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. .. 0 UR .lfUTUA‘L SFRIEND. “
..The friglit.and..abliorrence’ that Mrs. Betty Higden
smoothed out ofiher stronglfaco as she ended this diver-
sion,.showed,'how seriously she had meant‘ it. .. ; , E
;,‘.‘.And,docs lie..work for you?"..asked the Secretary,
gizntly bringing the discourse back to Master or Mister
oppy.; "u.-.72 ' e‘
“ Yes,’.’ said Betty with a good-humouredsmile and
nod of the head. “ And well too." . ' .2
“Doeshelivehere'I’.’.‘ , .. . :, mg in air
. ‘.‘ He lives more here than anywhere. He was thought
to be‘ no better than a N atnral,'and'first: come to me as
a Minder. I made interest with Mr. Blogg the Beadle
to have him as a Minder, seeingnhim by chance up at
church, and thinking I might do. something with him.
For he was a weak 1-icketty creetur then."’r - ‘ u
.6.‘ Is he called by his right name?” . .
.‘.‘l.Vhy, you see, speaking quite correctl , he has no
right name. I always understood he took. his name from
being found on a Sloppy night.”
5.‘ He seems an amiable fellow.”
‘fBless.you,, sir,.there's not a hit ofrhim,” returned
Betty, .. “ that’s not amiable. So you may judge
how amiable he is, by running your eye along his
heighth.” -
. Offan ungainly make was Sloppy. Too much of him
longwise, too: little'of him broadwise, and too many
sharp angles of him angle-wise. One of those shamhling
male huinaucreatures, born to be indiscreetly candid in
the revelation of buttons ;.every button he had about
him glaring at the public to a quite preternatural extent.
A considerable capital of knee and elbow and wrist and -.
ankle, had Sloppy. and he didn’t know how to dispose
of it to the best advantage, but was always investing it
in wrong securities, and so getting himself into embar-
rassed circumstances. Full-Private Number One in the
Awkward Squad of the rank and file of life, was Sloppy,
and yet had his glimmering notions of ‘standing true to
the Colours. > - v
.“‘And now,’.’. said Mrs. Baffin, “concerning Johnny."
As Johnny, with‘ his chin tucked in and his lips pout-
ing,’reclined in Bett ’s lap, concentrating his blue eyes
onthe visitors and s ading them from observation with
n diinpled arm, old Betty took one of his fresh fat hands
in her withered right, and fell to gently heating it on
her. witheredleft. ’ ' - ' v s .
“Yes, ma’am. .4 Concerning Johnny.”
.“ If youtrust the dear chi d to me,” said Mrs. Boflin,
with a face inviting trust, “he shall have the best of
homes, the best of care, the best of education, the best
of friends; Please God, I will ‘be a true good mother to
him l’?. ' .
r.‘.‘I am thankful to you, ma’am, and the dear child
wouldbe thankful if. he was old enough to understand.”
Still lightly beatin the little hand upon her own. ’ “I
wouldn't stand iii t e dear cliild’s light, not if I had all
my life before me instead of a very little of it. But I
hope you won’t take it ill that I cleave to the child closer
than words can tell, for lie’s the last living thing left me."
.“ Take it ill, my dear soul? Is it likely? And you so
tender of him as to bring him home here l”
“I have seen,” said Betty, still with that light beat
upon her hard rough hand, “ so many of them on my lap.
And they are all gone but this one! . I am ashamed to
seem so selfish, but'I don’t really mean it. It'll be the
makingof his fortune, and he’ll be a gentleman when I
am dead.‘ , I-I-don’t know what comes over me. I-
try against it. Don’t notice me 1” The light beat stop-
ped, the.resolute mouth gave way, and the fine strong
old face broke up into weakness and tears.
.,Now, greatly to the relief of the visitors, the emotional
Sloppy no sooner beheld his patroness in this condition,
than, throwing back his head and tlirowing open his
month, he lifted up his voice and bellowed. I This alarm-
ing note of . something wrong instantly terrified Toddles
and Poddles, who were no sooner heard to roar surpris-
ingly, than Johnny, curving himself the wrong way and
striking out at Mrs. Boflin with a pair of indifferent
shoes, became a pre to despair. The absurdity of the
situation put its pat os to the rout.- Mrs. Betty Iiigden
was herself in a moment, and brought them all to order
with that speed, that Sloppy, stopping short in a poly-
syllabic bellow, transferredshis energy to the mangle,
413
andrhad taken several penitential turns before he could
be stopped..:u. := ,--, ;v.L .-.;‘s,.--;-.>.- .-:7; . , ;, ..-
--‘-‘There, there,.there l” said:Mrs..Boiiin, almost re-'
garding her kind self as the most ruthless.-of,women,.
‘.‘.Nothing is going to be done.‘ Nobody need .be,fright-
ened... -.We’re all comfortable‘; ain’twve,.Mrs. Iiigden'l’.=’
v.-..“.Sure and certain we are,"Areturncd Betty.. ;. i 1 ‘
> “.And there really.is no;hurry,- you know,”wsaid Mrs.
Boflin in a loyveinvoice. I .“ Take time to think of it, my
good creaturel,’,’-.. . Z‘ mlw ;; I >.-- - ,. .,-> -
. ‘.‘.Don’t you fear me no more ina’am," said Betty; “.I
thought of it for good yesterday. ldon’t know what
come over me just now,-but it’l1 never come again.” ,
4‘ ‘Veil, then, Johnny. shall have more time to think of
it,"‘v returned=Mis. Boflin ;..‘,‘ the pretty child shall have
time to get used-to it. , .And you’ll get him more used to
it, if youthiiik well of it; won’t you?”, . ., , - -.
Betty undertook tll8.t,>CIl6Cl'.Il1lI)' and readily. - ,.
“Lor,”i cried Mrs. Boflin, looking ;radiantly about her,
" we want to make everybody happy, not dismal l-And -
perhaps you Wouldn’t mind letting me know how used
to it you begin to get, and how it all goes on ‘2’.’- , v . v- -,
“l’ll send Sloppy,” said Mrs..Higden. .4 I ,-
“Andithis gentleman who has c0IX167Wltl.l me will pay
him for his trouble,” said Mrs. Bollin. , “ And Mr.; Sloppy,
whenever you come to my house,.be sure you never go
away without having had a good dinner of -meat,-beer,
vegetables, and pudding.” V r
This still further brightened the face ofaflairs ; (f'or,i
the' highlysyinpathetic Sloppy, first broadlystaring and
grinning, and then roaring with laughter, Toddles and
Poddles followed suit, and Johnny trumped the trick.
T and P considering these favourable circumstances for
the resumption of that dramatic descent upon Johnny,
again came across-countryiliand-iii-hand upon a bucca-
neering expedition ; and this having been fought out in
the chimney corner behind ,Mrs. lligden’s chair, with
great valour on both sides, those desperate pirates re-
turned hand-in-hand to their stools,.across the dry bed of
a mountain torrent.
“ You must tell me what I can do for you, Betty, my
friend,” said Mrs. Boflin confidentially, “if not to-day,
next time.” v V
“ Thank you all the same, ma’ani, but I want nothing
for myself. I can work. I’m strong, I can nvalk
twenty mile if I’m put to it.” Old Betty was proud, and
said it with a sparkle in her bright eyes. v -. . .
“ Yes, but there are some little comforts that you
wouldn’t be the worse for," returned Mrs. , Bofiin.
“ Bless yo, I wasn’t borua lady any more than you.,”'
“ It seems to me,” said Betty, smiling, “ that you were
born a lady, and a true one, or there never wasa lady
born. But I couldn't take anything from you,‘ my dear.
I never did take anything from any one. It ain’t that
I'm not rateful, but I love to earn it better.” , --
“ VVel , well l” returned Mrs. Boilin. “ I only. spoke
of little things, or I wouldn't have taken the liberty.”
Betty put her visitor-’s hand to her lips, in acknowledg-
ment of the delicate answer. VVonclerfu1l upright her
figure was, and wonderfully self-reliant er look, as,
standing facing her visitor, she explained herself fur-
ther. V
“If I could have kept the dear child, without the
dread that's always upon me of his coming to that fate I
have spoken of, I could never have parted with him,
even to you. For I love him, I love him, llove limit
I love my husband long (lead and‘ gone, in him ; I love
my children dead and gone, in him ; llove my young
and hopeful days dead and gone, in him. I.couldn’t
sell that love, and look you in your bright kind face.
It's a free gift. I am in want of nothing. lVhen my
stren tli fails me, if I can but die out quick and quiet, I
shall e quite content. Ihave stood between my dead
and that shame I have spoken of, and it has been kept
off from every one of them. Sewed into my gown,
with her hand upon her breast, “is Just enough to lay
me in the grave. ,
as I may rest free to the last from that cruelty l1l1d'dlS<
grace, and you’ll have done much more than a little
thing for me, and all that in this present world my ,heart
u on .” ‘ ’
i.slIIeiFs. I’-etty Higden’s visitor pressed her hand. There
Only see that it's rightly spent, so '