wn, and pulling the
greasy bedclothes up to her neck. "You ain't a parson?" with sudden
suspicion.

"No, I am a lawyer."

"I ain't a-goin' to have the cussed parsons a-prowlin' round 'ere,"
growled the old woman, viciously. "I ain't a-goin' to die yet, cuss ye;
I'm goin' to get well an' strong, an' 'ave a good time of it."

"I'm afraid you won't recover," said Calton, gently. "You had better
let me send for a doctor."

"No, I shan't," retorted the hag, aiming a blow at him with all her
feeble strength. "I ain't a-goin' to have my inside spil'd with salts
and senner. I don't want neither parsons nor doctors, I don't. I
wouldn't 'ave a lawyer, only I'm a-thinkin' of makin' my will, I am."

"Mind I gits the watch," yelled Lizer, from the corner. "If you gives
it to Sal I'll tear her eyes out."

"Silence!" said Kilsip, sharply, and, with a muttered curse, Lizer sat
back in her corner.

"Sharper than a serpent's tooth, she are," whined the old woman, when
quiet was once more restored. "That young devil 'ave fed at my 'ome,
an' now she turns, cuss her."

"Well--well," said Calton, rather impatiently, "what is it you wanted
to see me about?"

"Don't be in such a 'urry," said the hag, with a scowl, "or I'm blamed
if I tell you anything, s'elp me."

She was evidently growing very weak, so Calton turned to Kilsip and
told him in a whisper to get a doctor. The detective scribbled a note
on some paper, and, giving it to Lizer, ordered her to take it. At
this, the other girl arose, and, putting her arm in that of the
child's, they left together.

"Them two young 'usseys gone?" said Mother Guttersnipe. "Right you are,
for I don't want what I've got to tell to git into the noospaper, I
don't."

"And what is it?" asked Calton, bending forward.

The old woman took another drink of gin, and it seemed to put life into
her, for she sat up in the bed, and commenced to talk rapidly, as
though she were afraid of dying before her secret was told.

"You've been 'ere afore?" she said, pointing one skinny finger at
Calton, "and you wanted to find out all about 'er; but you didn't. She
wouldn't let me tell, for she was always a proud jade, a-flouncin'
round while 'er pore mother was a-starvin'."

"Her mother! Are you Rosanna Moore's mother?" cried Calton,
considerably astonished.

"May I die if I ain't," croaked the hag. "'Er pore father died of
drink, cuss 'im, an' I'm a-follerin' 'im to the same place in the same
way. You