word, and striving to wrap herself
closer in her rags, as she shivered--"Oh God! if you knew what it
was to be as cold as I am! I have nothing in the world,--not one
penny,--not a hole to lie in!"

"We are alike then," said Burgo, with a slight low laugh. "I also
have nothing. You cannot be poorer than I am."

"You poor!" she said. And then she looked up into his face.
"Gracious; how beautiful you are! Such as you are never poor."

He laughed again,--in a different tone. He always laughed when any
one told him of his beauty. "I am a deal poorer than you, my girl,"
he said. "You have nothing. I have thirty thousand pounds worse than
nothing. But come along, and I will get you something to eat."

"Will you?" said she, eagerly. Then looking up at him again, she
exclaimed--"Oh, you are so handsome!"

He took her to a public-house and gave her bread and meat and beer,
and stood by her while she ate it. She was shy with him then, and
would fain have taken it to a corner by herself, had he allowed her.
He perceived this, and turned his back to her, but still spoke to her
a word or two as she ate. The woman at the bar who served him looked
at him wonderingly, staring into his face; and the pot-boy woke
himself thoroughly that he might look at Burgo; and the waterman from
the cab-stand stared at him; and women who came in for gin looked
almost lovingly up into his eyes. He regarded them all not at all,
showing no feeling of disgrace at his position, and no desire to
carry himself as a ruffler. He quietly paid what was due when the
girl had finished her meal, and then walked with her out of the
shop. "And now," said he, "what must I do with you? If I give you a
shilling can you get a bed?" She told him that she could get a bed
for sixpence. "Then keep the other sixpence for your breakfast," said
he. "But you must promise me that you will buy no gin to-night." She
promised him, and then he gave her his hand as he wished her good
night;--his hand, which it had been the dearest wish of Lady Glencora
to call her own. She took it and pressed it to her lips. "I wish I
might once see you again," she said, "because you are so good and so
beautiful." He laughed again cheerily, and walked on, crossing the
street towards Cavendish Square. She stood looking at him till he was
out of sight, and then as she moved away,--let us hope to the bed
which his bounty had provided, and not to a gin-shop,--she exclaimed
to herself again and again-