' for?" asked Willie.

"I fear they are looking for dead bodies. The house was let out to
lodgers, and swarmed with people. At first it was thought that all were
saved; but just before I was ordered home after the fire was got under,
some one said that an old man and his grandchild were missing. I
suppose they're looking for them now."

On inquiring of a policeman, however, Frank learned that the remains of
the old man and his grandchild had already been found, and that they
were searching for the bodies of others who were missing. A little
beyond the spot where the fire had occurred, a crowd was gathered round
a man who stood on a chair haranguing them, with apparently considerable
effect, for ever and anon his observations were received with cries of
"Hear, hear," and laughter. Going along the middle of the narrow
street, in order to avoid the smell of the old-clothes'-shops and
pawnbrokers, as well as the risk of contact with their wares, Frank and
Willie elbowed their way through the crowd to within a few yards of the
speaker.

"What is he?" inquired Frank of a rather dissipated elderly woman.

"He's a clown or a hacrobat, or somethink of that sort, in one of the
theatres or music-'alls. He's bin burnt out o' his 'ome last night,
an's a-sellin' off all he's been able to save, by hauction."

"Come; now, ladies an' gents," cried the clown, taking up a rather
seedy-looking great-coat, which he held aloft with one hand, and pointed
to it with the other, "Who's agoin' to bid for this 'ere garment--a
hextra superfine, double-drilled, kershimere great-coat, fresh from the
looms o' Tuskany--at least it was fresh from 'em ten years ago (that was
when my grandfather was made Lord Mayor of London), an' its bin renewing
its youth (the coat, not the Lord Mayor) ever since. It's more glossy,
I do assure you, ladies and gents, than w'en it fust comed from the
looms, by reason of the pile havin' worn off; and you'll obsarve that
the glossiness is most beautiful and brightest about the elbows an' the
seams o' the back. Who bids for this 'ere venerable garment? Six bob?
Come now, don't all bid at once. Who said six bob?"

No reply being made to this, except a laugh, the clown (who, by the way,
wore a similarly glossy great-coat, with a hat to match) protested that
his ears must have deceived him, or his imagination had been whispering
hopeful things--which was not unlikely, for his imagination was a very
powerful one-