TRIALS OF PHI LANTHROPY 79

lified at the look of it, and of the three-legged chair without a seat, and the table-top, that he burst into a dismal wail.

‘I won't stay here—I won't!’ he sobbed. ‘ You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, that you do, for taking me in so shameful.’

Emmeline had to wink her eyes hard to keep back the tears; it was all turning out so utterly unlike what she had expected. ‘ You're a very foolish, ungrateful boy!’ she exclaimed. ‘I'm sure this must be at least as comfortable as Mother Grimes’s house, and you ought to be only too thankful to be where nobody will beat you, and you'll have plenty to eat.’

‘There was two beds at Sally Grimes's,’ said Diamond jubilee, resentfully, ‘ and there was three or four on us slept in each, which was company-like, and kept us warm.’

Poor Emmeline! She had heard of those crowded beds before, always with a shudder of horror, and now here was her thankless protégé actually regretting theml ‘Look here, Diamond Jubilee,’ she said, ‘if you'll only be patient we'll buy you bedclothes, and so on, as soon as ever we get any extra money for birthdays or anything ; as it is, you have only to get a little bracken from the wood, and you can make yourself quite a nice Feudal Castle bed. We would gather it for you, only we simply must go home now.’