for I had killed it, and I wasn't sorry at all--not a
bit!"

This was too much for Hetty, who burst into a laugh, and Sir Richard
thought it time to go and see the games that were going on in other
parts of the field, accompanied by Welland and the missionary, while
Hetty returned to her special pet Lilly Snow.

And, truly, if "one touch of nature makes the whole world kin," there
were touches of nature enough seen that day among these outcasts of
society to have warranted their claiming kin with the whole world.

Leap-frog was greatly in favour, because the practitioners could abandon
themselves to a squirrel-and-cat sort of bound on the soft grass, which
they had never dared to indulge in on the London pavements. It was a
trying game, however, to the rags, which not only betrayed their
character to the eye by the exhibition of flesh-tints through numerous
holes, but addressed themselves also to the ears by means of frequent
and explosive rendings. Pins, however, were applied to the worst of
these with admirable though temporary effect, and the fun became faster
and more furious,--especially so when the points of some of the pins
touched up the flesh-tints unexpectedly.

On these occasions the touches of nature became strongly pronounced--
expressing themselves generally in a yell. Another evidence of worldly
kinship was, that the touched-up ones, instead of attributing the
misfortune to accident, were prone to turn round with fierce scowl and
doubled fists under the impression that a guilty comrade was in rear!

The proceedings were totally arrested for one hour at mid-day, when
unlimited food was issued, and many of the forlorn ones began to feel
the rare sensation of being stuffed quite full and rendered incapable of
wishing for more! But this was a mere interlude. Like little giants
refreshed they rose up again to play--to swing, to leap, to wrestle, to
ramble, to gather flowers, to roll on the grass, to bask in the
gladdening sunshine, and, in some cases, to thank God for all His
mercies, in spite of the latent feeling of regret that there was so
little of all that enjoyment in the slums, and dark courts, and filthy
back-streets of the monster city.

Of course all the pins were extracted in this second act of the play,
and innumerable new and gaping wounds were introduced into the clothing,
insomuch that all ordinary civilised people, except philanthropists,
would have been shocked with the appearance o