whole life to pinch and
pare and deny myself. I was obliged to dress decently, and that came
out of my food. It's certain I must have a very good constitution to
have gone through all that and be as well as I am to-day."

"It will never come again," said Hilliard.

"How can I be sure of that? I told you once before that I'm often in
dread of the future. It would be ever so much worse, after knowing what
it means to enjoy one's life. How do people feel who are quite sure
they can never want as long as they live? I have tried to imagine it,
but I can't; it would be too wonderful."

"You may know it some day."

Eve reflected.

"It was Patty Ringrose," she continued, "who taught me to take life
more easily. I was astonished to find how much enjoyment she could get
out of an hour or two of liberty, with sixpence to spend. She did me
good by laughing at me, and in the end I astonished _her_. Wasn't it
natural that I should be reckless as soon as I got the chance?"

"I begin to understand."

"The chance came in this way. One Sunday morning I went by myself to
Hampstead, and as I was wandering about on the Heath I kicked against
something. It was a cash-box, which I saw couldn't have been lying
there very long. I found it had been broken open, and inside it were a
lot of letters--old letters in envelopes; nothing else. The addresses
on the envelopes were all the same--to a gentleman living at Hampstead.
I thought the best I could do was to go and inquire for this address;
and I found it, and rang the door-bell. When I told the servant what I
wanted--it was a large house--she asked me to come in, and after I had
waited a little she took me into a library, where a gentleman was
sitting. I had to answer a good many questions, and the man talked
rather gruffly to me. When he had made a note of my name and where I
lived, he said that I should hear from him, and so I went away. Of
course I hoped to have a reward, but for two or three days I heard
nothing; then, when I was at business, someone asked to see me--a man I
didn't know. He said he had come from Mr. So and So, the gentleman at
Hampstead, and had brought something for me--four five-pound notes. The
cash-box had been stolen by someone, with other things, the night
before I found it, and the letters in it, which disappointed the thief,
had a great value for their owner. All sorts of inquiries had been made
about me and no doubt I very nearly got into the hands of the p