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