tchen, and to sleep in a bed in a room with thirty or
forty homeless ones like himself.

On his way to this abode of the destitute, he was overtaken by a huge
man with a little bit of blue ribbon in his button-hole.

"Hallo! young feller," exclaimed the man, "you're the chap that was
livin' wi' Ned Frog the night I called to see 'im--eh! Sam Twitter,
ain't you?"

"Yes," said young Sam, blushing scarlet with alarm at the abruptness of
the question. "Yes, I am. T-Twitter _is_ my name. You're the man that
gave him the Bible, are you not, whom he turned out of his house for
tryin' to speak to him about his soul?"

"The same, young feller. That's me, an' Reggie North is my name. He'd
'ave 'ad some trouble to turn me out _once_, though, but I've given up
quarrellin' and fightin' now, havin' enlisted under the banner of the
Prince of Peace," replied the man, who was none other than our
Bible-salesman, the man who contributed the memorable speech--"Bah!" and
"Pooh!" at the Gospel-temperance meeting. "Where are you going?"

Sam, who never could withhold information or retain a secret if asked
suddenly, gave the name of the common lodging-house to which he was
bound.

"Well, I'm going there too, so come along."

Sam could not choose but go with the man. He would rather have been
alone, but could not shake him off.

Entering, they sat down at a table together near the kitchen fire, and
North, pulling out of his pocket a small loaf, cut it in two and offered
Sam half.

Several men were disputing in the box or compartment next to them, and
as they made a great noise, attracting the attention of all around,
North and his friend Sam were enabled the more easily to hold
confidential talk unnoticed, by putting their heads together and
chatting low as they ate their frugal meal.

"What made you leave Ned?" asked North.

"How did you know I'd left him?"

"Why, because if you was still with him you wouldn't be here!"

This was so obvious that Sam smiled; but it was a sad apology for a
smile.

"I left him, because he constantly offered me beer, and I've got such an
awful desire for beer now, somehow, that I can't resist it, so I came
away. And there's no chance of any one offering me beer in this place."

"Not much," said North, with a grin. "But, young feller," (and there
was something earnestly kind in the man's manner here), "if you feel an
_awful_ desire for drink, you'd better put on this."

He touched hi