens. + +But when Kitty's shilling was gone to the last farthing, and not a +spoonful of meal remained in the bag, it was not easy to be happy. +Robin and baby were both crying for food; and there was no coal to make +a fire, nor any candle to give them light during the long dark evenings +of November. Kitty was out all day now, and did not get home till +late, so Meg had not seen her since the night she had brought the news +about her father. But a bright thought came to her, and she wondered +at herself for not having thought of it before. She must pawn her best +clothes; her red frock and bonnet with green ribbons. There was a +natural pang at parting with them, even for a time; but she comforted +herself with the idea that father would get them back for her as soon +as he returned. She reached them out of the box, feeling carefully +lest she should take any of Robin's or the baby's by mistake in the +dark; and then she set off with her valuable bundle, wondering how many +shillings she would get for them, and whether she could make the money +last till her father came. The pawnbroker's shop was a small, dingy +place in Rosemary Lane; and it, and the rooms above it, were as full as +they could be with bundles such as poor Meg carried under her old +shawl. A single gas-light was flaring away in the window, and a +hard-featured, sharp-eyed man was reading a newspaper behind the +counter. Meg laid down her bundle timidly, and waited till he had +finished reading his paragraph; after which he opened it, spread out +the half-worn frock, and held up the bonnet on his fist, regarding them +both with a critical and contemptuous eye. Some one else had entered +the shop, but Meg was too absorbed and too anxious to take any heed of +it The pawnbroker rolled the frock up scornfully, and gave it a push +towards her. + +[Illustration: The pawnbroker spread out the half-worn frock, and held +up the bonnet on his fist.] + +'Tenpence for the two,' he said, looking back at his newspaper. + +'Oh! if you please,' cried little Meg, in an agony of distress, 'you +must give me more than tenpence. I've got two little children, and no +bread, nor coals, nor candles. I couldn't buy scarcely anythink with +only tenpence. Indeed, indeed, my red frock's worth a great deal more; +it's worth I don't know how many shillings.' + +'You go home, little Meg,' said Kitty's voice behind her, 'and I'll +bring you three shillings for the frock, and one for the bonnet; four +for the two. Mr Sloman's an old friend o' mine, he is; and he'll +oblige you for my sake. There, you run away, and I'll manage this +little bit o' business for you.' + +Meg ran away as she was told, glad enough to leave her business with +Kitty. By-and-by she heard her coming upstairs, and went out to meet +her. Kitty placed four shillings in her hand. + +'Meg,' she said, 'you let me do that sort o' work for you always. +They'll cheat you ever so; but I wouldn't, not to save my life, if +you'll only trust me. You ask me another time. Is that the way God +takes care of you?' + +'He does take care of me,' answered Meg, with a smile; 'or may be you +wouldn't have come into the shop just now, and I should have got only +tenpence. I suppose that's taking care of me, isn't it?' + +'I don't know,' said Kitty. 'Only let me do that for you when you want +it done again.' + +It was not very long before it wanted to be done again; and then Meg by +daylight went through the contents of the box, choosing out those +things which could best be spared, but leaving Robin's and baby's fine +clothes to the last. She clung to these with a strong desire to save +them, lest it should happen that her father came home too poor to +redeem them. The packet of money, tied up and sealed, fell at last to +the bottom of the almost empty box, and rolled noisily about whenever +it was moved, but no thought of taking any of it entered into Meg's +head. She was almost afraid of looking at it herself, lest the secret +of it being there should get known in Angel Court; and whenever she +mentioned it in her prayers, which she did every night, asking God to +take care of it, she did not even whisper the words, much less speak +them aloud, as she did her other requests, but she spoke inwardly only, +for fear lest the very walls themselves should hear her. No one came +near her attic, except Kitty, and she kept her promise faithfully. +Since the four bearers had carried away her mother's coffin, and since +the night Kitty came out of jail, the night of Robin's birthday, no +stranger's foot had crossed the door-sill. + +But November passed, and part of December, and Meg's stock of clothes, +such as were of any value at the pawn-shop, was almost exhausted. At +the end of the year the term for which her father had paid rent in +advance would be over, and Mr Grigg might turn her and her children out +into the streets. What was to be done? How was she to take care of +Robin, and baby, and the money belonging to one of father's mates? + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Little Meg's Friends in Need + +These were hard times for little Meg. The weather was not severely +cold yet, or the children would have been bitterly starved up in their +cold attic, where Meg was obliged to be very careful of the coal. All +her mother's clothes were in pledge now, as well as her own and +Robin's; and it seemed as if it would soon come to pawning their poor +bed and their scanty furniture. Yet Meg kept up a brave spirit, and, +as often as the day was fine enough, took her children out into the +streets, loitering about the cook-shops, where the heat from the cellar +kitchens lent a soothing warmth to their shivering bodies. + +About the middle of December the first sharp frost set in, and Meg felt +herself driven back from this last relief. She had taken the children +out as usual, but she had no shoes to put on their feet, and nothing +but their thin old rags to clothe them with. Robin's feet were red and +blue with cold, like her own; but Meg could not see her own, and did +not feel the cold as much for them as for Robin's. His face had lost a +little of its roundness and freshness, and his black eyes some of their +brightness since his birthday; and poor Meg's heart bled at the sight +of him as he trudged along the icy pavement of the streets at her side. +There was one cook-shop from which warm air and pleasant odours came up +through an iron grating, and Meg hurried on to it to feel its grateful +warmth; but the shutters of the shop were not taken down, and the +cellar window was unclosed. Little Meg turned away sadly, and bent her +bare and aching feet homewards again, hushing baby, who wailed a +pitiful low wail in her ears. Robin, too, dragged himself painfully +along, for he had struck his numbed foot against a piece of iron, and +the wound was bleeding a little. They had turned down a short street +which they had often passed through before, at the end of which was a +small shop, displaying in its window a few loaves of bread, and some +bottles containing different kinds of sweetmeats, such as they had +indulged in sometimes in the palmy days when father was at home. The +door was divided in the middle, and the lower half was closed, while +the upper stood open, giving a full view of the shop within. Meg's old +brown bonnet just rose above the top of the closed half, and her +wistful face turned for a moment towards the tempting sight of a whole +shelf full of loaves; but she was going on slowly, when a kindly voice +hailed her from the dark interior. + +'Hollo, little woman!' it shouted, 'I haven't set eyes on you this many +a day. How's Robbie and baby.' + +'They're here, sir, thank you,' answered Meg, in a more womanly way +than ever, for she felt very low to-day. 'We're only doing middling, +thank you, sir.' + +'Why, father's ship's come in,' said her good-natured friend from the +docks, coming forward and wiping his lips, as if he had just finished a +good meal. 'What makes you be doing only middling?' + +'Father didn't come home in the ship,' replied Meg, her voice faltering +a little. + +'Come in and tell us all about it,' he said. 'Hollo, Mrs Blossom! just +step this way, if you please.' + +There was a little kitchen at the back of the shop, from which came a +very savoury smell of cooking, as the door opened, and a round, fat, +rosy-cheeked woman, of about fifty years of age, looked out +inquiringly. She came a step or two nearer the door, as Meg's friend +beckoned to her with a clasp-knife he held in his hand. + +'These little 'uns look cold and hungry, don't they, Mrs Blossom?' he +said. 'You smell something as smells uncommon good, don't you?' he +asked of Meg, who had sniffed a little, unconsciously. + +'Yes, please, sir,' answered Meg. + +'I've ate as much as ever I can eat for to-day,' said her friend, 'so +you give 'em the rest, Mrs Blossom, and I'll be off. Only just tell me +why father's not come home in his ship.' + +'He was took bad on the other side of the world,' replied Meg, looking +up tearfully into his good-tempered face, 'and they was forced to leave +him behind in a hospital. That's why.' + +'And what's mother doing?' he asked. + +'Mother's dead,' she answered. + +'Dead!' echoed her friend. 'And who's taking care of you young 'uns?' + +'There's nobody to take care of us but God,' said Meg, simply and +softly. + +'Well, I never!' cried Mrs Blossom, seizing the baby out of Meg's, and +clasping it in her own arms. 'I never heard anything like that.' + +'Nor me,' said the man, catching up Robin, and bearing him off into the +warm little kitchen, where a saucepan of hot tripe was simmering on the +hob, and a round table, with two plates upon it, was drawn up close to +the fire. He put Robin down on Mrs Blossom's seat, and lifted Meg into +a large arm-chair he had just quitted. + +'I guess you could eat a morsel of tripe,' he said, ladling it out in +overflowing spoonfuls upon the plates. 'Mrs Blossom, some potatoes, if +you please, and some bread; and do you feed the baby whilst the little +woman gets her dinner. Now, I'm off. Mrs Blossom, you settle about +'em coming here again.' + +He was off, as he said, in an instant. Meg sat in her large arm-chair, +grasping a big knife and fork in her small hands, but she could not +swallow a morsel at first for watching Robin and the baby, who was +sucking in greedily spoonfuls of potatoes, soaked in the gravy. Mrs +Blossom urged her to fall to, and she tried to obey; but her pale face +quivered all over, and letting fall her knife and fork, she hid it in +her trembling hands. + +'If you please, ma'am, I'm only so glad,' said little Meg as soon as +she could command her voice. 'Robbie and baby were so hungry, and I +hadn't got anythink to give 'em.' + +'I suppose you aint hungry yourself neither,' observed Mrs Blossom, a +tear rolling down a little channel between her round cheeks and her +nose. + +'Oh, but ain't I!' said Meg, recovering herself still more. 'I've had +nothink since last night, and then it were only a crust as Kitty give +me.' + +'Well, dear, fall to, and welcome,' answered Mrs Blossom. 'And who's +Kitty?' + +'It's a grown-up person as lives in the back attic,' answered Meg, +after eating her first mouthful. 'She helps me all she can. She's +took all my things to the pawn-shop for me, because she can get more +money than me. She's as good as can be to us.' + +'Are all your things gone to pawn?' inquired Mrs Blossom. + +'I've got baby's cloak and hood left,' she replied mournfully. 'He +wouldn't give more than a shilling for 'em, and I thought it wasn't +worth while parting with 'em for that. I tried to keep Robbie's cap +and pinafore, that were as good as new, but I were forced to let 'em +go. And our shoes, ma'am,' added Meg, taking Robin's bare and bleeding +foot into her hand: 'see what poor Robbie's done to himself.' + +'Poor little dear!' said Mrs Blossom pityingly. 'I'll wash his poor +little feet for him when he's finished his dinner. You get on with +yours likewise, my love.' + +Meg was silent for some minutes, busily feasting on the hot tripe, and +basking in the agreeable warmth of the cosy room. It was a wonderfully +bright little spot for that quarter of London, but the brightness was +all inside. Outside, at about three feet from the window, rose a wall +so high as to shut out every glimpse of the sky; but within everything +was so clean and shining, even to the quarried floor, that it was +difficult to believe in the mud and dirt of the streets without. Mrs +Blossom herself looked fresh and comely, like a countrywoman; but there +was a sad expression on her round face, plain enough to be seen when +she was not talking. + +'My dear,' she said when Meg laid down her knife and fork, and assured +her earnestly that she could eat no more, 'what may you be thinking of +doing?' + +'I don't hardly know,' she answered. 'I expect father home every day. +If I could only get enough for the children, and a crust or two for me, +we could get along. But we can't do nothink more, I know.' + +'You'll be forced to go into the house,' said Mrs Blossom. + +'Oh, no, no, no!' cried little Meg, drawing Robin to her, and with a +great effort lifting him on to her lap, where he almost eclipsed her. +'I couldn't ever do that. We'll get along somehow till father comes +home.' + +'Where is it you live?' inquired Mrs Blossom. + +'Oh, it's not a nice place at all,' said Meg, who dreaded having any +visitor. 'It's along Rosemary Lane, and down a street, and then down +another smaller street, and up a court. That's where it is.' + +Mrs Blossom sat meditating a few minutes, with the baby on her lap, +stretching itself lazily and contentedly before the fire; while Meg, +from behind Robin, watched her new friend's face anxiously. + +'Well,' she said, 'you come here again to-morrow, and I'll ask Mr +George what's to be done. That was Mr George as was here, and he's my +lodger. He took you in, and maybe he'll agree to do something.' + +'Thank you, ma'am,' said Meg gratefully. 'Please, have you any little +children of your own?' + +The tears ran faster now down Mrs Blossom's cheeks, and she was obliged +to wipe them away before she could answer. + +'I'd a little girl like you,' she said, 'ten years ago. Such a pretty +little girl, so rosy, and bright, and merry, as all the folks round +took notice of. She was like the apple of my eye, she was.' + +'What was she called?' asked Meg, with an eager interest. + +'Why, the neighbours called her Posy because her name was Blossom,' +said Mrs Blossom, smiling amidst her tears. 'We lived out in the +country, and I'd a little shop, and a garden, and kept fowls, and pigs, +and eggs; fresh eggs, such as the like are never seen in this part o' +London. Posy they called her, and a real posy she was.' + +Mrs Blossom paused, and looked sadly down upon the happy baby, shaking +her head as if she was sorely grieved at heart. + +'And Posy died?' said Meg softly. + +'No, no!' cried Mrs Blossom. 'It 'ud been a hundred times better if +she'd died. She grew up bad. I hope you'll never live to grow up bad, +little girl. And she ran away from home; and I lost her, her own +mother that had nursed her when she was a little baby like this. I'd +ha' been thankful to ha' seen her lying dead afore my eyes in her +coffin.' + +'That's bad,' said little Meg, in a tone of trouble and tender pity. + +'It's nigh upon three years ago,' continued Mrs Blossom, looking down +still upon the baby, as if she were telling her; 'and I gave up my shop +to my son's wife, and come here, thinking maybe she'd step in some day +or other to buy a loaf of bread or something, because I knew she'd come +up to London. But she's never so much as passed by the +window--leastways when I've been watching, and I'm always watching. I +can't do my duty by Mr George for staring out o' the window.' + +'Watching for Posy?' said little Meg. + +'Ay, watching for Posy,' repeated Mrs Blossom, 'and she never goes by.' + +'Have you asked God to let her go by?' asked Meg. + +'Ay, my dear,' said Mrs Blossom. 'I ask Him every blessed day o' my +life.' + +'Then she's sure to come some day,' said Meg joyfully. 'There's no +mistake about that, because Jesus says it in the Bible, and He knows +all about God. You've asked Him, and He'll do it. It's like father +coming. I don't know whether he'll come to-day or to-morrow, or when +it'll be; but he will come.' + +'God bless and love you!' cried Mrs Blossom, suddenly putting baby down +in Meg's lap, and clasping all three of them in her arms. 'I'll +believe it, I will. He's sent you to give me more heart. God love you +all!' + +It was some while before Mrs Blossom regained her composure; but when +she did, and it was time for Meg and the children to go home before it +was quite dark, she bound up Robin's foot in some rags, and gave Meg a +loaf to carry home with her, bidding her be sure to come again the next +day. Meg looked back to the shop many times before turning the corner +of the street, and saw Mrs Blossom's round face, with its white cap +border, still leaning over the door, looking after them, and nodding +pleasantly each time she caught Meg's backward glance. At the corner +they all three turned round, Meg holding up baby as high as her arms +could reach, and after this last farewell they lost sight of their new +friend. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Little Meg as Charwoman + +Meg and her children did not fail to make their appearance the next +morning at Mrs Blossom's shop, where she welcomed them heartily, and +made them comfortable again by the kitchen fire. When they were well +warmed, and had finished some bread, and some coffee which had been +kept hot for them, Mrs Blossom put on a serious business air. + +'Mr George and me have talked you over,' she said, 'and he's agreed to +something. I can't do my duty by him as I should wish, you know why; +and I want a little maid to help me.' + +'Oh, if you please,' faltered little Meg, 'I couldn't leave our attic. +I promised mother I wouldn't go away till father comes home. Don't be +angry, please.' + +'I'm not angry, child,' continued Mrs Blossom. 'I only want a little +maid to come mornings, and go away nights, like a char-woman.' + +'Mother used to go charing sometimes,' remarked Meg. + +'I'm not a rich woman,' resumed Mrs Blossom, 'and Mr George has his old +father to keep, as lives down in my own village, and I know him well; +so we can't give great wages. I'd give you a half-quartern loaf a day, +and Mr George threepence for the present, while it's winter. Would +that suit your views?' + +'What could I do with Robbie and baby?' asked Meg, with an air of +perplexed thought. + +'Couldn't you leave 'em with a neighbour?' suggested Mrs Blossom. + +Meg pondered deeply for a while. Kitty had told her the night before +that she had got some sailors' shirts to sew, and would stay at home to +make them. She could trust Robin and the baby with Kitty, and instead +of lighting a fire in her own attic she could give her the coals, and +so save her fuel, as part payment for taking charge of the children. +Yet Meg felt a little sad at the idea of leaving them for so long a +time, and seeing so little of them each day, and she knew they would +miss her sorely. But nothing else could be done, and she accepted Mrs +Blossom's offer thankfully. + +'You needn't be here afore nine o' the morning,' said Mrs Blossom; +'it's too early for Posy to be passing by; and you can go away again as +soon as it's dark in the evening. You mustn't get any breakfast, you +know, because that's in our bargain; and I'd never grudge you a meal's +meat for the children either, bless 'em! They shall come and have a +good tea with us sometimes, they shall--specially on Sundays, when Mr +George is at home; and if you'd only got your clothes out o' pawn, we'd +all go to church together. But we'll see, we'll see.' + +Meg entered upon her new duties the next morning, after committing the +children, with many lingering kisses and last good-byes, into Kitty's +charge, who promised faithfully to be as kind to them as Meg herself. +If it had not been for her anxiety with regard to them, she would have +enjoyed nothing better than being Mrs Blossom's little maid. The good +woman was so kindly and motherly that she won Meg's whole heart; and to +see her sit by the shop window, knitting a very large long stocking for +Mr George, but with her eyes scanning every woman's face that went by, +made her feel full of an intense and childish interest. She began +herself to watch for Posy, as her mother described her; and whenever +the form of a grown-up girl darkened the doorway, she held her breath +to listen if Mrs Blossom called her by that pet name. Mr George also +was very good to Meg in his bluff way, and bought her a pair of nearly +new shoes with his first week's wages, over and above the threepence a +day which he paid her. With Mrs Blossom she held many a conversation +about the lost girl, who had grown up wicked, and was therefore worse +than dead; and before long Mr George observed that Meg had done her a +world of good. + +Christmas Day was a great treat to Meg; for though Mr George went down +into the country to see his old father, Mrs Blossom invited her and the +children to come to dinner, and to stay with her till it was the little +ones' bedtime. When they sat round the fire in the afternoon she told +them wonderful stories about the country--of its fields, and gardens, +and lanes. + +'I like gardens,' said Robin, 'but I don't like lanes.' + +'Why don't you like lanes?' asked Mrs Blossom. + +'I know lots of lanes,' he answered. 'There's Rosemary Lane, and it's +not nice, nor none of 'em. They ain't nice like Temple Gardens.' + +'Rosemary Lane!' repeated Mrs Blossom. 'Why, the lanes in the country +are nothing like the lanes in London. They're beautiful roads, with +tall trees growing all along 'em, and meeting one another overhead; and +there are roses and honeysuckles all about the hedges, and birds +singing, and the sun shining. Only you don't know anything about +roses, and honeysuckles, and birds.' + +'Are there any angels there?' asked Robin, fastening his glistening +eyes upon her intently. + +'Well, no,' said Mrs Blossom, 'not as I know of.' + +'Is the devil in the country?' pursued Robin. + +'Yes,' answered Mrs Blossom, 'I suppose he's there pretty much the same +as here. Folks can be wicked anywhere, or else my Posy wouldn't have +grown up bad.' + +Robin asked no more questions, and Mrs Blossom was glad to talk of +something else. It was a very happy day altogether, but it came too +quickly to an end. Meg wrapped up her children well before turning out +into the cold streets, and Mrs Blossom gave them a farewell kiss each, +with two to Meg because she was such a comfort to her. + +When they reached their own attic they heard Kitty call to them, and +Meg opened her door. She was sitting without any fire, stitching away +as for her life at a coarse striped shirt, lighted only by a small +farthing candle; but she laid down her task for a minute, and raised +her thin pale face, and her eyes half blinded with tears and hard work. + +'Where have you been all day, little Meg?' she asked. + +'Me and the children have been at Mrs Blossom's, answered Meg, 'because +it's Christmas Day: and I wish you'd been there as well, Kitty. We'd +such a good dinner and tea. She gave me a bit of cake to bring home, +and you shall have some of it.' + +'No, no,' said Kitty, 'it 'ud choke me.' + +'Oh, it couldn't; it's as nice as nice can be,' said Meg. 'You must +just have a taste of it.' + +'Did you go talking about that Posy again?' asked Kitty, bending +diligently over her work. + +'We always talk about her,' answered Meg, 'every day. Mrs Blossom's +watching for her to go by all day long, you know.' + +'She'll never go by,' said Kitty shortly. + +'Oh, she's certain sure to go by some day,' cried Meg. 'Mrs Blossom +asks God to let her go by, every day of her life; and He's positive to +do it.' + +'If she's grown up so wicked,' argued Kitty, 'she didn't ought to go +back to her mother, and her such a good woman. God won't send her back +to her mother, you'll see.' + +'But if God sent her back, her mother 'ud never think of her being +wicked, she loves her so,' said little Meg. 'If Robbie were ever so +naughty, I'd keep on loving him till he was good again.' + +'Well, Posy'll never go home no more,' said Kitty; and hot tears fell +fast upon her work. + +'She will, she will,' cried Meg. 'I expect her every day, like father. +Perhaps they'll both come home to-morrow. I wish you'd ask God to let +Posy and father come home to-morrow.' + +'I'm too bad to ask God for anything,' sobbed Kitty. + +'Well, I don't know,' said Meg sorrowfully. 'You're not bad to me or +the children. But I must go to bed now. Let us kiss you afore we go. +Mrs Blossom kissed me twice, and said I was a comfort to her.' + +Kitty threw down her work, and clasped Meg strongly in her arms, +pressing down Meg's head upon her breast, and crying, 'Oh, my dear +little Meg! My good little Meg!' Then she put them all three gently +out of her room, and bade them good-night and God bless them, in a +husky and tremulous voice. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Little Meg's Baby + +The new year came, but Meg's father had not arrived. Kitty was having +a mad outburst, as if she had so long controlled herself that now it +was necessary to break out into extra wickedness. She came home late +every night, very drunk, and shouting loud snatches of songs, which +wakened up the inmates of the lower stories, and drew upon her a storm +of oaths. But she continued always good-natured and kind to Meg, and +insisted upon having the daily charge of Robin and the baby, though Meg +left them in her care with a very troubled and anxious spirit. Things +were looking very dark to the poor little woman; but she kept up as +brave a heart as she could, waiting from day to day for that +long-deferred coming of her father, in which she believed so firmly. + +It was a little later than usual one evening, for the days were +creeping out since the new year, when Meg climbed wearily upstairs to +Kitty's attic, in search of her children, but found that they were not +there. Mr Grigg told her that he had seen Kitty take them out with her +in the afternoon; and even while he was speaking, Meg saw her +staggering and rolling into the court, with the baby fast asleep in her +drunken arms. Meg took it from her without a word, and led Robin away +upstairs. Robin's face was flushed, and his hand was very hot; but the +baby lay in her arms heavily, without any movement or sign of life, +except that the breath came through her parted lips, and her eyelids +stirred a little. Meg locked the door of her attic, and laid her baby +on the bed, while she lighted the fire and got their tea ready. Robin +looked strange, but he chattered away without ceasing, while he watched +her set the things in readiness. But the baby would not awake. It lay +quite still on Meg's lap, and she poured a little warm tea into its +mouth, but it did not swallow it, only slept there with heavy eyelids, +and moving neither finger nor foot, in a strange, profound slumber. It +was smaller and thinner than when mother died, thought Meg; and she +lifted up the lifeless little hand to her lips, half hoping that its +eyes would unclose a little more, and that sweet, loving smile, with +which it always welcomed her return, would brighten its languid face. +But baby was too soundly asleep to smile. + +Little Meg sat up all night, with the baby lying on her lap, moaning a +little now and then as its slumbers grew more broken, but never lifting +up its eyelids to look into her face and know it. When the morning +dawned it was still the same. Could the baby be ill? asked Meg of +herself. It did not seem to be in any pain; yet she carried it to the +door, and called softly for Kitty to come and look at it; but there was +no reply, only from below came up harsh sounds of children screaming +and angry women quarrelling. Oaths and threats and shrieks were all +the answer Meg's feeble cry received. She sat down again on her +mother's low chair before the fire, and made the baby comfortable on +her lap; while Robin stood at her knee, looking down pitifully at the +tiny, haggard, sleeping face, which Meg's little hand could almost +cover. What was she to do? There was no one in Angel Court whom she +dare call to her help. Baby might even die, like the greater number of +the babies born in that place, whose brief lives ended quickly, as if +existence was too terrible a thing in the midst of such din and +squalor. At the thought that perhaps baby was going to die, two or +three tears of extreme anguish rolled down little Meg's cheeks, and +fell upon baby's face; but she could not cry aloud, or weep many tears. +She felt herself falling into a stupor of grief and despair, when Robin +laid his hand upon her arm. + +'Why don't you ask God to waken baby?' he asked. + +'I don't know whether it 'ud be a good thing,' she answered. 'Mother +said she'd ask Him over and over again to let her take baby along with +her, and that 'ud be better than staying here. I wish we could all go +to heaven; only I don't know whatever father 'ud do if he come home and +found us all dead.' + +'Maybe God'll take me and baby,' said Robbie thoughtfully, 'and leave +you to watch for father.' + +'I only wish baby had called me Meg once afore she went,' cried little +Meg. + +The baby stirred a little upon her knees, and stretched out its feeble +limbs, opening its blue eyes wide and looking up into her face with its +sweet smile of welcome. Then the eyelids closed again slowly, and the +small features put on a look of heavenly calm and rest. Meg and Robin +gazed at the change wonderingly without speaking; but when after a few +minutes Meg laid her hand gently upon the smooth little forehead, the +same chill struck to her heart as when she had touched her mother's +dead face. + +It did not seem possible to little Meg that baby could really be dead. +She chafed its puny limbs, as she had seen her mother do, and walked up +and down the room singing to it, now loudly, now softly; but no change +came upon it, no warmth returned to its death-cold frame, no life to +its calm face. She laid it down at length upon the bed, and crossed +its thin wee arms upon its breast, and then stretching herself beside +it, with her face hidden from the light, little Meg gave herself up to +a passion of sorrow. + +'If I'd only asked God, for Christ's sake,' she cried to herself, +'maybe He'd have let baby wake, though I don't know whether it's a good +thing. But now she's gone to mother, and father'll come home, and +he'll find nobody but me and Robbie, and the money safe. Oh! I wish +I'd asked God.' + +'Meg,' said Robin, after she had worn herself out with sobs and tears, +and was lying silently beside baby, 'I'm very poorly. I think I'll go +to live with the angels, where mother and baby are gone.' + +Meg started up, and gazed anxiously at Robin. His bright eyes were +dimmed, and his face was flushed and heavy; he was stretched on the +floor near the fire, in a listless attitude, and did not care to move, +when she knelt down beside him, and put her arm under his head. It +ached, he said; and it felt burning hot to her touch. Meg's heart +stood still for a moment, and then she dropped her tear-stained +sorrowful face upon her hands. + +'Pray God,' she cried, 'don't take Robbie away as well as baby. Maybe +it wasn't a good thing for baby to stay, now mother's dead, though I've +done everythink I could, and there's been nobody to take care of us but +You. But, pray God, do let Robbie stay with me till father comes home; +for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.' + +Meg rose from her knees, and lifted up Robin as gently as she could, +soothing him, and talking fondly to him as she took off his clothes. +When that was finished she laid him on the same bed where the baby was +sleeping its last long sleep, with its tiny face still wearing an +unspeakable calm; for Robin's little mattress had been sold some time +ago. The day was just at an end, that sorrowful day, and a lingering +light from the west entered through the attic window, and lit up the +white, peaceful features with the flushed and drowsy face of Robin +beside it. Meg felt as if her heart would surely break as she stooped +over them, and kissed them both, her lips growing cold as they touched +baby's smiling mouth. Then drawing her old shawl over her head, she +locked the attic door securely behind her, and ran as fast as her feet +could carry her to Mrs Blossom's house. + +'Robbie's very ill,' gasped Meg, breathlessly, as she burst into the +shop, the shutters of which were already put up, though it was still +early in the night, 'and I want a doctor for him. Where shall I find a +doctor?' + +Mrs Blossom had her bonnet and cloak on, and looked very pale and +flurried. When she answered Meg she kept her hand pressed against her +heart. + +'I'm just a-going to one,' she said, 'the best at this end o' London, +Dr Christie, and you'd better come along with me. He knows me well. +Meg, I've seen somebody go by to-day as was like Posy, only pale and +thin; but when I ran out, she was gone like a shadow. I'm a-going to +tell Dr Christie; he knows all about Posy and me.' + +But Meg scarcely heard what Mrs Blossom said. All her thoughts and +interest centred in Robin, and she felt impatient of the slow progress +of her companion. They seemed to her to be going a long, long way, +until they came to better streets and larger houses; and by-and-by they +saw a carriage standing before a door, and a gentleman came out and got +into it hurriedly. + +'Why, bless me!' exclaimed Mrs Blossom, 'there's Dr Christie. Stop +him, Meg, stop him!' + +Meg needed no urging, but rushed blindly across the street. There was +all at once a strange confusion about her, a trampling of horses' feet, +and a rattling of wheels, with a sudden terror and pain in herself; and +then she knew no more. All was as nothing to her--baby and Robin alone +in the attic, and Mrs Blossom and Posy--all were gone out of her mind +and memory. She had thrown herself before the horses' heads, and they +had trampled her down under their feet. + +When little Meg came to herself again it was broad daylight, and she +was lying in a room so bright and cheerful that she could neither +imagine where she was nor how she came there. There was a good fire +crackling noisily in the low grate, with a brass guard before it, and +over the chimney-piece was a pretty picture of angels flying upwards +with a child in their arms. All round the walls there hung other +pictures of birds and flowers, coloured gaily, and glittering in gilded +frames. Another little bed like the one she lay in stood in the +opposite corner, but there was nobody in it, and the place was very +quiet. She lay quite still, with a dreamy thought that she was somehow +in heaven, until she heard a pleasant voice speaking in the next room, +the door of which was open, so that the words came readily to her ears. + +'I only wish we knew where the poor little thing comes from,' said the +voice. + +'I'm vexed I don't,' answered Mrs Blossom. 'I've asked her more than +once, and she's always said it's down a street off Rosemary Lane, and +along another street, and up a court. But there's a girl called Kitty +living in the back attic, as takes care of the children when Meg's +away. She's sure to be taking care o' them now.' + +In an instant memory came back to little Meg. She recollected bending +over Robin and the baby to kiss them before she came away, and locking +the door safely upon them. Oh! what had become of Robbie in the night? +She raised herself up in bed, and uttered a very bitter cry, which +brought to her quickly Mrs Blossom and a strange lady. + +'I want Robbie,' she cried. 'I must get up and go to him directly. +It's my Robbie that's ill, and baby's dead. I'm not ill, but Robbie's +ill, if he isn't dead, like baby, afore now. Please to let me get up.' + +'Tell me all about it,' said Mrs Blossom, sitting down on the bed and +taking Meg into her arms. 'We're in Dr Christie's house, and he'll go +and see Robbie in a minute, he says.' + +'Baby died yesterday morning,' answered Meg, with tearless eyes, for +her trouble was too great for tears; 'and then Robbie was took ill, and +I put them both in bed, and kissed them, and locked the door, and came +away for a doctor, and there's been nobody to take care of 'em all +night, only God.' + +Meg's eyes burned no longer, but filled with tears as she thought of +God, and she laid her head upon Mrs Blossom's shoulder, and wept aloud. + +'God has taken care of them,' said Mrs Christie, but she could say no +more. + +'Where is it you live, deary?' asked Mrs Blossom. + +'It's at Angel Court,' answered Meg. 'But there mustn't nobody go +without me. Please to let me get up. I'm not ill.' + +'You're very much bruised and hurt, my poor child,' said Mrs Christie. + +'I must go,' pleaded Meg urgently, 'I must get up, I promised mother +I'd never let anybody go into our room, and they mustn't go without me. +They're my children, please. If your little children were ill, you'd +go to 'em wouldn't you? Let me get up this minute.' + +It was impossible to withstand little Meg's earnestness. Mrs Blossom +dressed her tenderly, though Meg could not quite keep back the groan +which rose to her quivering lips when her bruised arm was moved. A cab +was called, and then Mrs Blossom and Meg, with Dr Christie, got into +it, and drove away quickly to Angel Court. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The End of Little Meg's Trouble + +It was early in the evening after Meg had gone in search of a doctor, +that Kitty came home, more sober than she had been for several nights, +and very much ashamed of her last outbreak. She sat down on the top of +the stairs, listening for little Meg to read aloud, but she heard only +the sobs and moanings of Robin, who called incessantly for Meg, without +getting any answer. Kitty waited for some time, hearkening for her +voice, but after a while she knocked gently at the door. There was no +reply, but after knocking again and again she heard Robin call out in a +frightened tone. + +'What's that?' he cried. + +'It's me, your own Kitty,' she said; 'where's little Meg?' + +'I don't know,' said Robin, 'she's gone away, and there's nobody but me +and baby; and baby's asleep, and so cold.' + +'What are you crying for, Robbie?' asked Kitty. + +'I'm crying for everything,' said Robin. + +'Don't you be frightened, Robbie,' she said soothingly; 'Kitty'll stay +outside the door, and sing pretty songs to you, till Meg comes home.' + +She waited a long time, till the clocks struck twelve, and still Meg +did not come. From time to time Kitty spoke some reassuring words to +Robin, or sang him some little songs she remembered from her own +childhood; but his cries grew more and more distressing, and at length +Kitty resolved to break her promise, and unlock Meg's door once again +to move the children into her own attic. + +She lit a candle, and entered the dark room. The fire was gone out, +and Robin sat up on the pillow, his face wet with tears and his black +eyes large with terror. The baby, which lay beside him, seemed very +still, with its wasted puny hands crossed upon its breast; so quiet and +still that Kitty looked more closely, and held the light nearer to its +slumbering face. What could ail it? What had brought that awful smile +upon its tiny face? Kitty touched it fearfully with the tip of her +finger; and then she stood dumb and motionless before the terrible +little corpse. + +She partly knew, and partly guessed, what had done this thing. She +recollected, but vaguely enough, that one of her companions, who had +grown weary of the little creature's pitiful cry, had promised to quiet +it for her, and how speedily it had fallen off into a profound, +unbroken slumber. And there it lay, in the same slumber perhaps. She +touched it again; but no, the sleep it slept now was even deeper than +that--a sleep so sound that its eyelids would never open again to this +world's light, nor its sealed lips ever utter a word of this world's +speech. Kitty could scarcely believe it; but she could not bear to +stay in that mute, gentle, uncomplaining presence; and she lifted up +Robin to carry him into her own room. Oh that God had but called her +away when she was an innocent baby like that! + +Robin's feverishness was almost gone; and now, wrapped in Kitty's gown +and rocked to sleep on her lap, he lay contented and restful, while she +sat thinking in the dark, for the candle soon burned itself out, until +the solemn grey light of the morning dawned slowly in the east. She +had made up her mind now what she would do. There was only one more +sin lying before her. She had grown up bad, and broken her mother's +heart, and now she had brought this great overwhelming sorrow upon poor +little Meg. There was but one end to a sinful life like hers, and the +sooner it came the better. She would wait till Meg came home and give +up Robin to her, for she would not hurry on to that last crime before +Meg was there to take care of him. Then she saw herself stealing along +the streets, down to an old pier she knew of, where boats had ceased to +ply, and where no policeman would be near to hinder her, or any one +about to rescue her; and then she would fling herself, worthless and +wretched as she was, into the rapid river, which had borne so many +worthless wretches like her upon its strong current into the land of +darkness and death, of which she did not dare to think. That was what +she would do, saying nothing to any one; and if she could ask anything +of God, it would be that her mother might never find out what had +become of her. + +So Kitty sat with her dark thoughts long after Angel Court had awakened +to its ordinary life, its groans, and curses, and sobs; until the sun +looked in cheerily upon her and Robin, as it did upon Meg in Mrs +Christie's nursery. She did not care to put him down, for he looked +very pretty, and happy, and peaceful in his soft sleep, and whenever +she moved he stirred a little, and pouted his lips as if to reproach +her. Besides, it was the last time she would hold a child in her arms; +and though they ached somewhat, they folded round him fondly. At last +she heard a man's step upon the ladder mounting to the attics, and +Meg's voice speaking faintly. Could it be that her father was come +home at last? Oh! what would their eyes see when they opened that +door? Kitty held her breath to listen for the first sound of anguish +and amazement; but it was poor little Meg's voice which reached her +before any other. + +'Robbie! oh, Robbie!' she cried, in a tone of piercing terror, 'what +has become of my little Robbie?' + +'He's safe, he's here, Meg,' answered Kitty, starting to her feet, and +rushing with him to Meg's attic. + +It was no rough, weather-beaten seaman, who was just placing Meg on a +chair, as if he had carried her upstairs; but some strange, well-clad +gentleman, and behind him stood an elderly woman, who turned sharply +round as she heard Kitty's voice. + +'Posy!' cried Mrs Blossom. + +No one but her own mother could have known again the bright, merry, +rosy girl, whom the neighbours called Posy, in the thin, withered, +pallid woman who stood motionless in the middle of the room. Even Meg +forgot for a moment her fears for Robin. Dr Christie had only time to +catch him from her failing arms, before she fell down senseless upon +the floor at her mother's feet. + +'Let me do everything for her,' exclaimed Mrs Blossom, pushing away Dr +Christie; 'she's my Posy, I tell you. You wouldn't know her again, but +I know her. I'll do everything for her; she's my girl, my little one; +she's the apple of my eye.' + +But it was a very long time before Mrs Blossom, with Dr Christie's +help, could bring Posy to life again; and then they lifted her into her +poor bed, and Dr Christie left her mother alone with her, and went back +to Meg. Robin was ailing very little, he said: but the baby? Yes, the +baby must have died even if little Meg had fetched him at once. +Nothing could have saved it, and it had suffered no pain, he added +tenderly. + +'I think I must take you two away from this place,' said Dr Christie. + +'Oh, no, no,' answered Meg earnestly; 'I must stay till father comes, +and I expect him to-day or to-morrow. Please, sir, leave me and Robbie +here till he comes.' + +'Then you must have somebody to take care of you,' said Dr Christie. + +'No, please, sir,' answered Meg, in a low and cautious voice, 'mother +gave me a secret to keep that I can't tell to nobody, and I promised +her I'd never let nobody come into my room till father comes home. I +couldn't help you, and Mrs Blossom, and Kitty coming in this time; but +nobody mustn't come in again.' + +'My little girl,' said Dr Christie kindly, 'I dare say your mother +never thought of her secret becoming a great trouble to you. Could you +not tell it to me?' + +'No,' replied Meg, 'it's a very great secret; and please, when baby's +buried like mother, me and Robbie must go on living here alone till +father comes.' + +'Poor child!' said Dr Christie, rubbing his eyes, 'did you know baby +was quite dead?' + +'Yes,' she answered, 'but I didn't ask God to let baby live, because +mother said she'd like to take her with her. But I did ask Him to make +Robin well, and bring back Posy; and now there's nothing for Him to do +but let father come home. I knew it was all true; it's in the Bible, +and if I'm not one of God's own children, it says, "Them that ask Him." +So I asked Him.' + +Meg's voice sank, and her head dropped; for now that she was at home +again, and Robin was found to be all right, her spirit failed her. Dr +Christie went out upon the landing, and held a consultation with Mrs +Blossom, in which they agreed that for the present, until Meg was well +enough to take care of herself, she should be nursed in Kitty's attic, +with her own door kept locked, and the key left in her possession. So +Dr Christie carried Meg into the back attic, and laid her upon Kitty's +mattress. Kitty was cowering down on the hearth, with her face buried +on her knees, and did not look up once through all the noise of Meg's +removal; though when her mother told her what they were doing she made +a gesture of assent to it. Dr Christie went away; and Mrs Blossom, who +wanted to buy many things which were sorely needed in the poor attic, +put her arm fondly round Kitty's neck. + +'Posy,' she said, 'you wouldn't think to go and leave little Meg alone +if I went out to buy some things, and took Robin with me?' + +'No, I'll stop,' said Kitty, but without lifting her head. When they +were alone together, Meg raised herself as well as she could on the arm +that was not hurt, and looked wistfully at Kitty's bowed-down head and +crouching form. + +'Are you really Posy?' she asked. + +'I used to be Posy,' answered Kitty, in a mournful voice. + +'Didn't I tell you God would let your mother find you?' said Meg; 'it's +all come true, every bit of it.' + +'But God hasn't let baby live,' muttered Kitty. + +'I never asked Him for that,' she said falteringly; 'I didn't know as +baby was near going to die, and maybe it's a better thing for her to go +to mother and God. Angel Court ain't a nice place to live in, and she +might have growed up bad. But if people do grow up bad,' added Meg, in +a very tender tone, 'God can make 'em good again if they'd only ask +Him.' + +As little Meg spoke, and during the silence which followed, strange +memories began to stir in the poor girl's heart, recalled there by some +mysterious and Divine power. Words and scenes, forgotten since +childhood, came back with wonderful freshness and force. She thought +of a poor, guilty, outcast woman, reviled and despised by all save One, +who had compassion even for her, forgave all her sins, stilled the +clamour of her accusers, and said, 'Thy faith hath saved thee; go in +peace.' She remembered the time when the records of His infinite love +had been repeated by her innocent young lips and pondered in her maiden +heart. Like some echo from the distant past she seemed to hear the +words, 'By Thine agony and bloody sweat; by Thy cross and passion; by +Thy precious death and burial, good Lord deliver us. O Lamb of God, +that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.' + +'Oh! Meg! Meg!' cried Kitty, almost crawling to the corner where she +lay, and falling down beside her on the floor, with her poor pale face +still hidden from sight, 'ask God for me to be made good again.' + +Little Meg stretched out her unbruised arm, and laid her hand upon +Kitty's bended head. + +'You must ask Him for yourself,' she said, after thinking for a minute +or two: 'I don't know as it 'ud do for me to ask God, if you didn't as +well.' + +'What shall I say, Meg?' asked Kitty. + +'If I was you,' said Meg, 'and had grow'd up wicked, and run away from +mother, I'd say, "Pray God, make me a good girl again, and let me be a +comfort to mother till she dies; for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen."' + +There was a dead silence in the back attic, except for the near noise +and distant din which came from the court below, and the great +labyrinth of streets around. Little Meg's eyes shone lovingly and +pityingly upon Kitty, who looked up for an instant, and caught their +light. Then she dropped her head down upon the mattress, and gave way +to a storm of tears and sobs. + +'O God,' she cried, 'do have mercy upon me, and make me good again, if +it's possible. Help me to be a good girl to mother. God forgive me +for Jesus Christ's sake!' + +She sobbed out this prayer over and over again, until her voice fell +into a low whisper which even Meg could not hear; and so she lay upon +the floor beside the mattress until her mother came back. Mrs +Blossom's face was pale, but radiant with gladness, and Posy looked at +it for the first time fully. Then she gave a great cry of mingled joy +and sorrow, and running to her threw her arms round her neck, and laid +her face upon her shoulder. + +'God'll hear me and have mercy upon me,' she cried. 'I'm going to be +your Posy again, mother!' + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Little Meg's Father + +The baby was buried the next morning, after Meg had looked upon it for +the last time lying very peacefully and smilingly in its little coffin, +and had shed some tears that were full of sorrow yet had no bitterness +upon its dead face. Mrs Blossom took Robin to follow it to the grave, +leaving Kitty in charge of little Meg. The front attic door was +locked, and the key was under Meg's pillow, not to be used again until +she was well enough to turn it herself in the lock. The bag containing +the small key of the box, with the unopened letter which had come for +her mother, hung always round her neck, and her hand often clasped it +tightly as she slept. + +Meg was lying very still, with her face turned from the light, +following in her thoughts the little coffin that was being carried in +turns by Mrs Blossom and another woman whom she knew, through the noisy +streets, when Kitty heard the tread of a man's foot coming up the +ladder. It could be no one else but Dr Christie, she thought; but why +then did he stop at the front attic door, and rattle the latch in +trying to open it? Kitty looked out and saw a seafaring man, in worn +and shabby sailor's clothing, as if he had just come off a long voyage. +His face was brown and weather-beaten; and his eyes, black and bright, +were set deep in his head, and looked as if they were used to take +long, keen surveys over the glittering sea. He turned sharply round as +Kitty opened her door. + +'Young woman,' he said, 'do you know aught of my wife, Peggy Fleming, +and her children, who used to live here? Peggy wrote me word she'd +moved into the front attic.' + +'It's father,' called little Meg from her mattress on the floor; 'I'm +here, father! Robin and me's left; but mother's dead, and baby. Oh! +father, father! You've come home at last!' + +Meg's father brushed past Kitty into the room where Meg sat up in bed, +her face quivering, and her poor bruised arms stretched out to welcome +him. He sat down on the mattress and took her in his own strong arms, +while for a minute or two Meg lay still in them, almost like one dead. + +'Oh!' she said at last, with a sigh as if her heart had well-nigh +broken, 'I've took care of Robin and the money, and they're safe. Only +baby's dead. But don't you mind much, father; it wasn't a nice place +for baby to grow up in.' + +'Tell me all about it,' said Robert Fleming, looking at Kitty, but +still holding his little daughter in his arms; and Kitty told him all +she knew of her lonely life and troubles up in the solitary attic, +which no one had been allowed to enter; and from time to time Meg's +father groaned aloud, and kissed Meg's pale and wrinkled forehead +fondly. But he asked how it was she never let any of the neighbours, +Kitty herself, for instance, stay with her, and help her sometimes. + +'I promised mother,' whispered Meg in his ear, 'never to let nobody +come in, for fear they'd find out the box under the bed, and get into +it somehow. We was afraid for the money, you know, but it's all safe +for your mate, father; and here's the key, and a letter as came for +mother after she was dead.' + +'But this letter's from me to Peggy,' said her father, turning it over +and over; 'leastways it was wrote by the chaplain at the hospital, to +tell her what she must do. The money in the box was mine, Meg, no +mate's; and I sent her word to take some of it for herself and the +children.' + +'Mother thought it belonged to a mate of yours,' said Meg, 'and we was +the more afeared of it being stole.' + +'It's my fault,' replied Robert Fleming. 'I told that to mother for +fear she'd waste it if she knew it were mine. But if I'd only +known----' + +He could not finish his sentence, but stroked Meg's hair with his large +hand, and she felt some hot tears fall from his eyes upon her forehead. + +'Don't cry, father,' she said, lifting her small feeble hand to his +face. 'God took care of us, and baby too, though she's dead. There's +nothink now that He hasn't done. He's done everythink I asked Him.' + +'Did you ask Him to make me a good father?' said Fleming. + +'Why, you're always good to us, father,' answered Meg, in a tone of +loving surprise. 'You never beat us much when you get drunk. But +Robin and me always say, "Pray God, bless father." I don't quite know +what bless means, but it's something good.' + +'Ah!' said Fleming, with a deep sigh, 'He has blessed me. When I was +ill He showed me what a poor sinner I was, and how Jesus Christ came +into the world to save sinners, "of whom I am chief." Sure I can say +that if anybody can. But it says in the Bible, "He loved me, and gave +Himself for me." Yes, little Meg, He died to save me. I felt it. I +believed it. I came to see that I'd nobody to fly to but Jesus if I +wanted to be aught else but a poor, wicked, lost rascal, as got drunk, +and was no better than a brute. And so I turned it over and over in my +mind, lying abed; and now, please God, I'm a bit more like being a +Christian than I was. I reckon that's what bless means, little Meg.' + +As he spoke the door opened, and Mrs Blossom came in with Robin. It +was twelve months since Robin had seen his father, and now he was shy, +and hung back a little behind Mrs Blossom; but Meg called to him in a +joyful voice. + +'Come here, little Robbie,' she said; 'it's father, as we've watched +for so long.--He's a little bit afeared at first, father, but you'll +love him ever so when he knows you.' + +It was not long before Robin knew his father sufficiently to accept of +a seat on his knee, when Meg was put back into bed at Mrs Blossom's +entreaties. Fleming nursed his boy in silence for some time, while now +and then a tear glistened in his deep eyes as he thought over the +history of little Meg's sorrows. + +'I'm thinking,' said Mrs Blossom cheerfully, 'as this isn't the sort o' +place for a widow man and his children to stop in. I'm just frightened +to death o' going up and down the court. I suppose you're not thinking +o' settling here, Mr Fleming?' + +'No, no,' said Fleming, shaking his head: 'a decent man couldn't stop +here, let alone a Christian.' + +'Well, then, come home to us till you can turn yourself round,' +continued Mrs Blossom heartily; 'me and Mr George have talked it over, +and he says, "When little Meg's father do come, let 'em all come here: +Posy, and the little 'uns, and all. You'll have Posy and the little +'uns in your room, and I'll have him in mine. We'll give him some sort +o' a shakedown, and sailors don't use to lie soft." So if you've no +objections to raise, it's settled; and if you have, please to raise 'em +at once.' + +Robert Fleming had no objections to raise, but he accepted the cordial +invitation thankfully, for he was in haste to get out of the miserable +life of Angel Court. He brought the hidden box into the back attic, +and opened it before little Meg, taking out of it the packet of forty +pounds, and a number of pawn-tickets, which he looked at very +sorrowfully. After securing these he locked up the attic again, and +carrying Meg in his arms, he led the way down the stairs, and through +the court, followed closely by Mrs Blossom, Posy, and Robin. The sound +of brawling and quarrelling was loud as usual, and the children +crawling about the pavement were dirty and squalid as ever; they +gathered about Meg and her father, forming themselves into a dirty and +ragged procession to accompany them down to the street. Little Meg +looked up to the high window of the attic, where she had watched so +often and so long for her father's coming; and then she looked round, +with eyes full of pity, upon the wretched group about her; and closing +her eyelids, her lips moving a little, but without any words which even +her father could hear, she said in her heart, 'Pray God, bless +everybody, and make them good.' + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Little Meg's Farewell + +About a month after Robert Fleming's return Dr Christie paid a visit to +Mrs Blossom's little house. He had been there before, but this was a +special visit; and it was evident some important plan had to be decided +upon. Dr Christie came to hear what Mrs Blossom had to say about it. + +'Well, sir,' said Mrs Blossom, 'a woman of my years, as always lived in +one village all her life till I came to London, it do seem a great move +to go across the sea. But as you all think as it 'ud be a good thing +for Posy, and as Mr Fleming do wish little Meg and Robin to go along +with us, which are like my own children, and as he's to be in the same +ship, I'm not the woman to say No. I'm a good hand at washing and +ironing, and sewing, and keeping a little shop, or anything else as +turns up; and there's ten years' good work in me yet; by which time +little Meg'll be a stout, grown-up young woman; to say nothing of Posy, +who's old enough to get her own living now. I can't say as I like the +sea, quite the contrairy; but I can put up with it; and Mr Fleming'll +be there to see as the ship goes all right, and doesn't lose hisself. +So I'll be ready by the time the ship's ready.' + +They were all ready in time as Mrs Blossom had promised, for there were +not many preparations to be made. Little Meg's red frock was taken out +of pawn, with all the other things, and Mrs Blossom went down to her +native village to visit it for the last time; but Posy shrank from +being seen there by the neighbours again. She, and Meg, and Robin went +once more for a farewell look at Temple Gardens. It was the first time +she had been in the streets since she had gone back to her mother, and +she seemed ashamed and alarmed at every eye that met hers. When they +stood looking at the river, with its swift, cruel current, Posy +shivered and trembled until she was obliged to turn away and sit down +on a bench. She was glad, she said, to get home again, and she would +go out no more till the day came when Mr George drove them all down to +the docks, with the few boxes which contained their worldly goods. + +Dr Christie and his wife were down at the ship to see them off, and +they kissed Meg tenderly as they bade her farewell. When the last +minute was nearly come, Mr George took little Meg's small hand in his +large one, and laid the other upon her head. + +'Little woman, tell us that verse again,' he said, 'that verse as +you've always gone and believed in, and acted on.' + +'That as mother and me heard preached from the streets?' asked Meg. + +Mr George nodded silently. + +'It's quite true,' said little Meg, in a tone of perfect confidence, +'because it's in the Bible, and Jesus said it. Besides, God did +everythink I asked Him. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good +gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Father which is in +heaven give good things to them that ask Him?"' + + + + +THE END + + + + + +TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. + + + + + + +SOME POPULAR STORIES BY + +HESBA STRETTON + +Author of "Jessica's First Prayer" + + +Cobwebs and Cables. Engravings by GORDON BROWN. Imperial 16mo, gilt +edges, 5s. + +Half Brothers. Crown 8vo, 5s. + +Carola. Illustrated. 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