ooper, as he
concluded his repast. "I did not take the trouble to ask him; because I
didn't care. You might help me in this, doctor."

"Well, I'll put you in the way of getting what you want," said the
doctor, after a few moments reflection; "but you must manage it
yourself. I'll not act personally in such an affair; and let me advise
you to make sure that you are not getting into a scrape before you take
any steps in the matter. Meanwhile, I must wish you good-day. Call
here again to-night, at six."

The doctor rose as he spoke, and accompanied Ned to the door. He left a
coin of some sort in his palm, when he shook hands.

"Thankee," said Ned.

"If you had come to beg, you should not have got it," said the doctor.
"God help him!" he added as he shut the door; "it is an awful sight to
see an old companion fall so low."

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

AN OLD PLOT.

It is evening now. The snow is still on the ground; but it looks ruddy
and warm in the streets, because of the blaze of light from the
shop-windows, and it looks colder than it did on the house-tops, by
reason of the moon which sails in the wintry sky.

The man in the moon must have been in good spirits that night, for his
residence seemed almost fuller than the usual full moon, and decidedly
brighter--to many, at least, of the inhabitants of London. It looked
particularly bright to Miss Tippet, as she gazed at it through the
windows of her upper rooms, and awaited the arrival of "a few friends"
to tea. Miss Tippet's heart was animated with feelings of love to God
and man; and she had that day, in obedience to the Divine precept,
attempted and accomplished a good many little things, all of which were,
either directly or indirectly, calculated to make human beings happy.

Emma Ward, too, thought the moon particularly bright that night; in fact
she might almost have been regarded as a lunatic; so steadily did she
gaze at the moon, and smile to herself without any apparent motive.
There was reason for her joy, however, for she had come to know, in some
mysterious way, that Frank Willders loved her; and she had known, for a
long time past, that she loved Frank Willders.

Frank had become a foreman of the Fire Brigade, and had been removed
from his former station and comrades to his new charge in the city. But
Frank had not only risen in his profession; he had also risen
intellectually. His mother had secured to him a pretty good education
to be