cold clamminess. At this early hour, for the building had only just opened its doors on a Monday morning, merely a scattered number of men and women were to be seen in the place, and those

d hungrily along the printed lines, whose hands tremblingly wrote down this or that address, which might by some merciful chance give them, if not exactly what they wanted, at any rate that which would ensure their earning a pittance, however scanty. Almost every member of the forlorn group eyed every other member suspiciously, with furtive glances, that seemed to say: "If you are lucky enough to get a job out of those columns, then I sh

ntility, which would keep them above the high-water mark of degradation. A girl who stood a little apart from the rest, looked round the dimly-lit room with pitiful eyes, and a shudder ran through her slight frame, as she watched the faces and forms of these women who were no longer young, but who were yet still engaged in this hand-to-hand fight with destitution. The girl was young; it was impossible to suppose that more than twenty years had gone over her head, though the deep shadows under her eyes, and the lines of anxiety, about her mouth, might have made a casual observer regard her as an older woman. Like the rest of her sex who

e been every day for weeks, and they are getting older every day. And the older one gets, the harder it is to find work. Some day I shall be li

weary, weary years of struggle that might still lie before her. It was seldom that she was assailed by such depressing reflections; her youth had a way, as youth has, of asserting itself, and rebounding from its own despair; and there was an abundance of pluck behind those queer, green eyes of hers, and no lack of resolution in her small square chin. But the fog outside, the chilly atmosphere of the big library, whose fires were barely alight, and the sight of the same unemployed men and women who for weeks past had, as it were, dogged her footsteps, all combined this morning, to send Christina's spirits down to zero. Matters had not been improved by the calculations over which she had busied herself before leaving her lodgings an hour earlier. Whilst eating her dry bread, and drinking

of who they were, or to what part of the country they belonged. Long ago, she had grasped the fact that she was alone in the world, and when the Donaldsons went away, she had no intimate friends in

r it, and with her small stock of money growing beautifully less each day, it was

people appeared to require nursery governesses, companions, and mothers' helps; and yet, as bitter experience taught her, there were many more applicants for the posts than there were posts to fill; and it was with a half-hearted sense of intense discouragement that she noted down some of the add

close by, and her eyes glanced down them, more with the idea of distracting her thoughts, than with any conception that

MONIAL

of fortune who would take pity on his loneliness; or that a lady no longer young, but st

sed suddenly, her glance riveted to a sentence that c

ood birth, who needs a home. No fortune is necessary, but marriage may be agreed upon if both parties

eyes crept an odd light. She drew the paper more closely into her hands, reading

-so mercenary-and not what I always thought of when I was silly-and dreamt-things," her musings ran on. "Once-I dreamt about a fairy prince-who would-just come-and-ma

face, and when she smiled, Ch

ng it, I should have to be very careful what I said-and where I arranged to meet R.M. Of course I-shan't really answer it

st the wall, whose paper was of that indeterminate drabness affected by lodging-house keepers; a deal table occupied the centre of the room, with the common cane-chair on which Christina sat; and a painted chest of drawers nearly blocked up the one tiny window. There was no wash-hand stand; a cracked white basin and a still more cracked jug stood upon the top of the drawers, a looking-glass of ancient and battered appearance hung over the mantelpiece, and an open cupboard in the wall served Christina as sideboard and larder combined. Beside the bed was a narrow strip of much-faded carpet, but of comfort and homeliness the room showed no trace whatever, save in the tiny touches of home the girl had herself striven to impart to it, by hanging on the walls

a young lady of good birth, who needs a home. No fortune i

th, who needs a home. Well," she turned her eyes towards the foggy roofs just visible outside her dirty window-panes, "well, as far as I k

r as it is possible to be. There is not one single thing to recommend me." She pushed back her chair; and, rising from the table, moved slowly to the mantel-piece, over which hung the tarnished glass whose powers of reflecting objects satisfactorily had long since departed. Into this un

ly well put on, but these were points of which Christina took no special account, being intent on finding beauties in her face, and failing to

girl who didn't want anything but a quiet home; who would be satisfied to go without gaiety or amusement." She sighed again, and a wistful look crept into her eyes. "I haven't really ever had any fun, so I shouldn't miss it, and I could just try to make a happy home for R.M., if

ss by. Twelve o'clock was chiming from all the clocks in the neighbourhood, when, with her answers to some of the other advertisements in her hand, she once more pinned on her hat, and ran downstairs to the post. The fog had thickened considerably during the morning, and Christina found the street lam

rill voices of boys carrying flaring torches, added to the pandemonium. Earlier in the morning the fog had merely been of the familiar yellow variety known to every Londoner. It was now a black and total darkness that seemed to engulf the world. To cross the road to the pillar-box

square, where the fog had lifted somewhat, and was no longer of such

ar, of lonely misery, in that soft cry, that Christina, a child-lover to the core of her being, paused, and listened intently. Everything about her was very still; the square was a quiet one, though separated

dear. I'll take care of you," and as she spoke, she heard

ul fightened; plea

oming quickly towards her, and, stooping down, she gathered close into her arms a little child, of perhaps three

se. Her golden head was bare, and the tangle of curls was like a frame about the lovely little face, whose great blue eyes looked appealingly into Christina's own. A red woollen cloak hung over t

s, and kissing the flower-like face, on which the tears still lay like dewdrops in

filled again with tears. "Baba's awful, drefful fightened. The door was open-and Baba

na said, a gentle reproof in her tones; "and now we must try to find out

th a conclusive shutting of her pretty mouth. "Baba'

the square, the child in her arms. "Try to remember your other n

me. She's got a bone in her head," quoth the baby, smiling deliciously into Christina's troubled face, a

o the stately houses in the square, and back again. "I wonder where you live, you queer mite; and how I am go

cy had been caught by the girl's gentle manner and motherly ways, and she put two dimpled ar

contentedly; "you just take Baba home-and we'l

the tangled curls, and all the time she pursued her slow way along the square, hoping that so small a person could not have travelled very far, and that presently someone in pursuit

n the side of the square at right angles to them, a footman stood on the doorstep, looking distractedly to right and left of him. At th

she unclasped her arms from Christina's neck, and held them out to the footman. "Baba

into his arms, and turned

hen the door was open; and we was all in a taking. Where did you find

square, and very frightened in t

istina, the small girl was carried away in the arms of the breathless James, who was still too distr

o wondering whether anything would result from all the answers to the advertisements she had just posted. "I'm glad I didn't post the one I wrote to R.M.," she said to herself; "now I can