neat. Madge's dirt and rags had repelled
her at first sight; had shut out from her thoughts, for the moment, the
recollection, that within that covering of filthy rags, there sat a human
creature, which, had it been loved, and taught, and trained as her own
child had been, might have been as loving, and as attractive as she. Her
brother's remark brought this view of Madge's case before her, but did not
wholly divest her of her first feelings. Jessie's instincts led her to see
that her mother was not quite prepared to take the outcast girl to her
affections, and trembling for the result, she followed up her uncle's
plea, by saying:

"We found her cold and hungry, sitting under a stone wall, waiting for her
mother, who has run away from her. If we had not brought her home, she
would have frozen to death before morning. Wouldn't that have been
terrible, Ma?"

"Poor thing!" exclaimed Mrs. Carlton, her sympathy being now fully
aroused, "but, Brother, why did you not take her to the alms-house, where
they have the means of cleansing and clothing such unhappy outcasts?"

"Perhaps it would have been more prudent, my sister, to have done so; but
I took counsel of your child's heart, and not of my own prudence. This is
Jessie's _protege_. When she pleaded in her behalf, I thought I would do
for Madge, what I and you would wish another to do for Jessie, should she
ever, by any sad reverse of fortune, become an outcast child."

"Halloo, what little dolly mop have you got here?" cried Hugh, who, at
this juncture, bounded into the kitchen to see what was going on.

"Poor little creature! She has had a hard road to travel, thus far, I
guess," said Guy, who accompanied his brother. Hugh looked at the child's
appearance only. Guy, like his uncle and Jessie, viewed her as a human
being in distress.

All this time, the object of these comments, stared strangely about,
looking, now at the things around her, and then into the faces of the
different persons in the group. At first, she seemed indifferent to their
remarks. But when Hugh called her a little dollymop, her large, black eyes
flashed angrily upon him. Guy's kind words and tones disarmed her,
however, and a pearl-like tear rolled down her cheeks.

"Well," said Mrs. Carlton, with a sigh of resignation to circumstances,
"the poor thing is here, and must be cared for." Then turning to the
servant, she added, "Take the poor child into the bath-room. Give her a
thorough cleansing