ehend me, sir," Mr. Deeling said, with some solemnity. "I
regret to say that no recommendation is possible. That young person is
outside the pale of all Christian help. I regret to speak so plainly
before ladies, sir, but she is a notorious character, a hardened and
incurable prostitute."

Brooks looked at him for a moment fixedly.

"Did I understand you to say, sir, that you were a minister of the
Gospel?" he asked.

"Certainly! I am well known in the neighbourhood."

"Then if you take my advice," Brooks said, sternly, "you will take off
those garments and break stones upon the street. It is to help such
unfortunate and cruelly ill-used young women as this that I and my
friends have come here. Be off, sir. Miss Hardinge, this young lady
will take you to our clothes store in the inner room there. I hope you
will permit us to be of some further use to you later on."

The girl, half dazed, passed away. Mr. Deeling, his face red with
anger, turned towards the door.

"You may call it a Christian deed, sir," he exclaimed, angrily, "to
encourage vice of the worst description. We shall see what the bishop,
what the Press, have to say about it."

"I don't care a snap of the fingers what you, or the bishop, or time
Press have to say," Brooks rejoined, equably; "but lest there should be
those here who agree with your point of view, let them hear this from me
at once, to prevent misunderstanding. We are here to help to the best
of our ability all who need help, whatsoever their characters. They are
equally welcome to what we have to offer, whether they be thieves, or
prostitutes, or drunkards, or respectable men and women. But if I were
asked what really brought me here, for what class of people in the world
my sympathy and the sympathies of my friends have been most warmly
kindled, I should say, for such as that young woman who has just
presented herself here. If she asks for them, she will have from us
food and clothes and the use of our baths and reading-rooms whenever she
chooses, and I will guarantee that not one of my women friends here who
come in contact with her will ask a single question as to her mode of
life, until she invites their confidence. If you think that she is
responsible for her present state, you and I differ--if you think that
one shadow of blame rests upon her, we differ again. And if there are
any more like her in the room, let them come out, and they shall have
all that they ask for, that it is w