e here always?"

"Yes, and we had nice lodgers, and a nice house, and we had money
enough for what we wanted, but father costs such a lot, and takes
nearly all the money mother gets, and he won't give her any of it.
He won't work himself, either. All the nice lodgers left because he
made such rows in the house, and was always quarrelling; there's only
one of them left, that's Miss Patch. She has the attic right at the
top of the house. She went up there because it is quieter."

He talked on eagerly in his old-fashioned way, his face flushing with
weakness and excitement. It was such a rare treat to him to have any
one to talk to, particularly any one of his own age--a sympathetic
listener, too.

"Do you know Miss Patch yet?"

"No," said Jessie. "I only came last night very late. I've seen one
lodger, a young man. He came down in the kitchen to his breakfast."

"Oh, Tom Salter! You'll like him--I do. I want my breakfast, don't
you?"

"Yes," said Jessie, with a deep sigh. "I am _very_ hungry, but--
but--your mother said we would wait till father was gone."
She hesitated over the term by which she should speak of her
stepmother. Charlie noticed it.

"I wish you'd call her 'mother,'" he said gently; "it would make us
seem more like brother and sister, and I would love to have a sister.
I've wished so often that I'd got one, or had got somebody to talk
to, and read and play with me. Mother would like it, too. She isn't
really cross, you know. She is only tired and worried. You see,
she's got me to look after, and me and father to keep, and ever so
many lodgers. I am so glad you're come to help her. I do long to be
able to, and I can only give her extra trouble." He spoke with sad
earnestness far beyond his age.

A ray of comfort entered Jessie's sad heart. She felt really drawn
towards her new stepbrother, and she loved to feel she was being
useful.

"Yes, I'll help her," she said as brightly as she could for the
weariness which was creeping over her. "I have been, a little,
already. Can I help you? I'd love to try and make your room a
little bit tidier."

"Does it look untidy?" asked Charlie, feeling somewhat taken aback.

It looked more than untidy, but Jessie was too polite to say so, and
as she leaned against the bed she was planning in her mind what she
could do to make it nicer for him.

"I wish I could get you some flowers," she said eagerly, "some out of
our garden. Oh, we had s