ad to do,
and soon forgot the circumstance among the multitude of other matters
which immediately claimed her attention.

She found her time fully occupied till shortly before four o'clock, and
had a pretty exciting scramble to be at Hollowmell at the time
appointed.

CHAPTER IV.

THE FIRST ESSAY.

Mabel was already there when she arrived, and the two set to work in
earnest, buttering great piles of tea-cakes and toasted muffins, which
were all set forth in tempting array when the children began to appear
at the door, looking in with some bashfulness at first, but plucking up
courage after sundry peeps at the good things, they came trooping in, in
goodly numbers--a motly throng, ranging in point of age, from about
seven to fourteen, and in point of condition, from ragged and torn
urchins, with dirty faces and uncombed hair, to mill-girls of various
ages with shining faces, and ribbons of different degrees of dirtiness
in their crimped and frizzled tresses.

They were led by Mabel into another apartment, where accommodation was
provided for those who desired to improve their toilet with such
additions as soap and water and a certain amount of vigorous brushing
could afford. These arrangements completed, they were marshalled into
the largest room the house contained, where it was found that, although
an apartment of no mean dimensions, it was still hardly large enough to
accommodate the throng comfortably. However, by dint of squeezing and
crushing, and amid not a little noise and merriment, they were at last
all wedged in, "like figs in a box," as Minnie humourously remarked
thinking she was saying quite a smart thing, out of which delusion she
was at once awakened by one of the smallest and most ragged of the
urchins present, who promptly suggested "herring" as a more appropriate
simile. This view of the case being evidently a popular one, and,
moreover, being more favourably received by the assemblage, Minnie felt
it to be her duty to admit the correction, and next fell to wondering
how they would manage to get out again. The difficulty did not seem to
strike the children as being an insuperable one, they even proposed to
tackle and overcome it on the spot--merely as an experiment, in order to
show that it could be done--which obliging proposal, however, was not
accepted. One row of small boys, nevertheless, fired with a desire to
distinguish themselves in some way or other, tilted back the bench on
whic