's
half-astonished, half-amused him. However, the man's personality
attracted him; it was honest, warm-hearted, interesting; the logic of
his pleadings might be at fault, but Sidney sympathised with him, for
all that. He too felt that 'things were wrong somehow,' and had a
pleasure in joining the side of revolt for revolt's sake.

Now in the same house with them dwelt a young woman of about nineteen
years old; she occupied a garret, was seldom seen about, and had every
appearance of being a simple, laborious girl, of the kind familiar
enough as the silent victims of industrialism. One day the house was
thrown into consternation by the news that Miss Barnes--so she was
named--had been arrested on a charge of stealing her employer's goods.
It was true, and perhaps the best way of explaining it will be to
reproduce a newspaper report which Sidney Kirkwood thereafter preserved.

'On Friday, Margaret Barnes, nineteen, a single woman, was indicted for
stealing six jackets, value 5_l_., the property of Mary Oaks, her
mistress. The prisoner, who cried bitterly during the proceedings,
pleaded guilty. The prosecutrix is a single woman, and gets her living
by mantle-making, She engaged the prisoner to do what is termed
"finishing off," that is, making the button-holes and sewing on the
buttons. The prisoner was also employed to fetch the work from the
warehouse, and deliver it when finished. On September 7th her mistress
sent her with the six jackets, and she never returned. Sergeant Smith,
a detective, who apprehended the prisoner, said he had made inquiries
in the case, and found that up to this time the prisoner had borne a
good character as an honest, hard-working girl. She had quitted her
former lodgings, which had no furniture but a small table and a few
rags in a corner, and he discovered her in a room which was perfectly
bare. Miss Oaks was examined, and said the prisoner was employed from
nine in the morning to eight at night. The Judge: How much did you pay
her per week? Miss Oaks: Four shillings. The Judge: Did you give her
her food? Miss Oaks: No; I only get one shilling each for the jackets
myself when completed. I have to use two sewing-machines, find my own
cotton and needles, and I can, by working hard, make two in a day. The
Judge said it was a sad state of things. The prisoner, when called
upon, said she had had nothing to eat for three days, and so gave way
to temptation, hoping to get better employment. The Ju