ble on her return, be she ever
so speedy; but her nature was incapable alike of rebellion and of that
sullen callousness which would have come to the aid of most girls in
her position. She did not serve her tyrants with willingness, for their
brutality filled her with a sense of injustice; yet the fact that she
was utterly dependent upon them for her livelihood, that but for their
grace--as they were perpetually reminding her--she would have been a
workhouse child, had a mitigating effect upon the bitterness she could
not wholly subdue.

There was, however, another reason why she sped eagerly on her present
mission. The man to whom she was conveying Mrs. Hewett's message was
one of the very few persons who had ever treated her with human
kindness. She had known him by name and by sight for some years, and
since her mother's death (she was eleven when that happened) he had by
degrees grown to represent all that she understood by the word
'friend.' It was seldom that words were exchanged between them; the
opportunity came scarcely oftener than once a month; but whenever it
did come, it made a bright moment in her existence. Once before she had
fetched him of an evening to see Mrs. Hewett, and as they walked
together he had spoken with what seemed to her wonderful gentleness,
with consideration inconceivable from a tall, bearded man,
well-dressed, and well to do in the world. Perhaps he would speak in
the same way to-night; the thought of it made her regardless of the
cold rain that was drenching her miserable garment, of the wind that
now and then, as she turned a corner, took away her breath, and made
her cease from running.

She reached St. John's Square, and paused at length by a door on which
was the inscription: 'H. Lewis, Working Jeweller.' It was just possible
that the men had already left; she waited for several minutes with
anxious mind. No; the door opened, and two workmen came forth. Jane's
eagerness impelled her to address one of them.

'Please, sir, Mr. Kirkwood hasn't gone yet, has he?'

'No, he ain't,' the man answered pleasantly; and turning back, he
called to some one within the doorway; 'Hello, Sidney! here's your
sweetheart waiting for you.'

Jane shrank aside; but in a moment she saw a familiar figure; she
advanced again, and eagerly delivered her message.

'All right, Jane! I'll walk on with you,' was the reply. And whilst the
other two men were laughing good-naturedly, Kirkwood strode away by