hours, she would sooner have
consented to have had her right-hand cut off than have agreed to that
most reasonable request.

But we must not anticipate. A few of our _dramatis personae_ took both
an active and an inactive part in the events of these hours. It is
therefore imperative that we should indicate how some of them came to be
in that region.

About five of the clock in the afternoon of the day in question, Sir
Richard Brandon, his daughter and idol Diana, and his young friend
Stephen Welland, sat in the dining-room of the West-end mansion
concluding an early and rather hasty dinner. That something was pending
was indicated by the fact that little Di sat accoutred in her hat and
cloak.

"We shall have to make haste," said Sir Richard, rising, "for I should
not like to be late, and it is a long drive to Whitechapel."

"When do they begin?" asked Welland.

"They have tea at six, I believe, and then the meeting commences at
seven, but I wish to be early that I may have a short conversation with
one of the ladies of the Home."

"Oh! it will be so nice, and such fun to see the dear little boys. How
many are going to start for Canada, to-night, papa?"

"About fifty or sixty, I believe, but I'm not sure. They are sent off
in batches of varying size from time to time."

"Is the demand for them so great?" asked Welland, "I should have thought
that Canadian farmers and others would be afraid to receive into their
dwellings what is often described as the scum of the London streets."

"They were afraid at first, I am told, but soon discovered that the
little fellows who came from Miss Macpherson's Home had been subjected
to such good training and influences before leaving that they almost
invariably turned out valuable and trustworthy workmen. No doubt there
are exceptions in this as in every other case, but the demand is, it
seems, greater than the supply. It is, however, a false idea that
little waifs and strays, however dirty or neglected, are in any sense
the scum of London. Youth, in all circumstances, is cream, and only
turns into scum when allowed to stagnate or run to waste. Come, now,
let us be off. Mr Seaward, the city missionary, is to meet us after
the meeting, and show you and me something of those who have fallen very
low in the social scale. Brisbane, who is also to be at the meeting,
will bring Di home. By the way, have you heard anything yet about that
poor comrade and fellow-clerk of