, drawing
his sleeve across his eyes, and sighing.

"I can't help it, daddy, I can't help it," said the little girl, with a
sob.

"Well, I s'pose not; but you needn't be afraid now, you know. I've done
with the bottle now; and it wasn't me you was afraid of, mother said,
but the whisky."

Tiny nodded. "Yes, that's it," she said; "and I shan't be afraid long if
I know you don't have it now;" and from that time the little girl set
herself strenuously to overcome the terror and dread that nightly crept
over her; but still it was some time before she could endure Coomber's
presence after dusk.

Meanwhile pinching want was again making itself felt in the household.
For some reason known only to themselves, the teal and widgeon did not
come within range of the fisherman's gun just now; and sometimes, after
a whole day spent in the punt, or among the salt marshes along the
coast, only a few unsaleable old gulls would reward Coomber's toil. They
were not actually uneatable by those who were on the verge of
starvation; but they were utterly unfit for a child like Tiny, in her
present weak, delicate condition; and again the question of sending her
to the poorhouse until the spring was mooted by Mrs. Coomber. Her
husband did not refuse to discuss it this time when it was mentioned,
and it was evident that he himself had thought of it already, for he
said, with a groan--

"It seems as though God wasn't going to let me keep the little 'un,
though she's getting on a bit, for never have I had such a bad shooting
season as this since I knocked the little 'un down. It seems hard,
mother; what do you think?"

But Mrs. Coomber did not know what to think; she only knew that poor
little Tiny was often hungry, although she never complained. They had
eaten up all the store of biscuits by this time; and although Dick and
Tom often spent hours wandering along the shore, in the hope of finding
another wonderful treasure-trove, nothing had come of their wanderings
beyond the usual harvest of drift wood that enabled them to keep a good
fire in the kitchen all day.

At length it was decided that Coomber should take Tiny to the poorhouse,
and ask the authorities to keep her until this bitter winter was over;
and then, when the spring came, and the boat could go out once more, he
would fetch her home again.

But it was not without many tears that this proposal was confided to
Tiny, the fisherman insisting--though he shrank from the task
h