n of his departed spouse.

"I am, sorr," answered Eily; "I am come to help me aunt wid the claning
and the lodgers."

"Poor child! poor child! I was afraid so," he murmured, shaking his head
dolefully; "but, look here, don't notice her tempers and her tantrums,
her carries on fearful sometimes, but least said soonest mended, and if
you want to please her keep a still tongue in your head; I've learnt to
do it, and it pays best. If ever you want a friend your uncle William
will stand by you; now, not a word, not a word!" and he shuffled
noiselessly away as loud footsteps drew near, and Mrs. Murphy appeared
on the scene.

"Now then, girl, come downstairs and set to work; the fire's black out,
and not a drop o' water to be had! It's like him; he's got a brain like
a sieve"--pointing to her husband, "and here am I nigh dying of thirst.
Drat that bell!" she exclaimed, as a loud peal from upstairs sounded in
the passage.

William lit the fire, boiled the kettle, and frizzled the bacon, his
wife sitting by criticising the work of his hands, and warming her
elastic-sided boots at the fire. She ate her breakfast in silence, and
then remembered Eily, who was sitting on the stairs, hungry, forlorn,
and desolate, the tears running down her cheeks.

"Come, girl, get your tea!" she called, as she replenished the pot from
the kettle; "here's bread for you, better than that rubbishy stuff your
mother makes; such bread as that I never see, it's that heavy it lies on
your chest like a mill-stone."

Eily took the slice of bread offered her and gnawed it hungrily; she had
tasted nothing since the previous evening, as her aunt objected to waste
money on "them swindling refreshment rooms," and the stock of bread and
cakes her mother had given her was soon exhausted.

"Now, girl, if you start crying you'll find you make a great mistake. I
brought you here to work, and work you must! Fie, for shame! an ignorant
country girl like you should be thankful for such a start in life as you
are getting."

"I'm not ignorant," Eily answered with spirit, "and it's yourself that
knows it!"

[Sidenote: "Do what you're Told!"]

"Then get up and wash that there delf--don't give me any imperence, or
you'll find yourself in the street; there's others better than you I've
turned away, and the work'us has been their end--so mind your business,
and do what you're told!" With this parting injunction Mrs. Murphy left
the kitchen.

The winter passed--c