d hout long--so I giv' old
Swallowed-the-poker sitch a lot o' cheek that I thought 'e'd kick me
right through the winder. He was considerable astonished as well as
riled, I can tell you, an' Miss Di's face was a pictur', but the old
butler was the sight. He'd got 'is face screwed up into sitch a state
o' surprise that it looked like a eight-day clock with a gamboil. Now,
Hetty, I'm goin' to tell 'ee what'll take your breath away. I've made
up my mind to go to Canada!"

Hetty did, on hearing this, look as if her breath had been taken away.
When it returned sufficiently she said:

"Bobby, what put that into your head?"

"The 'Ome of Hindustry," said Bobby with a mysterious look.

"The Home of Industry," repeated the girl in surprise, for she knew that
Institution well, having frequently assisted its workers in their labour
of love.

"Yes, that's the name--'Ome of Hindustry, what sends off so many ragged
boys to Canada under Miss Macpherson."

"Ay, Bobby, it does a great deal more than that," returned the girl.
"Sending off poor boys and girls to Canada is only one branch of its
work. If you'd bin to its tea-meetin's for the destitute, as I have,
an' its clothin' meetin's and its mothers' meetin's, an--"

"'Ow d'ye know I 'aven't bin at 'em all?" asked the boy with an impudent
look.

"Well, you know, you couldn't have been at the mothers' meetings,
Bobby."

"Oh! for the matter o' that, no more could you."

"True, but I've heard of them all many and many a time; but come, tell
me all about it. How did you come to go near the Home of Industry at
all after refusing so often to go with me?"

"Vell, I didn't go because of bein' axed to go, you may be sure o' that,
but my little dosser, Tim Lumpy, you remember 'im? The cove wi' the
nose like a button, an' no body to speak of--all legs an' arms, like a
'uman win'-mill; vell, you must know they've nabbed 'im, an' given 'im a
rig-out o' noo slops, an' they're goin' to send 'im to Canada. So I
'appened to be down near the 'Ome one day three weeks past, an' I see
Lumpy a-goin' in. `'Allo!' says I. `'Allo!' says 'e; an' then 'e told
me all about it. `Does they feed you well?' I axed. `Oh! don't they,
just!' said 'e. `There's to be a blow hout this wery night,' said 'e.
`I wonder,' says I, `if they'd let me in, for I'm uncommon 'ungry, I
tell you; 'ad nuffin' to heat since last night.' Just as I said that, a
lot o' fellers like me came tumblin' up to the do