s a knock at the door by
which I had entered, and Nell bursting into a hearty laugh, which I was
rejoiced to hear, for it was childlike and full of hilarity, said it
was no doubt dear old Kit coming back at last.

'Foolish Nell!' said the old man fondling with her hair. 'She always
laughs at poor Kit.'

The child laughed again more heartily than before, I could not help
smiling from pure sympathy. The little old man took up a candle and
went to open the door. When he came back, Kit was at his heels.

Kit was a shock-headed, shambling, awkward lad with an uncommonly wide
mouth, very red cheeks, a turned-up nose, and certainly the most
comical expression of face I ever saw. He stopped short at the door on
seeing a stranger, twirled in his hand a perfectly round old hat
without any vestige of a brim, and resting himself now on one leg and
now on the other and changing them constantly, stood in the doorway,
looking into the parlour with the most extraordinary leer I ever
beheld. I entertained a grateful feeling towards the boy from that
minute, for I felt that he was the comedy of the child's life.

'A long way, wasn't it, Kit?' said the little old man.

'Why, then, it was a goodish stretch, master,' returned Kit.

'Of course you have come back hungry?'

'Why, then, I do consider myself rather so, master,' was the answer.

The lad had a remarkable manner of standing sideways as he spoke, and
thrusting his head forward over his shoulder, as if he could not get at
his voice without that accompanying action. I think he would have
amused one anywhere, but the child's exquisite enjoyment of his oddity,
and the relief it was to find that there was something she associated
with merriment in a place that appeared so unsuited to her, were quite
irresistible. It was a great point too that Kit himself was flattered
by the sensation he created, and after several efforts to preserve his
gravity, burst into a loud roar, and so stood with his mouth wide open
and his eyes nearly shut, laughing violently.

The old man had again relapsed into his former abstraction and took no
notice of what passed, but I remarked that when her laugh was over, the
child's bright eyes were dimmed with tears, called forth by the
fullness of heart with which she welcomed her uncouth favourite after
the little anxiety of the night. As for Kit himself (whose laugh had
been all the time one of that sort which very little would change into
a cry) he carri