Mrs. Hunt's kind heart was touched by the girl's pleading tone. She
had girls of her own and she thought, "What if my Nellie had to spend
the night in the street," but she said only:
"Sit down, my dear, and tell me all about it."
The kind tone and those two words "my dear," were almost too much for
poor anxious Nan. Her eyes filled with tears and her voice was not
quite steady as she told again her sorrowful little story, and when it
was ended the mother's eyes too were dim.
"Give me that baby," she exclaimed, forgetting her work for the
moment, and she took the little fellow tenderly in her arms. "You poor
child," she added, to Nan, "of course you can stay here to-night. It's
a poor enough place an' we're as pinched as we can be, but we'll
manage somehow to squeeze out a bite and a corner for you for a day or
two anyway."
Tode's face expressed his satisfaction as he turned to depart. Dick
too looked pleased.
"Didn't I tell ye I'd got the best mother in this town?" he said,
proudly, as he followed Tode down the stairs.
"Yes you did, an' 'twarn't no lie neither," assented Tode,
emphatically; "but, see here, you can tell your mother that _I'm_
agoin' to pay for that little feller's bread an' milk."
Dick looked at him curiously.
"You goin' to work again?" he questioned.
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