ey'd nowt else left
at onnybody wod buy; an they'd popt bits o' things, sich as books an
odds an ends, till they'd nowt else left to pop. An nah th' rent day wor
next mornin, an barrin abaat hawf a soverin they hadn't onnythin to pay
it wi.

"If we could nobbut get us own debts paid," sed Louisa one neet, when
th' shutters were up an they wor talkin things ovver, "we could do
nicely--awm sewer Missis Rhodes could pay that three paand shoo owes us
easy enuff if shoo wod."

"Aw ax'd her to-day," sed Rosa, "an shoo sed shoo'd try an let us have
five shillin at Midsummer."

"What's five shillin then, when we've eight paand ten to pay to morn?"

They booath sat ovver a handful o' coils ther wor i'th grate an sed nowt
for a bit, then Rosa sed,

"Ther's yond length o' black silk we've had soa long, that piece Missis
Jackson ordered an then wod'nt tak; we mun sell that, it cost fower
paand, happen we can get three for it. Whear is it?"

Louisa gate up an fotch'd it off a shelf--it wor tied up in a piece o'
paper, an when shoo oppened it aght, it must ha getten damp somehah, for
it wor all i' patches o' white mowd, an fairly ruinated.

Then booath on em burst into tears when they saw it, and sat daan ageean
an sobbed for long enuff.

"Ther's nowt for it but to be turn'd aght o'th haase an goa an work i' a
mill," sed Louisa.

"Eeah! dear-a-me, to think o' us commin to that." An they booath cried
ageean.

"We must have summat at we can sell," Rosa sobbed in a bit, "what's
getten mother's brooach?"

"We sell'd that to pay th' doctor's bill when poor owd Hamer next door
had th' fever soa long." "So we did, awd forgetten."

Ageean nawther on em spake for a bit, an th' wind howl'd raaad th'
haase, an rain beat ageean th' panes, an all on a sudden Rosa jump'd up
an sed--

"Louisa, dooan't yo' remember when mother wor deein, shoo sed ther wor a
little tin box i' her trunk, an at if ivver we wor i' onny trouble we
wor to look inside ov it."

"Aw think aw do, but aw nivver saw th' box, whear is it?"

"Aw dooan't know, unless its i'th trunk still, let's hev a look for it."

They gate a cannel an went upstairs, an varry sooin coom daan ageean wi
a owd tin trunk at they put on th' hearthstun. Louisa oppened it, an
start'd rummagin abaat amang a whole lot o' odds an ends o' wearin
apparel, an reight daan i'th bottom corner her hand coom agean summat
hard.

"Here it is," shoo sed, as shoo pool'd aght a little flat tin bo