now
wot stinks is. Let Teddy show you that 'ere bloomin' ditch at the back.
They calls it a stream, but I dussn't say wot I thinks it is afore the
nipper. All the dead cats and muck in the bloomin' crehation gits dumped
in there. On 'ot days you wants a nosebag on, I tell you, and no error."

"Does Teddy go to school?"

"No fear; not yet. But he's fly as they makes 'em, he is. Useful he is,
too. 'Andy as makes no matter, and he ain't no more 'n seven."

"Well, I'm coming to see Teddy and the ditch to-morrow. Will you have
another pint?"

"Right, matey; that'll do for to-morrow. Ain't you got no less 'n a
tanner? Never mind, I'll square when I'm flush."

Next day I visited the alley, and went to the gap where it opened on to
the ditch. There was an admirably efficient hotbed for rearing diseases
there. A solid bed of sewage of about two feet deep seemed to fill the
hollow, and a thin sheet of filthy water covered this bed--with sickly
breaks here and there. Ordure palpable and abominable was plentiful,
and the swollen carcasses of small animals exhaled their biting wafts.
Poor little Teddy! I said, "Come home with me, will you? Mind, you
mustn't tell anyone where I live;" and the amiable little dot set off at
my side. He could not walk very well, for he had one shoe minus a sole,
and his toes stuck through the other. When we reached my room I sent out
for a pair of boots and two pairs of socks; then I pitched Teddy's away,
and presently to his terror, and my own amusement, I found myself
engaged in washing his feet. Nice little feet they were when they came
clean, and their owner pattered about with perfect satisfaction on my
carpet. I pulled out some cakes, and Teddy accepted a few, turning away
his head as he took them. He had the exact look of a dog that is being
reproved, and I had some trouble in persuading him to begin. When he had
finished one sponge-cake he grinned and enigmatically observed, "Teddy's
belly." I said, "That's baby talk. You talked all right last night.
Finish your cakes and you'll have some more for tea. Trot about as you
like till it's ready." He went gaily about, touching some articles, and
even sniffing at others; he dived into my bedroom, and I heard him cry
"Ooh!" Then there was a scraping sound, and Teddy appeared lugging a
small looking-glass and smiling broadly. "Ooh! This is what there is
when a lady gives you a beer." I understood that he referred to the
bleared glass behind the bar