oose stone tripped her
and she fell. Not having far to fall, neither she nor the baby was the
worse for it.

"Hallo, little woman!" said Solomon, assisting her to rise, "can't he
walk?"

"Yes, sir; but 'e won't," replied the little maid, turning up her pretty
face, and shaking back her dishevelled hair.

The baby looked up and crowed gleefully, as though it understood her,
and would, if able to speak, have said, "That's the exact truth,--`he
won't!'"

"Come, I'll help you," said Solomon, carrying the baby to the mouth of
the alley pointed out by the little girl. "Is he your brother?"

"O no, sir; I ain't got no brother. He b'longed to a neighbour who's
just gone dead, an' mother she was fond o' the neighbour, an' promised
to take care of the baby. So she gave 'im to me to nuss. An' oh!
you've no hidea, sir, what a hobstinate thing 'e is. I've 'ad 'im three
days now."

Yes; the child had had him three days, and an amazing experience it had
been to her. During that brief period she had become a confirmed
staggerer, being utterly incapable of _walking_ with baby in her arms.
During the same period she had become unquestionably entitled to the
gold medals of the Lifeboat Institution and the Humane Society, having,
with reckless courage, at the imminent risk of her life, and on
innumerable occasions, saved that baby from death by drowning in
washtubs and kennels, from mutilation by hot water, fire, and steam, and
from sudden extinction by the wheels of cabs, carriages, and drays,
while, at the same time she had established a fair claim to at least the
honorary diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons, by her amazing
practice in the treatment of bruises and cuts, and the application of
sticking-plaster.

"Have you got a father or mother, my dear?" asked the letter-carrier.

"Yes, sir; I've got both of 'em. And oh! I'm so miserable. I don't
know what to do."

"Why, what's wrong with you?"

The child's eyes filled with tears as she told how her father had gone
off "on the spree;" how her mother had gone out to seek him, promising
to be back in time to relieve her of the baby so as to let her keep an
appointment she had with a lady; and how the mother had never come back,
and didn't seem to be coming back; and how the time for the engagement
was already past, and she feared the lady would think she was an
ungrateful little liar, and she had no messenger to send to her.

"Where does the lady live, and wha