and came so near it as to be
distinctly visible. Yes, there could be no doubt now, it _was_ a baby,
and as there was only one baby in that house it followed that the baby
was _her_ baby--little Matty! Here was something to carry home with
her, and think over and dream about. But there was more in store for
her. The baby, to judge from the shadowy action of its fat limbs on the
blind, became what she called obstropolous. More than that, it yelled,
and its mother heard the yell--faintly, it is true, but sufficiently to
send a thrill of joy to her longing heart.

Then a sudden fear came over her. What if it was ill, and they were
trying to soothe it to rest! How much better _she_ could do that if she
only had the baby!

"Oh! fool that I was to part with her!" she murmured, "but no. It was
best. She would surely have bin dead by this time."

The sound of the little voice, however, had roused such a tempest of
longing in Mrs Frog's heart, that, under an irresistible impulse, she
ran across the road and rang the bell. The door was promptly opened by
Mrs Twitter's domestic.

"Is--is the baby well?" stammered Mrs Frog, scarce knowing what she
said.

"_You've_ nothink to do wi' the baby that I knows on," returned Mrs
Twitter's domestic, who was not quite so polite as her mistress.

"No, honey," said Mrs Frog in a wheedling tone, rendered almost
desperate by the sudden necessity for instant invention, "but the doctor
said I was to ask if baby had got over it, or if 'e was to send round
the--the--I forget its name--at once."

"What doctor sent you?" asked Mrs Twitter, who had come out of the
parlour on hearing the voices through the doorway, and with her came a
clear and distinct yell which Mrs Frog treasured up in her thinly clad
but warm bosom, as though it had been a strain from Paradise. "There
must surely be some mistake, my good woman, for my baby is quite well."

"Oh! thank you, thank you--yes, there must have been some mistake," said
Mrs Frog, scarce able to restrain a laugh of joy at the success of her
scheme, as she retired precipitately from the door and hurried away.

She did not go far, however, but, on hearing the door shut, turned back
and took up her position again on the door-step.

Poor Mrs Frog had been hardened and saddened by sorrow, and suffering,
and poverty, and bad treatment; nevertheless she was probably one of the
happiest women in London just then.

"_My_ baby," she said, quoting