been put
hastily into her small hand by a lady with a red rose in her bonnet. To
achieve her object with the roll and meat in one hand and the mug in the
other was, she found, impossible, so she set the mug on the floor
between her feet and proceeded to wrestle with the loaf and pocket,
having previously torn off a very small portion of the bread for her own
use. Still the loaf was too large; so she tore off another morsel, and
finally, after a severe struggle, succeeded in getting it and the bit of
meat in.

"You'll go for to kick it over, if you don't mind," said a small boy
near her, referring to the mug.

"You mind your own business--Imperence!" replied Martha, sharply. It
must be remembered that she was a child of the "slums."

"Wot a cheeky little shrimp it is," retorted the boy, with as much of a
grin as a stuffed mouth would admit of.

Just then Matilda Westlake, having finished a hymn, and being mindful of
the little toe, came quietly down to where Martha was sitting.

"Why, dear child," she said, in surprise, "have they not given you
something to eat?"

"Oh yes, ma'am. But I've--"

She was going to say, "I've eaten it," but gran'father had so earnestly
impressed on her mind the sinfulness of telling lies, that she felt
constrained to hesitate, and, with a trembling lip, finished by saying
she had eaten _some_ of it.

"And what has become of the rest, dear?"

"Please, miss, she've putt it in 'er pocket," said "Imperence" promptly.

Without noticing the remark, Matty moved so as to make herself an
effectual screen between Imperence and Martha.

"Tell me, dear child," she said, stooping low and putting a gentle hand
on Martha's shoulder, "are you not hungry?"

"Oh yes," answered the little one quickly; "I'm so 'ungry. You can't
think 'ow 'ungry; but I promised to--to--"

At this point her lip quivered, and she began to cry quietly.

"Stay, don't tell me anything more about it, dear, till you have
breakfasted. Here, eat _this_ before you say another word."

She took a roll from the basket of a passing "worker" and put it in the
child's hand. Nothing loth, Martha began to eat and drink, mingling a
warm tear or two with the hot soup, and venting a sob now and then as
she proceeded.

Watching her for a few moments, Matty left her.

In passing she stopped and said to Imperence, in a whisper of terrible
intensity, "If you speak to that girl again you shall have--_no more_."

No more! To