thought maybe he had had some drink; but, Poppy, it was worse than that,
for oh! my darling, he never came home no more.'

'What was wrong with him, mother?'

'He was in debt, child, and had lost money in them horrid races; and
there were more things than that, but I can't tell you all, my dear, nor
I don't want to tell. Only this I want to say: if he ever comes back,
Poppy, tell him I loved him to the last, and I prayed for him to the
last, and I shall look to meet him in heaven; mind you tell him that,
Poppy, my dear.'

'Yes, mother,' said the child, with tears in her eyes; 'I won't forget.'

'And now about the letter; I wish I _could_ write to your father, Poppy,
but I've never had a word from him all this cruel long time--not a
single word, child; and where he is at this moment I know no more than
that table does.'

'Then who is the letter to be written to, mother?' asked the child.

'It's to your granny, Poppy, I want to write; _his_ mother, your
father's mother. I never saw her, child, but she's a good old woman, I
believe; he always talked a deal about his mother, and many a time I've
thought I ought to write and tell her, but somehow I hadn't the heart to
do it, Poppy. But now she must be told.'

'When shall I write it, mother?'

'Here's a penny, child; go and get a sheet and an envelope from the shop
at the end of the street, and if the babies will only keep asleep, we'll
write it at once.'

The paper was bought, and Poppy seated herself on a high stool, and
wrote as her mother told her:--

'MY DEAR GRANDMOTHER,

'This comes, hoping to find you quite well, as it leaves my mother
very ill, and the doctor says she'll never be no better, and my
Father went away last year, and nobody knows what has become of
him, and he never writes nor sends no money nor nothing, and Mother
has got two little babies, and they are both boys, and she wants me
to ask you to pray God to take care of us, and will you please
write us a letter?

'Your affectionate grand-daughter,

'POPPY.'

It was well that the letter was finished then, for that very night
Poppy's mother was taken very much worse, and the next morning she was
not able to rise from her bed.

And now began a very hard time for the little girl. Two babies to look
after, and a sick mother to nurse, was almost more than it was possible
for one small pair of arms to manage. The neighbours were very kind