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DUSTY DIAMONDS 
 
 CUT AND POLISHED 
 A TALE OF CITY-AEAB LIFE AND ADVENTUEE. 
 
 , BY E. M. BALLANTYNE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "the BATTERY AND THE BOILER;" ** THE GIANT OF THE NORTH;" "THE 
 
 lonely island ;" " post haste ; a tale of her majesty's mails ;" " in the track 
 
 of the troops;" " the settler and the savage;" " under the waves;" 
 
 "rivers of ice ;" "black ivory ;" "the pirate city ;" "the Norsemen 
 
 IN the west;" "the iron horse;" "the floating light of the 
 
 GOODWIN sands ;" "erling the bold ;" "fighting the flames ; " 
 
 "shifting winds;" "deep down;" "the lighthouse;" 
 
 " gascoyne ; " " the life boat ; " " the golden 
 
 dream," etc. etc. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JAMES NISBET & CO, 21 BEENEES STEEET. 
 
 1884. 
 
 [All rights reserved.] 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 This tale is founded on well-authenticated 
 
 facts. I commend the subject of which it 
 
 treats to the reader's earnest consideration. 
 
 E. M. B. 
 
 Harrow-on-the-Hill, 
 1883. 
 
 701 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation ^ 
 
 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/dustydiamondscutOOballricli 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAP. I. — AN ACCIDENT AND SOME OF ITS CURIOUS RESULTS, . 1 
 
 n.— THE IRRESISTIBLE POWER OF LOVE, . . . . IG 
 
 III. — POVERTY MANAGES TO BOARD OUT HER INFANT FOR 
 
 NOTHING, 22 
 
 IV. — SAMUEL TWITTER ASTONISHES MRS. TWITTER AND 
 
 HER FRIENDS, 37 
 
 v.— TREATS STILL FURTHER OF RICHES, POVERTY, 
 
 BABIES, AND POLICE, '48 
 
 VL — WEALTH PAYS A VISIT TO POVERTY, .... 56 
 
 VIL— BICYCLING AND ITS OCCASIONAL RESULTS, . . 80 
 
 Vni. — A GREAT AND MEMORABLE DAY, .... 93 
 
 IX. — HOW THE POOR ARE SUCCOURED, .... 110 
 
 X.— BALLS, BOBBY, SIR RICHARD, AND GILES APPEAR ON 
 
 THE STAGE, 128 
 
 XI.— SIR RICHARD AND MR. BRISBANE DISCUSS, AND DI 
 
 LISTENS, 148 
 
 XII. — SAMMY twitter's FALL, 159 
 
 XIII. — TELLS OF SOME CURIOUS AND VIGOROUS PECULIARITIES 
 
 OF THE LOWER ORDERS, 176 
 
 XIV.— NO. 66Q OFF DUTY, 187 
 
Vi CONTENTS. 
 
 <:hap. page 
 
 XV.— MRS. FROG SINKS DEEPER AND DEEPER, . . . 200 
 
 XVI. — SIR RICHARD VISITS THE BEEHIVE, AND SEES MANY 
 
 SURPRISING THINGS, 218 
 
 XVII. — THINGS BECOME TOO HOT FOR THE TWITTER FAMILY, 240 
 
 XVIII,— THE OCEAN AND THE NEW WORLD, .... 249 
 
 XIX.— AT HOME IN CANADA, 267 
 
 XX. — OCCUPATIONS AT BRANKLY FARM, .... 281 
 
 XXL — TREATS OF ALTERED CIRCUMSTANCES AND BLUE 
 
 RIBBONISM, 293 
 
 XXII.— NED frog's EXPERIENCES AND SAMMY TWITTER'S 
 
 WOES, 313 
 
 XXIIL —HOPES REVIVE, ' . . 329 
 
 XXIV.— THE RETURNING PRODIGAL, 350 
 
 XXV.— CANADA AGAIN — AND SURPRISING NEWS, , . . 363 
 
 XXVI. — HAPPY MEETINGS, , 378 
 
 XXVII. — A STRANGE VISIT AND ITS RESULTS, . . . 389 
 
 XXVIII. — THE GREAT CHANGE, 400 
 
 XXIX.— HOME AGAIN, . 409 
 
 XXX.— THE NEW HOME, 422 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. 
 
 A SPILL (p. 88), Frontispiece, 
 
 VIGNETTE TITLE. 
 
 DI RUN AWAY WITH, .... to face page ^ 
 
 GILES RESCUING MATTY, 247 
 
 SAMUEL TWITTER AND SON, .... 358 
 BOBBY FROG AND HIS MOTHER, ... 385 
 
DUSTY DIAMOIfDS. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 AN ACCIDENT AND SOME OF ITS CURIOUS RESULTS. 
 
 Every one has heard of those ponies — those 
 shaggy, chubby, innocent-looking little creatures — 
 for which the world is indebted, we suppose, to 
 Shetland. 
 
 Well, once on a time, one of the most innocent- 
 looking, chubbiest, and shaggiest of Shetland ponies 
 — a dark brown one — stood at the door of a 
 mansion in the west end of London. 
 
 It was attached to a wickerwork vehicle which 
 resembled a large clothes-basket on small wheels. 
 We do not mean, of course, that the pony was 
 affectionately attached to it. No ; the attachment 
 was involuntary and unavoidable, by reason of 
 a brand-new yellow leather harness with brass 
 buckles. It objected to the attachment, obviously, 
 for it sidled this way, and straddled that way, and 
 whisked its enormous little tail, and tossed its 
 
2 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 rotund little head, and stamped its ridiculously 
 small feet, and champed its miniature bit, as if it 
 had been a war-horse of the largest size, fit to carry 
 a Wallace, a Bruce, or a Eichard of the Lion-heart 
 into the midst of raging battle. 
 
 And no wonder; for many months had not 
 elapsed since that brown creature had kicked up 
 its little heels, and twirled its tail, and shaken its 
 shaggy mane in all the wild exuberance of early 
 youth and unfettered freedom on the heather hills 
 of its native island. 
 
 In the four-wheeled basket sat a little girl whom 
 it is useless to describe as beautiful. She was far 
 beyond that! Her delicate colour, her little 
 straight nose, her sparkling teeth, her rosebud of 
 a mouth, her enormous blue eyes, and floods of 
 yellow hair — pooh ! these are not worth mention- 
 ing in the same sentence with her expression. It 
 was that which carried all before it, and swept up 
 the adoration of man-and- woman-kind as with the 
 besom of fascination. 
 
 She was the only child of Sir Eichard Brandon. 
 Sir Eichard was a knight and a widower. He was 
 knighted, not because of personal merit, but because 
 he had been mayor of some place, sometime or 
 other, when some one connected with royalty had 
 something important to do with it ! Little Diana 
 was all that this knii^ht and widower had on 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 3 
 
 earth to care for, except, of course, his horses and 
 dogs, and guns, and club, and food. He was very 
 particular as to his food. Not that he was an 
 epicure, or a gourmand, or luxurious, or a hard 
 drinker, or anything of that sort — by no means. 
 He could rough it (so he said) as well as any man, 
 and put up with whatever chanced to be going, 
 but, when there was no occasion for roughing it, he 
 did like to see things well cooked and nicely 
 served ; and wine, you know, was not worth drink- 
 ing — positively nauseous— if it was not of the best. 
 
 Sir Eichard was a poor man — a very poor man. 
 He had only five thousand a year — a mere pit- 
 tance ; and he managed this sum in such a peculiar 
 way that he never had anything wherewith to help 
 a struggling friend, or to give to the poor, or to 
 assist the various religious and charitable institu- 
 tions by which he was surrounded; while at 
 certain intervals in the year he experienced exas- 
 perating difficulty in meeting the demands of those 
 torments to society the tradespeople — people who 
 ought to be ashamed of themselves for not being 
 willing to supply the nobility and gentry with food 
 and clothing gratuitously ! Moreover, Sir Eichard 
 never by any chance laid anything by. 
 
 Standing by the pony's head, and making tender 
 efforts to restrain his waywardness, stood a boy — 
 a street boy — a city Arab. To a Londoner any 
 
4 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 description of this boy would be superfluous, but it 
 may be well to state, for the benefit of the world at 
 large, that the class to which he belonged embodies 
 within its pale the quintessence of rollicking mis- 
 chief, and the sublimate of consummate insolence. 
 
 This remarkable boy was afflicted with a species 
 of dance — not that of St. Vitus, but a sort of double 
 shuffle, with a stamp of the right foot at the end — 
 which he was prone to indulge, consciously and 
 unconsciously, at all times, and the tendency to 
 which he sometimes found it difficult to resist. 
 He was beginning to hum the sharply-defined air 
 to which he was in the habit of performing this 
 dance, when little Diana said, in a silvery voice 
 quite in keeping with her beauty — 
 
 " Let go his head, boy ; I 'm quite sure that he 
 cannot bear restraint." 
 
 It may be remarked here that little Di was 
 probably a good judge on that point, being herself 
 nearly incapable of bearing restraint. 
 
 " I 'd better not, miss," replied the boy with pro- 
 found respect in tone and manner, for he had yet 
 to be paid for the job ; " he seems raither frisky, an' 
 might take a fancy to bolt, you know." 
 
 "Let his head go, I say!" returned Miss Diana 
 with a flashing of the blue eyes, and a pursing of 
 the rosebud mouth that proved her to be one of 
 Adam's race after all. 
 
DI RUN AWAY WITH.— Page 5 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 5 
 
 "Veil, now, don't you think," rejoined the boy, 
 in an expostulating tone, " that it would be as veil 
 to vait for the guv*nor before givin' 'im 'is 'ead V* 
 
 *'Do as I bid you, sir !" said Di, drawing herself 
 up like an empress. 
 
 Still the street boy held the pony's head, and it 
 is probable that he would have come ofif the victor 
 in this controversy, had not Diana's dignified action 
 given to the reins which she held a jerk. The 
 brown pony, deeming this full permission to go on, 
 went off with a bound that overturned the boy, 
 and caused the fore-wheel to strike him on the 
 leg as it passed. 
 
 Springing up with the intention of giving chase 
 to the runaway, the little fellow again fell, with a 
 sharp cry of pain, for his leg was broken. 
 
 At the same moment Sir Eichard Brandon 
 issued from the door of his mansion leisurely, and 
 with an air of calm serenity, pulling on his gloves. 
 It was one of the knight's maxims that, under all 
 circumstances, a gentleman should maintain an 
 appearance of imperturbable serenity. When, how- 
 ever, he suddenly beheld the street boy falling, and 
 his daughter standing up in her wickerwork 
 chariot, holding on to the brown pony like an 
 Amazon warrior of ancient times, his maxim some- 
 how evaporated. His serenity vanished. So did 
 his hat as he bounded from beneath it, and left it 
 
6 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 far behind in his mad and hopeless career after 
 the runaway. 
 
 A policeman, coming up just as Sir Eichard dis- 
 appeared, went to the assistance of the street boy. 
 
 " !N"ot much hurt, youngster," he said kindly, as 
 he observed that the boy was very pale, and seemed 
 to be struggling hard to repress his feelings. 
 
 " Veil, p'raps I is an' p'raps I ain't, Bobby," replied 
 the boy with an unsuccessful attempt at a smile, 
 for he felt safe to chaff or insult his foe in the cir- 
 cumstances, " but vether hurt or not it vont much 
 matter to you, vill it ? " 
 
 He fainted as he spoke, and the look of half 
 humorous impudence, as well as that of pain, gave 
 place to an expression of infantine repose. 
 
 The policeman was so struck by the unusual sight 
 of a street boy looking innocent and unconscious, that 
 he stooped and raised him quite tenderly in his arms. 
 
 " You 'd better carry him in here," said Sir Eichard 
 Brandon's butler, who had come out. "I saw it 
 'appen, and suspect he must be a good deal 
 damaged." 
 
 Sir Eichard's footman backing the invitation, the 
 boy was carried into the house accordingly, laid on 
 the housemaid's bed, and attended to by the cook, 
 while the policeman went out to look after the 
 runaways. 
 
 *'0h! what ever shall we do?" exclaimed the 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 7 
 
 cook, as the boy showed symptoms of returning 
 consciousness. 
 
 " Send for the doctor," suggested the housemaid. 
 
 " No," said the butler, " send for a cab, and 'ave 
 the boy sent home. I fear that master will blame 
 me for givin* way to my feelin's, and won't thank 
 me for bringin' 'im in here. You know he is rather 
 averse to the lower orders. Besides, the poor boy 
 will be better attended to at 'ome, no doubt. I dare 
 say you'd like to go 'ome, wouldn't you?" he said, 
 observing that the boy w^as looking at him with a 
 rather curious expression. 
 
 " I dessay I should, if I could," he answered, with 
 a mingled glance of mischief and pain, " but if you 11 
 undertake to carry me, old cock, I '11 be 'appy to go." 
 
 '' I '11 send you in a cab, my poor boy," returned 
 the butler, '*and git a cabman as I'm acquainted 
 with to take care of you." 
 
 " All right ! go a'ead, ye cripples," returned the 
 boy, as the cook approached him with a cup of warm 
 soup. 
 
 " Oh ! ain't it prime 1" he said, opening his eyes 
 very wide indeed, and smacking his lips. " I think 
 I 'd go in for a smashed pin every day o' my life for 
 a drop o' that stuff. Surely it must be wot they 
 drinks in 'eaven ! Have 'ee got much more o' the 
 same on 'and?" 
 
 " Never mind, but you drink away while you 've 
 
8 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 got the chance," replied the amiable cook ; " there 's 
 the cab coming, so you 've no time to lose." 
 
 " Veil, I am sorry I ain't able to 'old more, an' 
 my pockets wont 'old it neither, bein' the wuss for 
 wear. Thankee, missus." 
 
 He managed, by a strong effort, to dispose of a 
 little more soup before the cab drew up. 
 
 "Where do you live?" asked the butler, as he 
 placed the boy carefully in the bottom of the cab 
 with his unkempt head resting on a hassock, which 
 he gave him to understand was a parting gift from 
 the housemaid. 
 
 " Vere do I live ?" he repeated. " Vy, mostly in 
 the streets ; my last 'ome was a sugar barrel, the 
 one before was a donkey cart, but I do sometimes 
 condescend to wis it my parents in their mansion 
 'ouse in Vitechapel." 
 
 "And what is your name? Sir Eichard may wish 
 to inquire for you — perhaps." 
 
 " May he ? Oh ! I 'm sorry I ain't got my card to 
 leave, but you just tell him, John — is it, or Thomas ? 
 — Ah! Thomas. I knowed it couldn't 'elp to be 
 one or t'other; — you just tell your master that my 
 name is Robert, better known as Bobby, Frog. But 
 I 've lots of aliases, if that name don't please 'im. 
 Good-bye, Thomas. Farewell, and if for ever, then 
 — you know the rest o' the quotation, if your 
 eddication 's not bin neglected, w'ich is probable it 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 9 
 
 was. Oh ! by the way. This 'assik is the gift of 
 the 'ousemaid ? You observe the answer, cabby, in 
 case you and I may differ about it 'ereafter." 
 
 "Yes," said the amused butler, **'a gift from 
 Jessie." 
 
 " Ah 1 — ^jus' so. An' she 's tender-'earted an' onV 
 fifteen. Wots 'er tother name ? Summers, eh ? 
 Veil, it's prettier than Vinters. Tell 'er I'll not 
 forget 'er. l^ow, cabman — 'ome !" 
 
 A few minutes more, and Bobby Frog was on 
 his way to the mansion in Whitechapel, highly 
 delighted wdth his recent feast, but suffering ex- 
 tremely from his broken limb. 
 
 Meanwhile, the brown pony — having passed a bold 
 costermonger, w^ho stood shouting defiance at it, 
 and waving both arms till it was close on him, when 
 he stepped quickly out of its way — eluded a dray- 
 man, and entered on a fine sweep of street, where 
 there seemed to be no obstruction worth mentioning. 
 By that time it had left the agonised father far 
 behind. 
 
 The day w^as fine ; the air bracing. The utmost 
 strength of poor little Diana, and she applied it 
 well, made no impression whatever on the pony's 
 tough mouth. Influences of every kind w^ere 
 favourable. On the illogical principle, probably, 
 that being "in for a penny " justified being "in for a 
 pound," the pony laid himself out for a glorious run. 
 
10 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 He warmed to his work, caused the dust to fly, and 
 the clothes-basket to advance with irregular bounds 
 and swayings as he scampered along, driving many 
 little dogs wild with delight, and two or three cats 
 mad with fear. Gradually he drew towards the 
 more populous streets, and here, of course, the efforts 
 on the part of the public to arrest him became more 
 frequent, also more decided, though not more 
 successful. At last an inanimate object effected 
 what man and boy had failed to accomplish. 
 
 In a wild effort to elude a demonstrative cabman 
 near the corner of one of the main thoroughfares, 
 the brown pony brought the wheels of the vehicle 
 into collision with a lamp-post. That lamp-post 
 went down before the shock like a tall head of grain 
 before the sickle. The front wheels doubled up into 
 a sudden embrace, broke loose, and went across the 
 road, one into a greengrocer's shop, the other into 
 a chemist's window. Thus diversely end many 
 careers that begin on a footing of equality ! The 
 hind wheels went careering along the road like a 
 new species of bicycle, until brought up by a donkey 
 cart, while the basket chariot rolled itself violently 
 round the lamp-post, like a shattered remnant, as if 
 resolved, before perishing, to strangle the author of 
 all the mischief. As to the pony, it stopped, and 
 seemed surprised at first by the unexpected finale, 
 but the look quickly changed — or appealed to 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 11 
 
 change — to one of calm contentment as it sm^veyed 
 the ruin. 
 
 But what of the fair little charioteer ? Truly, in 
 regard to her, a miracle, or something little short of 
 one, had occurred. The doctrine that extremes 
 meet contains much truth in it — truth which is 
 illustrated and exemplified more frequently, we 
 think, than is generally supposed. A tremendous 
 accident is often much less damaging to the person 
 who experiences it than a slight one. In little 
 Diana's case, the extremes had met, and the result 
 was absolute safety. She was shot out of her basket 
 carriage after the manner of a sky-rocket, but the 
 impulse was so effective that, instead of causing her 
 to fall on her head and break her pretty little neck, 
 it made her perform a complete somersault, and 
 alight upon her feet. Moreover, the spot on which 
 she alighted was opportune, as well as admirably 
 suited to the circumstances. 
 
 At the moment, ignorant of what was about 
 to happen, police-constable No. 66Q — we are not 
 quite sure of what division — in all the plenitude of 
 power, and blue, and six-feet-two, approached the 
 end of a street entering at right angles to the one 
 down which our little heroine had flown. He was 
 a superb specimen of humanity, this constable, with 
 a chest and shoulders like Hercules, and the figure of 
 Apollo. He turned the corner just as the child had 
 
12 DUSTY DIAMONDS 
 
 completed her somersault and received her two 
 little feet fairly in the centre of his broad breast, 
 driving him flat on his back more effectively than 
 could have been done by the best prize-fighter in 
 England ! 
 
 ]^o. 666 proved a most effectual buffer, for Di, 
 after planting her blow on his chest, sat plump 
 down on his stomach, off which she sprang in an 
 agony of consternation, exclaiming — 
 
 " Oh ! I have killed him ! I Ve killed him 1" and 
 burst into tears. 
 
 "No, my little lady," said No. 666, as he rose 
 with one or two coughs and replaced his helmet, 
 " you Ve not quite done for me, though youVe come 
 nearer the mark than any man has ever yet accom- 
 plished. Come, now, what can I do for you? 
 You 're not hurt, I hope ?" 
 
 This sally was received with a laugh, almost 
 amounting to a cheer, by the half-horrified crowd 
 which had quickly assembled to witness, as it 
 expected, a fatal accident. 
 
 "Hurt? oh ! no, I 'm not hurt," exclaimed Di, while 
 tears still converted her eyes into blue lakelets as 
 she looked anxiously up in the face of ISTo. 666; 
 "but I'm quite sure you must be hurt — awfully. 
 I 'm so sorry ! Indeed I am, for I didn't mean to 
 knock you down." 
 
 This also was received by the crowd with a hearty 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 13 
 
 laugh, while No. 66Q sought to comfort the child 
 by earnestly assuring her that he was not hurt in 
 the least— only a little stunned at first, but that was 
 quite gone. 
 
 "Wot does she mean by knockin' of 'im down?" 
 asked a small butcher's boy, who had come on the 
 scene just too late, of a small baker's boy who had, 
 happily, been there from the beginning. 
 
 "She means wot she says," replied the small 
 baker's boy with the dignified reticence of superior 
 knowledge, " she knocked the constable down." 
 
 "Wot! a leetle gurl knock a six-foot bobby 
 down ? — walk-er .' " 
 
 " Very good ; you 've no call to b'lieve it unless 
 you like," replied the baker's boy, with a look of 
 pity at the unbelieving butcher, "but she did it, 
 though — an' that 's six month with 'ard labour, if it 
 ain't five year." 
 
 At this point the crowd opened up to let a 
 maniac enter. He was breathless, hatless, moist, 
 and frantic. 
 
 " My child ! my darling ! my dear Di ! " he gasped. 
 
 "Papa!" responded Diana, with a little scream, 
 and, leaping into his arms, grasped him in a genuine 
 hug. 
 
 " Oh ! I say," whispered the small butcher, " it 's 
 a melly-drammy — all for nuffin !" 
 
 "My !" responded the small baker, with a solemn 
 
14 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 look, " won't the Lord left-tenant be down on 'em 
 for play-actin' without a licence, just V 
 
 "Is the pony killed?" inquired Sir Eichard, 
 recovering himself. 
 
 " N'ot in the least, sir. 'Ere 'e is, sir ; all alive 
 an' kickin'," answered the small butcher, delighted 
 to have the chance of making himself offensively 
 useful, "but the hinsurance ofi&ces wouldn't 'ave 
 the clo'se-baskit at no price. Shall I order up the 
 remains of your carriage, sir ?" 
 
 "Oh! I'm so glad he's not dead," said Diana, 
 looking hastily up, " but this policeman was nearly 
 killed, and / did it ! He saved my life, papa." 
 
 A chorus of voices here explained to Sir Eichard 
 how ISTo. 666 had come up in the nick of time 
 to receive the flying child upon his bosom. 
 
 " I am deeply grateful to you," said the knight, 
 turning to the constable, and extending his hand, 
 which the latter shook modestly while disclaiming 
 any merit for having merely performed his duty — 
 he might say, involuntarily. 
 
 "Will you come to my house ?" said Sir Eichard. 
 " Here is my card. I should like to see you again, and 
 pray, see that some one looks after my pony and — " 
 
 " And the remains," suggested the small butcher, 
 seeing that Sir Eichard hesitated. 
 
 " Be so good as to call a cab," said Sir Eichard 
 in a general way to any one who chose to obey. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 16 
 
 " Here you are, sir !" cried a peculiarly sharp 
 cabby, who, correctly judging from the state of 
 affairs that his services would be required, had 
 drawn near to bide his time. 
 
 Sir Eichard and his little daughter got in and 
 were driven home, leaving ]N"o. 666 to look after 
 the pony and the remains. 
 
 Thus curiously were introduced to each other 
 some of the characters in our tale. 
 
16 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 OHAPTEK II. 
 
 THE IRRESISTIBLE POWER OF EOVE. 
 
 Need we remark that there was a great deal of 
 embracing on the part of Di and her nurse when 
 the former returned home ? The child was an 
 affectionate creature as well as passionate. The 
 nurse, Mrs. Screwbury, was also affectionate with- 
 out being passionate. Poor Diana had never known 
 a mother^s love or care ; but good, steady, stout 
 Mrs. Screwbury did what in her lay to fill the place 
 of mother. 
 
 Sir Richard filled the place of father pretty much 
 as a lamp-post might have done had it owned a 
 child. He illuminated her to some extent — ex- 
 plained things in general, stiffly, and shed a feeble 
 ray around himself; but his light did not extend 
 far. He was proud of her, however, and very fond 
 of her — when good. When not good, he was — or 
 rather had been — in the habit of dismissing her 
 to the nursery. 
 
 Nevertheless, the child exercised very consider- 
 able and ever-increasing influence over her father ; 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 17 
 
 for, although stiff, the knight was by no means 
 destitute of natural affection, and sometimes ob- 
 served, with moist eyes, strong traces of resemblance 
 to his lost wife in the beautiful child. Indeed, as 
 years advanced, he became a more and more 
 obedient father, and was obviously on the high 
 road to abject slavery. 
 
 "Papa," said Di, while they were at luncheon 
 that day, not long after the accident, " I am so sorry 
 for that poor policeman. It seems such a dreadful 
 thing to have actually jumped upon him ! and oh I 
 you should have heard his poor head hit the pave- 
 ment, and seen his pretty helmet go spinning along 
 like a boy's top, ever so far. I wonder it didn't 
 kill him. I 'm so sorry." 
 
 Di emphasised her sorrow by laughing, for she 
 had a keen sense of the ludicrous, and the memory of 
 the spinning helmet was strong upon her just then. 
 
 " It must indeed have been an unpleasant blow," 
 replied Sir Eichard, gravely, " but then, dear, you 
 couldn't help it, you know — and I dare say he is 
 none the worse for it now. Men like him are not 
 easily injured. I fear we cannot say as much for 
 the boy who was holding the pony." 
 
 " Oh I I quite forgot about him," exclaimed Di ; 
 '' the naughty boy ! he w^ouldn't let go the pony's 
 reins when I bid him, but I saw he tumbled down 
 when we set off." 
 
18 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 "Yes, he has been somewhat severely pnnished, 
 I fear, for his disobedience. His leg has been 
 broken. Is it not so, Balls ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir," replied the butler, " 'e 'as 'ad 'is " 
 
 Balls got no farther, for Diana, who had been 
 struck dumb for the moment by the news, recovered 
 herself. 
 
 "His leg broken!" she exclaimed with a look of 
 consternation ; " Oh ! the poor, poor boy ! — the dear 
 boy ! and it was me did that too, as well as knock- 
 ing down the poor policeman ! " 
 
 There is no saying to what lengths the remorseful 
 child would have gone in the way of self-condem- 
 nation if her father had not turned her thoughts 
 from herself by asking what had been done for 
 the boy. 
 
 " We sent 'im 'ome, sir. in a cab." 
 
 " I 'm afraid that was a little too prompt," returned 
 the knight thoughtfully. "A broken leg requires 
 careful treatment, I suppose. You should have had 
 him into the house and sent for a doctor." 
 
 Balls coughed. He was slightly chagrined to 
 find that the violation of his own humane feelings 
 had been needless, and that his attempt to do 
 as he thought his master would have wished was 
 in vain. 
 
 " I thought. Sir Eichard, that you didn't like the 
 lower orders to £jo about the 'ouse more " 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 19 
 
 Again little Di interrupted the butler by asking 
 excitedly where the boy's home was. 
 
 " In the neighbour'ood of Witechapel, Miss Di." 
 
 " Then, papa, we will go straight off to see him," 
 said the child, in the tone of one whose mind is fully 
 made up. " You and I shall go together — won't we ? 
 good papa ! " 
 
 " That will do. Balls, you may go. N"o, my dear 
 Di, I think we had better not. I will write to one 
 of the city missionaries whom I know, and ask him 
 to" 
 
 "!N'o, but, papa — dear papa, we must go. The 
 city missionary could never say how very, very sorry 
 I am that he should have broken his leg while help- 
 ing me. And then I should so like to sit by him 
 and tell him stories, and give him his soup and 
 gruel, and read to him. Poor, poor boy, we must go, 
 papa, won't you ? " 
 
 " Not to-day, dear. It is impossible to go to-day. 
 There, now, don't begin to cry. Perhaps — perhaps 
 to-morrow — but think, my love ; you have no idea 
 how dirty — how very nasty — the places are in 
 which our lower orders live." 
 
 "Oh! yes I have," said Di eagerly. "Haven't 
 I seen our nursery on cleaning days ? " 
 
 A faint flicker of a smile passed over the knight's 
 countenance. 
 
 " True, darling, but the places are far, far dirtier 
 
20 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 than that. Then the smells. Oh! they are very 
 dreadful " 
 
 " What — worse than we have when there's cabbage 
 for dinner ? " 
 
 " Yes, much worse than that/' 
 
 " I don't care, papa. We viust go to see the boy 
 — the poor, ;pooT boy, in spite of dirt and smells. 
 And then, you know — let me up on your knee and 
 I '11 tell you all about it. There ! Well,' then, you 
 know, I'd tidy the room up, and even wash it a 
 little. Oh, you can't think how nicely I washed up 
 my doll's room — her corner, you know, — that day 
 when I spilt all her soup in trying to feed her, and 
 then, while trying to wipe it up, I accidentally burst 
 her, and all her inside came out — the sawdust, I 
 mean. It was the worst mess I ever made, but I 
 cleaned it up as well as Jessie herself could have 
 done — so nurse said." 
 
 " But the messes down in Whitechapel are much 
 worse than you have described, dear," expostulated 
 the parent, who felt that his powers of resistance 
 were going. 
 
 " So much the better, papa," replied Di, kissing 
 her sire's lethargic visage. " I should like so much 
 to try if I could clean up something worse than my 
 doll's room. And you 've promised, you know." 
 
 "No— only said 'perhaps,'" returned Sir Eichard 
 quickly. ' ^- 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 21 
 
 " Well, that 's the same thing ; and now that it 's 
 all nicely settled, 1 11 go and see nurse. Good-bye, 
 papa." 
 
 " Good-bye, dear," returned the knight, resigning 
 himself to his fate and the newspaper. 
 
2 2 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 POVERTY MANAGES TO BOARD OUT HER INFANT FOR NOTHING. 
 
 On the night of the day about which we have 
 been writing, a woman, dressed in "unwomanly 
 rags " crept out of the shadow of the houses near 
 London Bridge. She was a thin, middle-aged 
 woman, with a countenance from which sorrow, 
 suffering, and sin had not been able to obliterate 
 entirely the traces of beauty. She carried a bundle 
 in her arms which was easily recognisable as a baby, 
 from the careful and affectionate manner in which 
 the woman's thin, out-spread fingers grasped it. 
 
 Hurrying on to the bridge till she reached the 
 middle of one of the arches, she paused and looked 
 over. The Thames was black and gurgling, for it 
 was intensely dark, and the tide half ebb at the 
 time. The turbid waters chafed noisily on the 
 stone piers as if the sins and sorrows of the great 
 city had been somehow communicated to them. 
 
 But the distance from the parapet to the surface 
 of the stream was great. It seemed awful in the 
 woman's eyes. She shuddered and drew back. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 23 
 
 " Oh ! for courage — only for one minute !" she 
 murmured, clasping the bundle closer to her breast. 
 
 The action drew off a corner of the scanty rag 
 which she called a shawl, and revealed a small and 
 round, yet exceedingly thin face, the black eyes of 
 which seemed to gaze in solemn wonder at the 
 scene of darkness visible which was revealed. The 
 woman stood between two lamps in the darkest 
 place she could find, but enough of light reached her 
 to glitter in the baby's solemn eyes as they met her 
 gaze, and it made a pitiful attempt to smile as it 
 recognised its mother. 
 
 " God help me ! I can't/' muttered the woman with 
 a shiver, as if an ice-block had touched her heart. 
 
 She drew the rag hastily over the baby's head 
 again, pressed it closer to her breast, retraced her 
 steps, and dived into the shadows from which she 
 had emerged. 
 
 This was one of the " lower orders " to whom Sir 
 Pdchard Brandon had such an objection, whom he 
 found it, he said, so difficult to deal with (no wonder, 
 for he never tried to deal with them at all, in any 
 sense worthy of the name) and whom it was, he 
 said, useless to assist, because all he, could do in 
 such a vast accumulation of poverty would be a 
 mere drop in the bucket. Hence Sir Eichard 
 thought it best to keep the drop in -his pocket 
 where it could be felt and do good — at least to him- 
 
24 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 self, rather than dissipate it in an almost empty 
 bucket. The bucket, however, was not quite empty 
 — thanks to a few thousands of people who differed 
 from the knight upon that point. 
 
 The thin woman hastened through the streets as 
 regardless of passers-by as they were of her, until 
 she reached the neighbourhood of Commercial Street, 
 Spitalfields. 
 
 Here she paused and looked anxiously round her. 
 She had left the main thoroughfare, and the spot on 
 which she stood was dimly lighted. Whatever she 
 looked or waited for, did not, however, soon appear, 
 for she stood under a lamp-post, muttering to herself, 
 " I must git rid of it. Better to do so than see it 
 starved to death before my eyes." 
 
 Presently a foot-fall was heard, and a man drew 
 near. The woman gazed intently into his face. It 
 was not a pleasant face. There was a scowl on it. 
 She drew back and let him pass. Then several 
 women passed, but she took no notice of them. 
 Then another man appeared. His face seemed a 
 jolly one. The woman stepped forward at once and 
 confronted him. 
 
 "Please, sir," she began, but the man was too 
 sharp for her. 
 
 " Come now — you 've brought out that baby on 
 purpose to humbug people with it. Don't fancy 
 you '11 throw dust in my eyes. I 'm too old a cock 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 25 , 
 
 for that. Don't you know that you 're breaking the 
 law by begging ?" 
 
 " I 'm not begging," retorted the woman, almost 
 fiercely. 
 
 " Oh ! indeed. Why do you stop me, then ?" 
 
 "I merely wished to ask if your name is 
 Thompson." 
 
 "Ah! hem!" ejaculated the man with a broad 
 grin, " well no, madam, my name is not Thompson." 
 
 "Well, then," rejoined the woman, still indig- 
 nantly, " you may move on." 
 
 She had used an expression all too familiar to 
 herself, and the man, obeying the order with a bow 
 and a mocking laugh, disappeared like those who 
 had gone before him. 
 
 For some time no one else appeared save a police- 
 man. When he approached, the woman went past 
 him down the street, as if bent on some business, 
 but when he was out of sight she returned to the 
 old spot, which was near the entrance to an alley. 
 
 At last the woman's patience was rewarded by 
 the sight of a burly little elderly man, whose face of 
 benignity was unmistakably genuine. Eemembering 
 the previous man's reference to the baby, she covered 
 it up carefully, and held it more like a bundle. 
 
 Stepping up to the newcomer at once, she put the 
 same question as to name, and also asked if he lived 
 in Eussell Square. 
 
26 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 "No, my good woman," replied the burly little 
 man, with a look of mingled surprise and pity, my 
 name is not Thompson. It is Twitter — Samuel 
 
 Twitter, of Twitter, Slime and but," he added, 
 
 checking himself, under a sudden and rare impulse 
 of prudence, " why do you ask my name and 
 address ?" 
 
 The woman gave an almost hysterical laugh at 
 having been so successful in her somewhat clumsy 
 scheme, and, without uttering another word, darted 
 down the alley. She passed rapidly round by a back 
 way to another point of the same street she had left 
 — well ahead of the spot where she had stood so long 
 and so patiently that night. Here she suddenly 
 uncovered the baby's face and kissed it passionately 
 for a few moments. Then, wrapping it in the 
 ragged shawl, with its little head out, she laid it on 
 the middle of the footpath full in the light of a lamp, 
 and retired to await the result. 
 
 When the woman rushed away, as above related, 
 Mr. Samuel Twitter stood for some minutes rooted 
 to the spot, lost in amazement. He was found 
 in that condition by the returning policeman. 
 
 " Constable," said he, cocking his hat to one side 
 the better to scratch his bald head, " there are 
 strange people in this region." 
 
 " Indeed there are, sir." 
 
 " Yes, but I mean very strange people." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 27 
 
 " Well, sir, if yon insist on it, I won't deny that 
 some of them are very strange." 
 
 "Yes, well — good-night, constable," said Mr. 
 Twitter, moving slowly forward in a mystified state 
 of mind, while the guardian of the night continued 
 his rounds, thinking to himself that he had just 
 parted from one of the very strangest of the people. 
 
 Suddenly Samuel Twitter came to a full stop, for 
 there lay the small baby gazing at him with its 
 solemn eyes, apparently quite indifferent to the 
 hardness and coldness of its bed of stone. 
 
 "Abandoned!" gasped the burly little man. 
 
 Whether Mr. Twitter referred to the infant's 
 moral character, or to its being shamefully forsaken, 
 we cannot now prove, but he instantly caught the 
 bundle in his arms and gazed at it. Possibly his 
 gaze may have been too intense, for the mild little 
 creature opened a small mouth that bore no propor- 
 tion whatever to the eyes, and attempted to cry, 
 but the attempt was a failure. It had not strength 
 to cry. 
 
 The burly little man's soul was touched to the 
 centre by the sight. He kissed the baby's forehead, 
 pressed it to his ample breast, and hurried away. 
 If he had taken time to think he might have gone 
 to a police-office, or a night refuge, or some such 
 haven of rest for the weary, but when Twitter's 
 feelings were touched he became a man of impulse. 
 
28 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 He (lid not take time to think — except to the 
 extent that, on reaching the main thoroughfare, he 
 hailed a cab and was driven home. 
 
 The poor mother had followed him with the in- 
 tention of seeing him home. Of course the cab put 
 an end to that. She felt comparatively easy, how- 
 ever, knowing, as she did, that her child was in the 
 
 keeping of " Twitter, Slime and ." That was 
 
 quite enough to enable her to trace Mr. Twitter 
 out. Comforting herself as well as she could with 
 this reflection, she sat down in a dark corner on a 
 cold door-step, and, covering her face with both 
 hands, wept as though her heart would break. 
 
 Gradually her sobs subsided, and, rising, she 
 hurried away, shivering with cold, for her thin 
 cotton dress was a poor protection against the night 
 chills, and her ragged shawl was gone — with the 
 baby. 
 
 In a Tew minutes she reached a part of the 
 Whitechapel district where some of the deepest 
 poverty and wretchedness in London is to be found. 
 Turning into a labyrinth of small streets and alleys, 
 she paused in the neighbourhood of the court in 
 which was her home — if such it could be called. 
 
 "Is it worth while going back to him?" she 
 muttered. " He nearly killed baby, and it wouldn't 
 take much to make him kill me. And oh ! he was 
 so different — once V 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 29 
 
 While she stood irresolute, the man of whom she 
 spoke chanced to turn the corner, and ran against 
 her, somewhat roughly. 
 
 "Hallo! is that you?" he demanded, in tones 
 that told too clearly where he had been spending 
 the night. 
 
 "Yes, Ked, it's me. I was just thinking about 
 going home." 
 
 " Home, indeed — 'stime to b' goin' home. WhereV 
 you bin ? The babby '11 'v bin squallin' pretty stiff 
 by this time." 
 
 " No fear of baby now," returned the wife almost 
 defiantly ; " it 's gone." 
 
 "Gone!" almost shouted the husband. "You 
 haven't murdered it, have you ?" 
 
 " No, but I 've put it in safe keeping, where you 
 can't get at it, and, now I know thaty I don't care 
 w^hat you do to m^." 
 
 " Ha ! we '11 see about that. Come along." 
 
 He seized the woman by the arm and hurried 
 her towards their dwelling. 
 
 .It was little better than a cellar, the door being 
 reached by a descent of five or six much-worn 
 steps. To the surprise of the couple the door, 
 which was usually shut at that hour, stood partly 
 open, and a bright light shone within. 
 
 " Wastin' coal and candle," growled the man with 
 an angry oath, as he approached. 
 
30 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Hetty didn't use to be so extravagant," remarked 
 the woman, in some surprise. 
 
 As she spoke the door was flung wide open, and 
 an overgrown but very handsome girl peered out. 
 
 "Oh! father, I thought it was your voice," she 
 said. " Mother, is that you ? Come in, quick. 
 Here 's Bobby brought home in a cab with a broken 
 leg." 
 
 On hearing this the man's voice softened, and, 
 entering the room, he went up to a heap of straw 
 in one corner whereon our little friend Bobby Frog 
 — the street Arab — lay. 
 
 " Hallo ! Bobby, wot's wrong with'ee ? You ain't 
 used to come to grief," said the father, laying his 
 hand on the boy's shoulder, and giving him a rough 
 shake. 
 
 Things oftentimes "are not what they seem." 
 The shake was the man's mode of expressing sym- 
 pathy, for he was fond of his son, regarding him, 
 with some reason, as a most hopeful pupil in the 
 ways of wickedness. 
 
 " It 's 0* no use, father," said the boy, drawing his 
 breath quickly and knitting his brows, " you can't 
 stir me up with a long pole now. I 'm past that." 
 
 " What ! have 'ee bin runned over ?" 
 
 " No — on'y run down, or knocked down." 
 
 "Who did it? On'y give me his name an' 
 address, an' as sure as my name 's Ned I '11 — " 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 31 
 
 He finished the sentence with a sufficiently ex- 
 pressive scowl and clenching of a huge fist, which 
 had many a time done great execution in the prize 
 ring. 
 
 " It wasn't a he, father, it was a she." 
 
 " Well, no matter, if I on'y had my fingers on her 
 windpipe I 'd squeeze it summat." 
 
 " If you did I 'd bang your nose ! She didn't go 
 for to do it a-purpose, you old grampus/' retorted 
 Bobby, intending the remark to be taken as a gentle 
 yet affectionate reproof. "A doctor's bin an' set 
 my leg," continued the boy, " an' made it as stiff as 
 a poker wi' what 'e calls splints. He says I won't be 
 able to go about for ever so many weeks." 
 
 " An' who 's to feed you, I wonder, doorin' them 
 weeks? An' who sent for the doctor? Was it 
 him as supplied the fire an' candle to-night?" 
 
 "No, father, it was me," answered Hetty, who 
 was engaged in stirring something in a small sauce- 
 pan, the loose handle of which was attached to its 
 battered body by only one rivet ; the other rivet had 
 given way on an occasion when N^ed Frog sent it 
 flying through the doorway after his retreating wife. 
 " You see I was paid my wages to-night, so I could 
 afford it, as well as to buy some coal and a candle, 
 for the doctor said Bobby must be kept warm." 
 
 " Afford it !" exclaimed Ned, in rising wrath, " how 
 can 'ee say you can afford it w'en I 'aven't had 
 
32 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 enough grog to half screw me, an' not a brown left. 
 Did the doctor ask a fee ?" 
 
 " No, father, I offered him one, but he wouldn't 
 take it." 
 
 " Ah — very good on 'im ! I wonder them fellows 
 has the cheek to ask fees for on'y givin' advice. 
 Wy, I 'd give advice myself all day long at a penny 
 an hour, an' think myself well off too if I got that — 
 better off than them as got the advice anyhow 
 What are you sittin' starin' at an' sulkin' there 
 for?" 
 
 This last remark was addressed gruffly to Mrs. 
 Frog, who, during the previous conversation, had 
 seated herself on a low three-legged stool, and, 
 clasping her hands over her knees, gazed at the dirty 
 blank walls in blanker despair. 
 
 The poor woman realised the situation better than 
 her drunken husband did. As a bird-fancier he 
 contributed little, almost nothing, to the general fund 
 on which this family subsisted. He was a huge, 
 powerful fellow, and had various methods of obtain- 
 ing money — some obvious and others mysterious — 
 but nearly all his earnings went to the gin-palace, 
 for Ned was a man of might, and could stand an 
 enormous quantity of drink. Hetty, who worked, 
 perhaps we should say slaved, for a firm which paid 
 her one shilling a week, could not manage to find 
 food for them all. IMrs. Frog herself, with her infant 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 33 
 
 to care for, had found it hard work at any time to 
 earn a few pence, and now Bobby's active little limbs 
 were reduced to inaction, converting him into a 
 consumer instead of a producer. In short, the glar- 
 ing fact that the family expenses would be increased 
 while the family income was diminished, stared 
 Mrs. Frog as blankly in the face as she stared at 
 the dirty blank wall. 
 
 And her case was worse, even, than people in 
 better circumstances might imagine, for the family 
 lived so literally from hand to mouth that there was 
 no time even to think when a difficulty arose or 
 disaster befell. They rented their room from a man 
 who styled it a furnished apartment, in virtue of a 
 rickety table, a broken chair, a worn-out sheet or 
 two, a dilapidated counterpane, four ragged blankets, 
 and the infirm saucepan before mentioned, besides 
 a few articles of cracked or broken crockery. For 
 this accommodation the landlord charged ninepence 
 per day, which sum had to be paid every night 
 before the family was allowed to retire to rest ! 
 In the event of failure to pay they would have been 
 turned out into the street at once, and the door 
 padlocked. Thus the necessity for a constant, though 
 small, supply of cash, became urgent, and the con- 
 sequent instability of " home " very depressing^ 
 
 To preserve his goods from the pawnbroker, and 
 prevent a moonlight flitting, this landlord had 
 
 
 
34 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 printed on his sheets the words " stolen from " 
 
 and on the blankets and counterpane were stamped 
 the words " stop thief!" 
 
 Mrs. Frog made no reply to her husband's gruff 
 question, which induced the man to seize an empty 
 bottle as being- the best way of rousing her atten- 
 tion. '^ 
 
 "Gome, you let mother alone, dad," suggested 
 Bobby, " she ain't a-aggrawatin' of you just now." 
 
 "Why, mother," exclaimed Hetty, who was so 
 busy with Bobby's supper, and, withal, so accus- 
 tomed to the woman's looks of hopeless misery that 
 she had failed to observe anything unusual until 
 her attention was thus called to her, "what ever 
 have you done with the baby ?" 
 
 "Ah — you may well ask that," growled Ned. 
 
 Even the boy seemed to forget his pain for a 
 moment as he now observed, anxiously, that his 
 mother had not the usual bundle on her breast. 
 
 " The baby 's gone !" she said, bitterly, still keep- 
 ing her eyes on the blank wall. 
 
 " Gone !— how ?— lost ? killed? speak, mother," 
 burst from Hetty and the boy. 
 
 " No, only gone to where it will be better cared 
 for than here." 
 
 "Gome, explain, old woman," said Ned, again 
 laying his hand on the bottle. 
 
 As Hetty went and took her hand gently, Mrs. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 35 
 
 Frog condescended to explain, but absolutely refused 
 to tell to whose care the baby had been consigned. 
 
 " Well — it ain't a bad riddance, after all," said the 
 man, as he rose, and, staggering into a corner where 
 another bundle of straw was spread on the floor, 
 flung himself down. Appropriately drawing two 
 of the " stop thief " blankets over him, he went to 
 sleep. 
 
 Then Mrs. Frog, feeling comparatively sure of 
 quiet for the remainder of the night, drew her stool 
 close to the side of her son, and held such inter- 
 course with him as she seldom had the chance of 
 holding w^hile Bobby was in a state of full health 
 and bodily vigour. Hetty, meanwhile, ministered 
 to them both, for she was one of those dusty dia- 
 monds of what may be styled the East-end diggings 
 of London — not so rare, perhaps, as many people 
 may suppose — whose lustre is dimmed and intrinsic 
 value somewhat concealed by the neglect and the 
 moral as well as physical filth by which they are 
 surrounded. 
 
 " Of course you Ve paid the ninepence, Hetty ?" 
 
 " Yes, mother." 
 
 " You might 'ave guessed that," said Bobby, " for, 
 if she 'adn't we shouldn't 'ave bin here." 
 
 " That and the firing and candle, with what the 
 doctor ordered, has used up all I had earned, even 
 though I did some extra work and was paid for it," 
 
86 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 said Hetty with a sigh. " But I don't grudge it, 
 Bobby — I'm only sorry because there's nothing 
 more coming to me till next week." 
 
 " Meanwhile there is nothing for this week," said 
 Mrs. Frog with a return of the despair, as she 
 looked at her prostrate son, " for all I can manage 
 to earn will barely make up the rent — if it does 
 even that — and father, you know, drinks nearly 
 all he makes. God help us !" 
 
 " God will help us," said Hetty, sitting down on 
 the floor and gently stroking the back of her 
 mother's hand, " for He sent the trouble, and will 
 hear us when we cry to Him." 
 
 " Pray to Him, then, Hetty, for it 's no use ask- 
 in' me to join you. I can't pray. An' don't let 
 your father hear, else he '11 be wild." 
 
 The poor girl bent her head on her knees as she 
 sat, and prayed silently. Her mother and brother, 
 neither of whom had any faith in prayer, remained 
 silent, while her father, breathing stertorously in 
 the corner, slept the sleep of the drunkard. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 37 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 SAMUEL TWITTER ASTONISHES MRS. TWITTER AND HER FRIENDS. 
 
 In a former chapter we described, to some extent, 
 the person and belongings of a very poor man with 
 five thousand a year. Let us now make the ac- 
 quaintance of a very rich one with an income of 
 five hundred. 
 
 He has already introduced himself to the reader 
 under the name of Samuel Twitter. 
 
 On the night of which we write Mrs. Twitter 
 happened to have a " few friends " to tea. And let 
 no one suppose that Mrs. Twitter's few friends were 
 to be put off with afternoon tea — that miserable 
 invention of modern times — nor with a sham meal 
 of sweet warm water and thin bread and butter. 
 By no means. We have said that Samuel Twitter 
 was rich, and Mrs. Twitter, conscious of her hus- 
 band's riches, as well as grateful for them, went in 
 for the substantial and luxurious to an amazing 
 extent. 
 
 Unlimited pork sausages and inexhaustible but- 
 tered toast, balanced with muffins or crumpets, was 
 
38 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 her idea of "tea." The liquid was a secondary 
 point — in one sense — but it was always strong. It 
 was the only strong liquid in fact allowed in the 
 house, for Mr. Twitter, Mrs. Twitter, and all the 
 little Twitters were members of the Blue Eibbon 
 Army ; more or less enthusiastic according to their 
 light and capacity. 
 
 The young Twitters descended in a graduated 
 scale from Sammy, the eldest (about sixteen), down 
 through Molly, and Willie, and Fred, and Lucy, to 
 Alice the so-called "baby" — though she was at 
 that time a remarkably robust baby of four years. 
 
 Mrs. Twitter's few friends were aware of her 
 tendencies, and appreciated her hospitality, inso- 
 much that the "few" bade fair to develop by 
 degrees into many. 
 
 Well, Mrs. Twitter had her few friends to tea, 
 and conviviality was at its height. The subject of 
 conversation was poverty. Mrs. Loper, a weak- 
 minded but amiable lady, asserted that a large 
 family with £500 a year was a poor family. Mrs. 
 Loper did not know that Mrs. Twitter's income was 
 five hundred, but she suspected it. Mrs. T. herself 
 carefully avoided giving the slightest hint on the 
 subject. 
 
 " Of course," continued Mrs. Loper, " I don't 
 mean to say that people with five hundred are very 
 poor, you know; indeed it all depends on the 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 39 
 
 family. With six children like you, now, to feed 
 and clothe and educate, and with everything so 
 dear as it is now, I should say that five hundred 
 was poverty." 
 
 " Well, I don't quite agree with you, Mrs. Loper, 
 on that point. To my mind it does not so much 
 depend on the family, as on the notions, and the 
 capacity to manage, in the head of the family. I 
 remember one family just now, whose head was cut 
 off suddenly, I may say in the prime of life. A 
 hundred and fifty a year or thereabouts was the 
 income the widow had to count on, and she was 
 left with five little ones to rear. She trained them 
 well, gave them good educations, made most of 
 their garments with her own hands when they were 
 little, and sent one of her boys to college, yet was 
 noted for the amount of time she spent in visiting 
 the poor, the sick, and the afflicted, for whom she 
 had always a little to spare out of her limited 
 income. Now, if wealth is to be measured by 
 results, I think we may say that that poor lady was 
 rich. She was deeply mourned by a large circle of 
 poor people when she w^as taken home to the better 
 land. Her small means, having been judiciously 
 invested by a brother, increased a little towards the 
 close of life, but she never was what the world 
 esteems rich." 
 
 Mrs. Twitter looked at a very tall man with a 
 
40 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 dark unhandsome countenance, as if to invite his 
 opinion. 
 
 " I quite agree with you," he said, helping himself 
 to a crumpet, " there are some people with small 
 incomes who seem to be always in funds, just as 
 there are other people with large incomes who are 
 always hard-up. The former are really rich, the 
 latter really poor." 
 
 Having delivered himself of these sentiments 
 somewhat sententiously, Mr. Crackaby, — that was 
 his name, — proceeded to consume the crumpet. 
 
 There was a general tendency on the part of the 
 other guests to agree with their hostess, but one 
 black sheep in the flock objected. He quite agreed, 
 of course, with the general principle that liberality 
 with small means was beautiful to behold as well as 
 desirable to possess — the liberality, not the small 
 means — and that, on the other hand, riches with a 
 narrow niggardly spirit was abominable, but then — 
 and the black sheep came, usually, to the strongest 
 part of his argument when he said '' but then " — 
 it was an uncommonly difficult thing, when every- 
 thing was up to famine prices, and gold was de- 
 preciated in value owing to the gold-fields, and 
 silver was nowhere, and coppers were changed into 
 bronze, — exceedingly difficult to practise liberality 
 and at the same time to make the two ends meet. 
 
 As no one clearly saw the exact bearing of the 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 41 
 
 black sheep's argument, they all replied with that 
 half idiotic simper with which Ignorance seeks to 
 conceal herself, and which Politeness substitutes for 
 the more emphatic " pooh," or the inelegant " bosh." 
 Then, applying themselves with renewed zest to the 
 muffins, they put about ship, nautically speaking, 
 and went off on a new tack. 
 
 "Mr. Twitter is rather late to-night, I think?" 
 said Mr. Crackaby, consulting his watch, which was 
 antique and turnipy in character. i 
 
 "He is, indeed," replied the hostess, "business 
 must have detained him, for he is the very soul of 
 punctuality. That is one of his many good qualities, 
 and it is such a comfort, for I can always depend on 
 him to the minute,— breakfast, dinner, tea ; he never 
 keeps us waiting, as too many men do, except, of 
 course, when he is unavoidably detained by business." 
 
 " Ah, yes, business has much to answer for," re- 
 marked Mrs. Loper, in a tone which suggested that 
 she held business to be an incorrigibly bad fellow ; 
 "whatever mischief happens with one's husband 
 it 's sure to be business that did it." 
 
 "Pardon me, madam," objected the black sheep, 
 whose name, by the way, was Stickler, "business 
 does bring about much of the disaster that often 
 appertains to wedded life, but mischief is sometimes 
 done by other means, such, for instance, as accidents, 
 robberies, murders " — 
 
42 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Oh ! Mr. stickler," suddenly interrupted a stout, 
 smiling lady, named Larrabel, who usually did the 
 audience part of Mrs. Twitter's little tea parties, 
 " how can you suggest such ideas, especially when 
 Mr. Twitter is unusually late ?" 
 
 Mr. Stickler protested that he had no intention of 
 alarming the company by disagreeable suggestions, 
 that he had spoken of accident, robbery, and murder 
 in the abstract. 
 
 " There, you Ve said it all over again," interrupted 
 Mrs. Larrabel, with an unwonted frown. 
 
 " But then," continued Stickler, regardless of the 
 interruption, " a broken leg, or a rifled pocket and 
 stunned person, or a cut windpipe, may be appli- 
 cable to the argument in hand without being applied 
 to Mr. Twitter." 
 
 " Surely," said Mrs. Loper, who deemed the reply 
 unanswerable. 
 
 In this edifying strain the conversation flowed on 
 until the evening grew late and the party began to 
 grow alarmed. 
 
 " I do hope nothing has happened to him," said 
 Mrs. Loper, with a solemnised face. 
 
 " I think not. I have seen him come home much 
 later than this — though not often," said the hostess, 
 the only one of the party who seemed quite at ease, 
 and who led the conversation back again into 
 shallower channels. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 43 
 
 As the night advanced, however, the alarm became 
 deeper, and it was even suggested by Mrs. Loper 
 that Crackaby should proceed to Twitter's office 
 — a distance of three miles — to inquire whether 
 and when he had left ; while tlie smiling Mrs. 
 Larrabel proposed to send information to the head- 
 quarters of the police in Scotland Yard, because the 
 police knew everything, and could find out anything. 
 
 " You have no idea, my dear," she said, " how 
 clever they are at Scotland Yard. Would you believe 
 it, I left my umbrellar the other day in a cab, and 
 I didn't know the number of the cab, for numbers 
 won't remain in my head, nor the look of the cabman, 
 for I never look at cabmen, they are so rude some- 
 times. I didn't even remember the place where T 
 got into the cab, for I can't remember places when 
 I 've to go to so many, so I gave up my umbrellar for 
 lost and was going away, when a policeman stepped 
 up to me and asked in a very civil tone if I had lost 
 anything. He was so polite and pleasant that I told 
 him of my loss, though I knew it would do me no 
 good, as he had not seen the cab or the cabman. 
 
 " ' I think, madam,' he said, ' that if you go down 
 to Scotland Yard to-morrow morning, you may 
 probably find it there.' 
 
 " ' Young man/ said I, ' do you take me for a 
 fool!' 
 
 " 'No, madam, I don't,' he replied. 
 
44 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " ' Or do you take my umbrellar for a fool/ said I, 
 'that it should walk down to Scotland Yard of its 
 own accord and wait there till I called for it V 
 
 " * Certainly not, madam/ he answered with such 
 a pleasant smile that I half forgave him. 
 
 " ' Nevertheless if you happen to be in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Scotland Yard to-morrow/ he added, 
 ' it might be as well to call in and inquire.' 
 
 *' * Thank you,' said I, with a stiff bow as I left 
 him. On the way home, however, I thought there 
 might be something in it, so I did go down to Scot- 
 land Yard next day, where I was received with as 
 much civility as if I had been a lady of quality, and 
 was taken to a room as full of umbrellas as an egg's 
 full of meat — almost. 
 
 "' You'd know the umbrellar if you saw it, madam/ 
 said the polite constable who escorted me. 
 
 "'Know it, sir!' said I, 'yes, I should think I 
 would. Seven and sixpence it cost me — new, and 
 I 've only had it a week — brown silk with a plain 
 handle — why, there it is !' And there it was sure 
 enough, and he gave it to me at once, only requir- 
 ing me to write my name in a book, which I did 
 with great difficulty because of my gloves, and 
 being so nervous. Now, how did the young police- 
 man that spoke to me the day before know that my 
 umbrellar would go there, and how did it get there ? 
 They say the days of miracles are over, but I don't 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 45 
 
 think so, for that was a miracle if ever there was 
 one." 
 
 " The days of miracles are indeed over, ma'am," 
 said the black sheep, *'but then that is no reason 
 why things which are in themselves commonplace 
 should not appear miraculous to the uninstructed 
 mind. When I inform you that our laws compel 
 cabmen under heavy penalties to convey left 
 umbrellas and parcels to the police ofRce, the 
 miracle may not seem quite so surprising." 
 
 Most people dislike to have their miracles un- 
 masked. Mrs. Larrabel turned from the black 
 sheep to her hostess without replying, and repeated 
 her suggestion about making inquiries at Scotland 
 Yard — thus delicately showing that although, pos- 
 sibly, convinced, she was by no means converted. 
 
 They were interrupted at this point by a hurried 
 knock at the street door. 
 V " There he is at last," exclaimed every one. 
 
 "It is his knock, certainly," said Mrs. Twitter, 
 with a perplexed look, " but rather peculiar — not so 
 firm as usual — there it is again! Impatient! I 
 never knew my Sam impatient before in all our 
 wedded life. You'd better open the door, dear," 
 she said, turning to the eldest Twitter, he being the 
 only one of the six who was privileged to sit up late, 
 " Mary seems to have fallen asleep.'' 
 
 Before the eldest Twitter could obey, the maligned 
 
46 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Mary was heard to open the door and utter an ex- 
 clamation of surprise, and her master's step was 
 heard to ascend the stair rather unsteadily. 
 
 The guests looked at each other anxiously. It 
 might be that to some minds — certainly to that of 
 the black sheep — visions of violated blue-ribbonism 
 occurred. As certainly these visions did not occur to 
 Mrs. Twitter. She would sooner have doubted her 
 clergyman than her husband. Trustfulness formed 
 a prominent part of her character, and her confidence 
 in her Sam was unbounded. 
 
 Even when her husband came against the drawing- 
 room door with an awkward bang — the passage being 
 dark — opened it with a fling, and stood before the 
 guests with a flushed countenance, blazing eyes, a 
 peculiar deprecatory smile, and a dirty ragged 
 bundle in his arms, she did not doubt him. 
 
 " Forgive me, my dear," he said, gazing at his wife 
 in a manner that might well have justified the black 
 sheep's thought, "screwed," "I — I — business kept 
 me in the office very late, and then " — He cast 
 an imbecile glance at the bundle. 
 
 " What ever have you got there, Sam ?" asked his 
 wondering wife. 
 
 " Goodness me ! it moves !" exclaimed Mrs. Loper. 
 
 "Live poultry!" thought the black sheep, and 
 visions of police cells and penal servitude floated 
 before his depraved mental vision. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 47 
 
 " Yes, Mrs. Loper, it moves. It is alive — though 
 not very much alive, I fear. My dear, I Ve found — 
 found a baby — picked it up in the street. Not a 
 soul there but me. Would have perished or been 
 trodden on if I had not taken it up. See here ! '* 
 
 He untied the dirty bundle as he spoke, and un- 
 covered the round little pinched face with the great 
 solemn eyes, which gazed, still wonderingly, at the 
 assembled company. 
 
 It is due to the assembled company to add that 
 it returned the gaze with compound interest. 
 
48 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTEE Y. 
 
 TREATS STILL FURTHER OF RICHES, POVERTY, BABIES, AND POLICE. 
 
 When Mr. and Mrs. Twitter had dismissed the 
 few friends that night, they sat down at their own 
 fireside, with no one near them but the little found- 
 ling, which lay in the youngest Twitter's disused 
 cradle, gazing at them with its usual solemnity, for 
 it did not seem to require sleep. They opened up 
 their minds to each other thus : — 
 
 " !N"ow, Samuel," said Mrs. Twitter, " the question 
 is, what are you going to do with it ?" 
 
 "Well, Mariar," returned her spouse, with an 
 assumption of profound gravity, "I suppose we 
 must send it to the w^orkhouse." 
 
 '' You know quite well, Sam, that you don't mean 
 that," said Mrs. Twitter, '' the dear little forsaken 
 mite ! Just look at its solemn eyes. It has been 
 clearly cast upon us, Sam, and it seems to me that 
 we are bound to look after it." 
 
 " What ! with six of our own, Mariar ?" 
 
 "Yes, Sam. Isn't there a song which says some- 
 thing about luck in odd numbers ? " 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 49 
 
 "And with only £500 a year?" objected Mr. 
 Twitter. 
 
 '''Only' five hundred. How can you speak so? 
 We are rich with five hundred. Can we not educate 
 our little ones?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear." 
 
 " And entertain our friends ?" 
 
 " Yes, my love, — with crumpets and tea." 
 
 "Don't forget muffins and bloater paste, and 
 German sausage and occasional legs of mutton, you 
 ungrateful man !" 
 
 " I don't forget 'em, Mariar. My recollection of 
 'em is powerful ; I may even say vivid." 
 
 " Well," continued the lady, "haven't you been able 
 to lend small sums on several occasions to friends" — 
 
 " Yes, my dear, — and they are still loans," mur- 
 mured the husband. 
 
 " And don't we give a little — I sometimes think 
 too little — regularly to the poor, and to the church, 
 and haven't we got a nest-egg laid by in the Post- 
 office savings-bank?" 
 
 " All true, Mariar, and all your doing. But for 
 your thrifty ways, and economical tendencies, and 
 rare financial abilities, I should have been bankrupt 
 long ere now." 
 
 Mr. Twitter was nothing more than just in this 
 statement of his wife's character. She was one of 
 those happily constituted women who make the 
 
 D 
 
50 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 best and the most of everything, and who, while by 
 no means turning her eyes away from the dark 
 sides of things, nevertheless gave people the im- 
 pression that she saw only their bright sides. Her 
 economy would have degenerated into nearness if 
 it had not been commensurate with her liberality, 
 for while, on the one hand, she was ever anxious, 
 almost eager, to give to the needy and suffering 
 every penny that she could spare, she was, on the 
 other hand, strictly economical in trifles. Indeed 
 Mrs. Twitter's vocabulary did not contain the word 
 trifle. One of her favourite texts of Scripture, which 
 was always in her mind, and which she had illumi- 
 nated in gold and hung on her bed-room walls 
 with many other words of God, was, " Gather up 
 the fragments, that nothing be lost." Acting on 
 this principle with all her heart, she gathered up 
 the fragments of time, so that she had always a 
 good deal of that commodity to spare, and was 
 never in a hurry. She gathered up bits of twine 
 and made neat little rings of them, which • she 
 deposited in a basket — a pretty large basket — 
 which in time became such a repository of wealth 
 in that respect that the six Twitters never failed 
 to find the exact size and quality of cordage wanted 
 by them — and, indeed, even after the eldest, 
 Sammy, came to the years of discretion, if he had 
 suddenly required a cable suited to restrain a 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 51 
 
 first-rate iron- clad, his mind would, in the first 
 blush of the tiling, have reverted to mother's basket! 
 If friends wrote short notes to Mrs. Twitter — 
 which they often did, for the sympathetic find plenty 
 of correspondents — the blank leaves were always 
 torn off and consigned to a scrap-paper box, and the 
 pile grew big enough at last to have set up a small 
 stationer in business. And so with everything that 
 came under her influence at home or abroad. She 
 emphatically did what she could to prevent waste, 
 and became a living fulfilment of the well-known 
 proverb, for as she wasted not she wanted not. 
 
 But to return from this digression — 
 
 " Well, then," said Mrs. Twitter, " don't go and 
 find fault, Samuel (she used the name in full when 
 anxious to be impressive) with what Providence has 
 given us, by putting the word * only ' to it, for we 
 are rich with five hundred a year." 
 
 Mr. Twitter freely admitted that he was wrong, 
 and said he would be more careful in future of the 
 use to which he put the word " only." 
 
 " But," said he, " we haven't a hole or corner in 
 the house to put the poor thing in. To be sure, 
 there's the coal-cellar and the scuttle might be 
 rigged up as a cradle, but — " 
 
 He paused, and looked at his wife. The deceiver 
 did not mean all this to be taken as a real objection. 
 He was himself anxious to retain the infant, and 
 
52 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 only made this show of opposition to enlist Maria 
 more certainly on his side. 
 
 "Not a corner!" she exclaimed, " why, is there 
 not the whole parlour? Do you suppose that a 
 baby requires a four-post bed, and a wash-hand-stand, 
 and a five-foot mirror ? Couldn't we lift the poor 
 darling in and out in half a minute ? Besides, there 
 is our own room. I feel as if there was an un- 
 comfortable want of some sort ever since our baby 
 was transplanted to the nursery. So we will 
 establish the old bassinet and put the mite there." 
 
 "And what shall we call it, Maria ?" 
 
 " Call it — why, call it — call it — Mite— no name 
 could be more appropriate." 
 
 " But, my love, Mite, if a name at all, is a man's 
 — that is, it sounds like a masculine name." 
 
 " Call it Mita, then." 
 
 And SO- it was named, and thus that poor little 
 waif came to be adopted by that " rich " family. 
 
 It seems to be our mission, at this time, to 
 introduce our readers to various homes — the homes 
 of England, so to speak ! But let not our readers be- 
 come impatient, while we lead the w^ay to one more 
 home, and open the door with our secret latch-key. 
 
 This home is in some respects peculiar. It is not 
 a poor one, for it is comfortable and clean. N'either 
 is it a rich one, for there are few ornaments, and no 
 luxuries about it. Over the fire stoops a comely 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 63 
 
 young woman, as well as one can judge, at least, 
 from the rather faint light that enters through a small 
 window facing a brick wall. The wall is only five 
 feet from the window, and some previous occupant 
 of the rooms had painted on it a rough landscape, 
 with three very green trees and a very blue lake, 
 and a swan in the middle thereof, sitting on an 
 inverted swan which was meant to be his reflection, 
 but somehow seemed rather more real than himself. 
 The picture is better, perhaps, than the bricks were, 
 yet it is not enlivening. The only other objects in 
 the room worth mentioning are, a particularly small 
 book-shelf in a corner ; a cuckoo-clock on the mantel- 
 shelf, an engraved portrait of Queen Victoria on the 
 wall opposite in a gilt frame, and a portrait of Sir 
 Eobert Peel in a frame of rosewood beside it. 
 
 On a little table in the centre of the room are the 
 remains of a repast. Under the table is a very 
 small child, probably four years of age. Near the 
 window is another small, but older child— a boy 
 of about six or seven. He is engaged in fitting 
 on his little head a great black cloth helmet with a 
 bronze badge, and a peak behind as well as before. 
 
 Having nearly extinguished himself with the 
 helmet, the small boy seizes a very large truncheon, 
 and makes a desperate effort to flourish it. 
 
 Close to the comely woman stands a very tall, 
 very handsome, and very powerful man, who is 
 
54 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 putting in the uppermost buttons of a police con- 
 stable's uniform. 
 
 Behold, reader, the tableau vivant to which we 
 would call your attention ! 
 
 " Where d' you go on duty to-day, Giles," asked 
 the comely young woman, raising her face to that 
 of her husband. 
 
 " Oxford Circus," replied the policeman. " It is the 
 first time I Ve been put on fixed-point duty. That 's 
 the reason I 'm able to breakfast with you and the 
 children, Molly, instead of being off at half-past five 
 in the morning as usual. I shall be on for a 
 month." 
 
 " I 'm glad of it, Giles, for it gives the children 
 a chance of seeing something of you. I wish you 'd 
 let me look at that cut on your shoulder. Do !" 
 
 " No, no, Molly," returned the man, as he pushed 
 his wife playfully away from him. "Hands off! 
 You know the punishment for assaulting the police 
 is heavy ! ISTow then, Monty (to the boy), give up 
 my helmet and truncheon. I must be off." 
 
 " !N'ot yet, daddy," cried Monty, " I 's a pleeceman 
 of the A Division, ISTo. 2, 'ats me, an' I 'm goin' to 
 catch a t'ief. I 'mell 'im." 
 
 " You smell him, do you ? Where is he, d' you 
 think?" 
 
 " Oh ! 1 know," replied the small policeman — here 
 he came close up to his father, and, getting on 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 55 
 
 tiptoe, said in a very audible whisper, " he 's under 
 de table, but don' tell 'im I know. His name's 
 Joe r 
 
 "All right, I'll keep quiet, Monty, but look 
 alive and nab him quick, for I must be off." 
 
 Thus urged the small policeman went on tiptoe 
 to the table, made a sudden dive under it, and 
 collared his little brother. 
 
 The arrest, however, being far more prompt 
 than had been expected, the *H'ief" refused to be 
 captured. A struggle ensued, in the course of 
 which the helmet rolled ofP, a corner of the table- 
 cloth was pulled down, and the earthenware teapot 
 fell with a crash to the floor. 
 
 " It 's my duty, I fear," said Giles, " to take you 
 both into custody and lock you up in a cell for 
 breaking the teapot as well as the peace, but I '11 
 be merciful and let you off this time, Monty, if you 
 lend your mother a hand to pick up the pieces." 
 
 Monty agreed to accept this compromise. The 
 helmet and truncheon were put to their proper 
 uses, and the merciful police constable went out " on 
 duty." 
 
56 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WEALTH PAYS A VISIT TO POVERTY. 
 
 It was an interesting sight to watch police con- 
 stable No. 666 as he went through the performance 
 of his arduous duties that day at the Eegent Circus 
 in Oxford Street. 
 
 To those who are unacquainted with London, it 
 may be necessary to remark that this circus is one 
 of those great centres of traffic where two main 
 arteries cross and tend to cause so much obstruction, 
 that complete stoppages would become frequent 
 were it not for the admirable management of the 
 several members of the police force who are stationed 
 there to keep order. The " Oxford Circus," as it is 
 sometimes called, is by no means the largest or most 
 crowded of such crossings, nevertheless the tide of 
 traffic is sufficiently strong and continuous there to 
 require several police-constables on constant duty. 
 When men are detailed for such " Fixed-Point " duty 
 they go on it for a month at a time, and have 
 different hours from the other men, namely, from 
 nine in the morning till five in the afternoon. 
 
 We have said it was interesting to watch our biff 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 57 
 
 hero, No. 666, in the performance of his arduous 
 duties. He occupied the crossing on the city side 
 of the circus. 
 
 It was a magnificent afternoon, and all the metro- 
 politan butterflies were out. Busses flowed on in a 
 a continuous stream, looking like big bullies who 
 incline to use their weight and strength to crush 
 through all obstruction. The drivers of these were 
 for the most part wise men, and restrained themselves 
 and their steeds. In one or two instances, where 
 the drivers were unwise, a glance from the bright eye 
 of Giles Scott was quite sufficient to keep all right. 
 
 And Giles could only aff'ord to bestow a frag- 
 mentary glance at any time on the refractory, 
 for, almost at one and the same moment he had to 
 check the impetuous, hold up a warning hand to 
 the unruly, rescue a runaway child from innumer- 
 able horse-legs, pilot a stout but timid lady from 
 what we may call refuge-island, in the middle of the 
 roadway, to the pavement, answer an imbecile's 
 question as to the whereabouts of the Tower or St. 
 Paul's, order a loitering cabby to move on, and 
 look out for his own toes, as well as give moderate 
 attention to the carriage-poles which perpetually 
 threatened the small of his own back. 
 
 We should imagine that the premium of insurance 
 on the life of No. 666 was fabulous in amount, but 
 cannot tell. 
 
58 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Besides his great height, Giles possessed a droop- 
 ing moustache, which added much to his dignified 
 appearance. He was also imperturbably grave, 
 except when offering aid to a lady or a little child, 
 on w^hich occasions the faintest symptoms of a smile 
 floated for a moment on his visage like an April 
 sunbeam. At all other times his expression was 
 that of incorruptible justice and awful immobility. 
 Xo amount of chaff, no quantity of abuse, no kind 
 of flattery, no sort of threat could move him any 
 more than the seething billows of the Mediterranean 
 can move Gibraltar. Costermongers growled at him 
 hopelessly. Irate cabmen saw that their wisdom 
 lay in submission. Criminals felt that once in his 
 grasp their case was hopeless, just as, conversely, 
 old ladies felt that once under his protection they 
 were in absolute security. Even street boys felt 
 that references to " bobbies," " coppers," and " slops;" 
 questions as to how 'is 'ead felt up there ; who rolled 
 'im hout so long ; whether his mother knew 'e was 
 hout ; whether 'e 'd sell 'em a bit of 'is legs ; with 
 advice to come down off the ladder, or to go 'ome to 
 bed — that all these were utterly thrown away and 
 lost upon Giles Scott. 
 
 The garb of the London policeman is not, as every 
 one knows, founded on the principles of aesthetics. 
 Neither has it been devised on utilitarian principles. 
 Indeed we doubt whether the originator of it (and 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 59 
 
 we are liappy to profess ignorance of his name) 
 proceeded on any principle whatever, except the 
 gratification of a wild and degraded fancy. The 
 colour, of course, is not objectionable, and the helmet 
 might be worse, but the tunic is such that the idea 
 of grace or elegance may not consist with it. 
 
 We mention these facts because Giles Scott was 
 so well made that he forced his tunic to look well, 
 and thus added one more to the already numerous 
 " exceptions " which are said to " prove the rule." 
 
 " Allow me, madam," said Giles, offering his right 
 hand to an elderly female, who, having screwed up 
 her courage to make a rush, got into sudden danger 
 and became mentally hysterical in the midst of a 
 conglomerate of hoofs, poles, horse-heads, and wheels. 
 
 The female allowed him, and the result was 
 sudden safety, a gasp of relief, and departure of 
 hysteria. 
 
 " Not yet, please," said Giles, holding up a warning 
 right hand to the crowd on refuge-island, while with 
 his left waving gently to and fro he gave permission 
 to the mighty stream to flow.- "Now," he added, 
 holding up the left hand suddenly. The stream was 
 stopped as abruptly as were the waters of Jordan in 
 days of old, and the r^-orm-staid crew on refuge- 
 island made a rush for the mainland. It was a 
 trifling matter to most of them that rush, but of 
 serious moment to the few whose limbs had lost 
 
60 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 their elasticity, or whose minds could not shake off 
 the memory of the fact that between 200 and 300 
 lives are lost in London streets by accidents every 
 year, and that between 3000 and 4000 are more or 
 less severely injured annually. 
 
 Before the human stream had got quite across, an 
 impatient hansom made a push. The eagle eye of 
 No. 666 h^d observed the intention, and in a 
 moment his gigantic figure stood calmly in front of 
 the horse, whose head was raised high above his 
 helmet as the driver tightened the reins violently. 
 
 Just then a small slipshod girl made an anxious 
 dash from refuge-island, lost courage, and turned to 
 run back, changed her mind, got bewildered, stopped 
 suddenly and yelled. 
 
 Giles caught her by the arm, bore her to the 
 pavement, and turned, just in time to see the 
 hansom dash on in the hope of being overlooked. 
 Vain hope ! N"o. 666 saw the number of the hansom, 
 booked it in his memory while he assisted in raising 
 up an old gentleman who had been overturned, 
 though not injured, in endeavouring to avoid it. 
 
 During the lull — for there are lulls in the rush 
 of London traffic, as in the storms of nature, — 
 Giles transferred the number of that hansom to 
 his note-book, thereby laying up a little treat for 
 its driver in the shape of a little trial the next day, 
 terminating, probably, with a fine. 
 
I 
 
 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 61 
 
 Towards five in the afternoon the strain of all 
 this began to tell even on the powerful frame of 
 Giles Scott, but no symptom did he show of 
 fatigue, and so much reserve force did he possess 
 that it is probable he would have exhibited as calm 
 and unwearied a front if he had remained on duty 
 for eighteen hours instead of eight. 
 
 About that hour, also, there came an unusual glut 
 to the traffic, in the form of a troop of the horse- 
 guards. These magnificent creatures, resplendent 
 in glittering steel, white plumes, and black boots, 
 were passing westward. Giles stood in front of the 
 arrested stream. A number of people stood, as it 
 were, under his shadow. Eefuge-island was over- 
 flowing. Comments, chiefly eulogistic, were being 
 freely made and some impatience was being mani- 
 fested by drivers, when a little shriek was heard, 
 and a child's voice exclaimed : — 
 
 "Oh! papa, papa — there's my policeman — the 
 one I so nearly killed. He 's not dead after all !" 
 
 Giles forgot his dignity for one moment, and, look- 
 ing round, met the eager gaze of little Di Brandon. 
 
 Another moment and duty required his undivided 
 attention, so that he lost sight of her, but Di took 
 good care not to lose sight of him. 
 
 "We will wait here, darling," said her father, 
 referring to refuge-island on which he stood, " and 
 when he is disengaged we can speak to him." 
 
62 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 "Oh! I'm so glad he's not dead," said little Di, 
 " and p'raps he '11 be able to show us the way to my 
 boy's home." 
 
 Di had a method of adopting, in a motherly 
 way, all who, in the remotest manner, came into 
 her life. Thus she not only spoke of our butcher 
 and our baker, which was natural, but referred to 
 *' my policeman " and " my boy " ever since the day 
 of the accident. 
 
 When Giles had set his portion of the traffic in 
 harmonious motion he returned to his island, and 
 was not sorry to receive the dignified greeting of Sir 
 Pilchard Brandon, while he was delighted as well as 
 amused by the enthusiastic grasp with which Di 
 seized his huge hand in both of her little ones, and 
 the earnest manner in which she inquired after his 
 health, and if she had hurt him much. 
 
 ** Did they put you to bed and give you hot gruel ? " 
 she asked, with touching pathos. 
 
 "No, miss, they didn't think I was hurt quite 
 enough to require it," answered Giles, his drooping 
 moustache curling slightly as he spoke. 
 
 " i had hoped to see you at my house," said Sir 
 Eichard, " you did not call." 
 
 " Thank you, sir, I did not think the little service 
 I rendered your daughter worth making so much of. 
 I called, however, the same evening, to inquire for 
 her^ but did not wish to intrude on you." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 63 
 
 " It would have been no intrusion, friend," returned 
 Sir Eicliard, with grand condescension. " One who 
 has saved my child's life has a claim upon my con- 
 sideration." 
 
 " A dook 'e must be," said a small street boy in a 
 loud stage whisper to a drayman — for small street 
 boys are sown broadcast in London, and turn up at 
 all places on every occasion, " or p'raps," he added on 
 reflection, " 'e 's on'y a markiss." 
 
 " Now then," said Giles to the drayman with a 
 motion of the hand that caused him to move on, 
 while he cast a look on the boy which induced him 
 to move off. 
 
 " By the way, constable," said Sir Pdchard, " I am 
 on my way to visit a poor boy whose leg was 
 broken on the day my pony ran away. He was 
 holding the pony at the time. He lives in White- 
 chapel somewhere. I have the address here in my 
 note-book." 
 
 " Excuse me, sir, one moment," said No. 666, going 
 towards a crowd which had gathered round a fallen 
 horse. '* I happen to be going to that district my- 
 self," he continued on returning, " what is the boy's 
 name?" 
 
 "Eobert — perhaps I should rather say Bobby 
 Frog," answered Sir Eichard. 
 
 "The name is familiar," returned the policeman, 
 "but in London there are so many — what's his 
 
64 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 address, sir,— Eoy's Court, near Commercial Street ? 
 Oh! I know it well — one of the worst parts of 
 London. I know the boy too. He is somewhat 
 noted in that neighbourhood for giving the police 
 trouble. ISTot a bad-hearted fellow, I believe, but 
 full of mischief, and has been brought up among 
 thieves from his birth. His father is, or was, a bird- 
 fancier and seller of penny articles on the streets, 
 besides being a professional pugilist. You will be 
 the better for protection there, sir. I would advise 
 you not to go alone. If you can wait for five or ten 
 minutes," added Giles, " I shall be off duty and 
 will be happy to accompany you." 
 
 Sir Richard agreed to wait. Within the time 
 mentioned Giles was relieved, and, entering a cab 
 with his friends, drove towards Whitechapel. They 
 had to pass near our policeman's lodgings on the 
 way. 
 
 " Would you object, sir, stopping at my house for 
 five minutes ? " he asked. 
 
 " Certainly not," returned the knight, " I am in no 
 hurry." 
 
 "No, 666 stopped the cab, leaped out and dis- 
 appeared through a narrow passage. In less than 
 five minutes a very tall gentlemanly man issued 
 from the same passage and approached them. 
 Little Di opened her blue eyes to their very utter- 
 most. It was her policeman in plain clothes ! 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 65 
 
 She did not like the change at all at first, but 
 before the end of the drive got used to him in his 
 new aspect — all the more readily that he seemed to 
 have cast off much of his stiffness and reserve with 
 his blue skin. 
 
 Near the metropolitan railway station in White- 
 chapel the cab was dismissed, and Giles led the 
 father and child along the crowded thoroughfare 
 until they reached Commercial Street, along which 
 they proceeded a short distance. 
 
 "We are now near some of the worst parts of 
 London, sir," said Giles, "where great numbers of 
 the criminal and most abandoned characters dwell." 
 
 " Indeed," said Sir Eichard, who did not seem to 
 be much gratified by the information. 
 
 As for Di, she was nearly crying. The news that 
 her boy was a thief and was born in the midst of such 
 naughty people had fallen with chilling influence 
 on her heart, for she had never thought of anything 
 but the story-book "poor but honest parents !" 
 
 " What large building is that ?" inquired the 
 knight, who began to wish that he had not given way 
 to his daughter's importunities, " the one opposite, I 
 mean, with placards under the windows." 
 
 "That is the well-known Home of Industry, 
 instituted and managed by Miss Macpherson and a 
 staff of volunteer workers. They do a deal of good, 
 sir, in this neighbourhood." 
 E 
 
66 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 "Ah! indeed," said Sir Eichard, who had never 
 before heard of the Home of Industry. " And, pray, 
 what particular industry does this Miss Mac — 
 what did you call her ? " 
 
 "Macpherson. The lady, you know, who sends 
 out so many rescued waifs and strays to Canada, 
 and spends all her time in caring for the poorest of 
 the poor in the East End and in preaching the 
 gospel to them. You Ve often seen accounts of her 
 work, no doubt, in the Christian ?" 
 
 " Well — n — no. I read the Times, but, now you 
 mention it, I have some faint remembrance of see- 
 ing reference to such matters. Very self-denying, 
 no doubt, and praiseworthy, though I must say 
 that I doubt the use of preaching the gospel to 
 such persons. From what I have seen of these 
 lowest people I should think they were too deeply 
 sunk in depravity to be capable of appreciating the 
 lofty and sublime sentiments of Christianity." 
 
 No. 666 felt a touch of surprise at these words, 
 though he was too well-bred a policeman to express 
 his feelings by word or look. In fact, although not 
 pre-eminently noted for piety, he had been led by 
 training, and afterwards by personal experience, to 
 view this matter from a very different standpoint 
 from that of Sir Eichard. He made no reply, how- 
 ever, but, turning round the corner of the Home of 
 Industry, entered a narrow street which bore pal- 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 67 
 
 pable evidence of being the abode of deepest poverty. 
 From the faces and garments of the inhabitants 
 it was also evidently associated with the deepest 
 depravity. 
 
 As little Di saw some of the residents sitting on 
 their doorsteps with scratched faces, swelled lips 
 and cheeks, and dishevelled hair, and beheld the 
 children in half-naked condition rolling in the 
 kennel and extremely filthy, she clung closer to her 
 father's side and began to suspect there were some 
 phases of life she had never seen — had not even 
 dreamt of ! 
 
 What the knight's thoughts were we cannot tell, 
 for he said nothing, but disgust was more prominent 
 than pity on his fine countenance. Those who sat 
 on the doorsteps, or lolled with a dissipated air 
 against the doorposts, seem.ed to appreciate him at 
 his proper value, for they scowled at him as he 
 passed. They recognised No. 666, however (perhaps 
 by his bearing), and gave him only a passing glance 
 of indifference. 
 
 " You said it would be dangerous for me to' come 
 here by myself," said Sir Eichard, turning to Giles, 
 as he entered another and even worse street. " Are 
 they then so violent V 
 
 " Many of them are among the worst criminals in 
 London, sir. Here is the court of which you are in 
 search : Eoy's Court." 
 
68 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 As he spoke, Ned Frog staggered out of his own 
 doorway, clenched his fists, and looked with a 
 vindictive scowl at the strangers. A second glance 
 induced him to unclench his fists and reel round 
 the corner on his way to a neighbouring grog- 
 shop. Whatever other shops may decay in that 
 region, the grog-shops, like noxious weeds, always 
 flourish. 
 
 The court was apparently much deserted at that 
 hour, for the men had not yet returned from their 
 work — whatever that might be — and most of the 
 women were within doors. 
 
 "This is the house," continued Giles, descending 
 the few steps, and tapping at the door ; " I have been 
 here before. They know me." 
 
 The door was opened by Hetty, and for the first 
 time since entering those regions of poverty and 
 crime, little Di felt a slight rise in her spirits, for 
 through Hetty's face shone the bright spirit within ; 
 albeit the shining was through some dirt and 
 dishevelment, good principle not being able al- 
 together to overcome the depressing influences of 
 extreme poverty and suffering. 
 
 " Is your mother at home, Hetty ?" 
 
 " Oh ! yes, sir. Mother, here 's Mr. Scott. Come 
 in, sir. We are so glad to see you, and — *' 
 
 She stopped, and gazed inquiringly at the visitors 
 who followed. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 69 
 
 " I Ve brought some ifriends of Bobby to inquire 
 for him. Sir Kichard Brandon — Mrs. Frog." 
 
 'No, (j66 stood aside, and, with something like a 
 smile on his face, ceremoniously presented Wealth 
 to Poverty. 
 
 Wealth made a slightly confused bow to Poverty, 
 and Poverty, looking askance at Wealth, dropt a 
 mild courtesy. 
 
 "Veil now, I'm a Dutchman if it ain't the 
 hangel !" exclaimed a voice in the corner of the 
 small room, before either Wealth or Poverty could 
 utter a word. 
 
 " Oh I it 's my boy," exclaimed Di with delight, 
 forgetting or ignoring the poverty, dirt, and extremely 
 bad air, as she ran forward and took hold of Bobby's 
 hand. 
 
 It was a pre-eminently dirty hand, and formed a 
 remarkable contrast to the little hands that grasped it ! 
 
 The small street boy was, for the first time in his 
 life, bereft of speech ! When that faculty returned, 
 he remarked in language which was obscure to Di : — 
 
 "Veil, if this ain't a go!" 
 
 " What is a go ?" asked Di with innocent surprise. 
 
 Instead of answering, Bobby Frog burst into a fit 
 of laughter, but stopped rather suddenly with an 
 expression of pain. 
 
 " Oh ! 'old on ! I say. This won't do. Doctor 
 'e said I musn't larf, 'cause it shakes the leg too 
 
70 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 much. But, you know, wot's a cove to do ven a 
 hangel comes to him and axes sitch rum questions V 
 
 Again he laughed, and again stopped short in 
 pain. 
 
 ** I 'm so sorry ! Does it feel very painful ? You 
 can't think how constantly I Ve been thinking of you 
 since the accident; for it was all my fault. If I 
 hadn't jumped up in such a passion, the pony 
 wouldn't have run away, and you wouldn't have 
 been hurt. I 'm so very, very sorry, and I got dear 
 papa to bring me here to tell you so, and to see if we 
 could do anything to make you well." 
 
 Again Bobby was rendered speechless, but his 
 mind was active. 
 
 "Wot ! I ain't dreamin', am I ? 'As a hangel really 
 come to my bed-side all the vay from the Vest-end, 
 an' brought 'er dear pa' — vich means the guv'nor, I 
 fancy — all for to tell me — a kid whose life is spent 
 in 'movin' on' — that she's wery, wery, sorry I've 
 got my leg broke, an' that she 's bin an' done it, an' 
 she would like to know if she can do hanythink as '11 
 make me veil ! But it ain't true. It 's a big lie ! 
 I 'm dreamin', that 's all. I 've been took to hospital, 
 an' got d'lirious — that 's wot it is. I '11 try to sleep !" 
 
 With this end in view he shut his eyes, and 
 remained quite still for a few seconds, and when Di 
 looked at his pinched and pale face in this placid 
 condition, the tears would overflow their natural 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 71 
 
 boundary, and sobs would rise up in her pretty 
 throat, but she choked them back for fear of dis- 
 turbing her boy. 
 
 Presently the boy opened his eyes. 
 
 "Wot, are you there yet?" he asked. 
 
 " Oh yes. Did you think I was going away V 
 she replied, with a look of innocent surprise. "I 
 won't leave you now. I'll stay here and nurse 
 you, if papa will let me. I have slept once on a 
 shake-down, when I was forced by a storm to stay 
 all night at a juv'nile party. So if you Ve a corner 
 here, it will do nicely — " 
 
 " My dear child," interrupted her amazed father, 
 " you are talking nonsense. And — do keep a little 
 further from the bed. There may be — you know — 
 infection — " 
 
 " Oh ! you needn't fear infection here, sir," said 
 Mrs. Frog, somewhat sharply. "We are poor 
 enough, God knows, though I have seen better times, 
 but we keep ourselves pretty clean, though we can't 
 afford to spend much on soap when food is so dear, 
 and money so scarce — so very scarce !" 
 
 " Forgive me, my good woman," said Sir Eichard, 
 hastily, " I did not mean to offend, but circum- 
 stances would seem to favour the idea — of — of — '* 
 
 And here Wealth — although a bank director and 
 chairman of several boards, and capable of making a 
 neat, if weakly, speech on economic laws and the 
 
72 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 currency when occasion required — was dumb before 
 Poverty. Indeed, though he had often theorised 
 about that stricken creature, he had never before 
 fairly hunted her down, run her into her den, and 
 fairly looked her in the face. 
 
 " The fact is, Mrs. Frog," said Giles Scott, coming to 
 the rescue, " Sir Eichard is anxious to know some- 
 thing about your affairs — your family, you know, 
 and your means of — by the way, where is baby?" 
 he said, looking round the room. 
 
 " She 's gone lost," said Mrs. Frog. 
 
 "Lost?" repeated Giles, with a significant look. 
 
 " Ay, lost," repeated Mrs. Frog, with a look of 
 equal significance. 
 
 '* Bless me, how did you lose your child ? " asked 
 Sir Eichard, in some surprise. 
 
 "Oh! sir, that often happens to us poor folk. 
 We 're used to it," said Mrs. Frog, in a half bantering 
 half bitter tone. 
 
 Sir Eichard suddenly called to mind the fact — 
 which had not before impressed him, though he had 
 read and commented on it — that 11,835 children 
 under ten years of age had been lost that year (and 
 it was no exceptional year, as police reports will 
 show) in the streets of London, and that 23 of these 
 children were never found. 
 
 He now beheld, as he imagined, one of the losers 
 of the lost ones, and felt stricken. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 73 
 
 "Well now," said Giles to Mrs. Frog, "let's hear 
 how you get along. What does your husband do ?" 
 
 " He mostly does nothin' but drink. Sometimes 
 he sells little birds; sometimes he sells penny 
 watches or boot-laces in Cheapside, an' turns in a 
 little that way, but it all goes to the grog-shop ; none 
 of it comes here. Then he has a mill now an' 
 again — " 
 
 "A mill?" said Sir Eichard,— "is it a snuff or 
 flour—" 
 
 " He 's a professional pugilist," explained Giles. 
 
 " An' he 's employed at a music-hall," continued 
 Mrs. Frog, "to call out the songs an' keep order. 
 An' Bobby always used to pick a few coppers by 
 runnin' messages, sellin' matches, and odd jobs. But 
 he 's knocked over now." 
 
 " And yourself. How do you add to the general 
 fund ? " asked Sir Eichard, becoming interested in the 
 household m^anagement of Poverty. 
 
 " Well, I char a bit an' wash a bit, sir, when I 'm 
 well enough — which ain't often. An' sometimes I 
 lights the Jews' fires for 'em, an' clean up their 
 'earths on Saturdays — w'ich is their Sundays, sir. 
 But Hetty works like a horse. It 's she as keeps us 
 from the work' us, sir. She 's got employment at a 
 slop shop, and by workin' 'ard all day manages to 
 make about one shillin' a week." 
 
 " I beg your pardon — how much ?" 
 
74 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " One shillin', sir." 
 
 " Ah, you mean one shilling a day, I suppose." 
 
 " No, sir, I mean one shillin' a week, Mr. Scott 
 there knows that I 'm tellin' what 's true." 
 
 Giles nodded, and Sir Richard said, '' ha — a-hem " 
 having nothing more lucid to remark on such an 
 amazing financial problem as was here set before 
 him. " But," continued Mrs. Frog, " poor Hetty has 
 had a sad disappointment this week — " 
 
 " Oh ! mother," interrupted Hetty, " don't trouble 
 the gentleman with that. Perhaps he wouldn't un- 
 derstand it, for of course he hasn't heard about all 
 the outs and ins of slop work." 
 
 " Pardon me, my good girl," said Sir Richard, " I 
 have not, as you truly remark, studied the details of 
 slop-work minutely, but my mind is not unaccus- 
 tomed to financial matters. Pray let me hear about 
 this—" 
 
 A savage growling, something between a mastiff 
 and a man, outside the door, here interrupted the 
 visitor, and a hand was heard fumbling about the 
 latch. As the hand seemed to lack skill to open 
 the door the foot considerately took the duty in 
 hand and burst it open, whereupon the huge frame 
 of Ned Frog stumbled into the room and fell pro- 
 strate at the feet of Sir Richard, who rose hastily 
 and stepped back. 
 
 The pugilist sprang up, doubled his ever ready 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 75 
 
 lists, and, glaring at the knight, asked savagely : — 
 ^^Whothe— " 
 
 He was checked in the utterance of a ferocious 
 oath, for at that moment he encountered the grave 
 eye of No. 666. 
 
 Eelaxing his fists he thrust them into his coat 
 pockets, and, with a subdued air, staggered out of 
 the house. 
 
 " My 'usband, sir," said Mrs. Frog, in answer to her 
 visitor's inquiring glance. 
 
 " Oh ! is that his usual mode of returning home V* 
 
 "No, sir," answered Bobby from his corner, for 
 he was beginning to be amused by the succession 
 of surprises which Wealth was receiving, " 'e don't 
 always come in so. Sometimes 'e sends 'is 'ead first 
 an' the feet come afterwards. In any case the fur- 
 niture 's apt to sufi'er, not to mention the in'abi- 
 tants, but you 've saved us to-night, sir, or, raither, 
 Mr. Scott 'as saved both us an' you." 
 
 Poor little Di, who had been terribly frightened, 
 clung closer to her father's arm on hearing this. 
 
 "Perhaps," said Sir Eichard, "it would be as 
 well that we should go, in case Mr. Frog should 
 return." 
 
 He was about to say good-bye when Di checked 
 him, and, despite her fears, urged a short delay. 
 
 " We haven't heard, you know, about the slops yet. 
 Do stop just one minute, dear papa. I wonder if 
 
7G DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 it 's like the beef-tea nurse makes for me when I 'm 
 ill." 
 
 " It 's not that kind of slops, darling, but ready- 
 made clothing to which reference is made. But you 
 are right. Let us hear about it, Miss Hetty." 
 
 The idea of " Miss " being applied to Hetty and 
 slops compared to beef-tea proved almost too much 
 for the broken-legged boy in the corner, but he put 
 strong constraint on himself and listened. 
 
 " Indeed, sir, I do not complain," said Hetty, quite 
 distressed at being thus forcibly dragged into notice. 
 *' I am thankful for what has been sent — indeed I 
 am — only it was a great disappointment, particularly 
 at this time, when we so much needed all we could 
 make amongst us." 
 
 She stopped and had difficulty in restraining tears. 
 
 " Go on, Hetty," said her mother, " and don't be 
 afraid. Eless you, he's not goin' to report what 
 you say." 
 
 "I know that, mother. Well, sir, this was the 
 way on it. They sometimes — " 
 
 "Excuse me — who are 'they'?" 
 
 " I beg pardon, sir, I — I 'd rather not tell." 
 
 "Very well. I respect your feelings, my girl. 
 Some slop-making firm, I suppose. Go on." 
 
 " Yes, sir. Well — they sometimes gives me extra 
 work to do at home. It do come pretty hard on me 
 after goin' through the regular day's work, from early 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 77 
 
 mornin' till night, but then, you see, it brings in a 
 little more money — and, I 'm strong, thank God." 
 
 Sir Eichard looked at Hetty's thin and colourless 
 though pretty face, and thought it possible that she 
 might be stronger with advantage. 
 
 " Of late," continued the girl, " I We bin havin' 
 extra work in this way, and last week I got twelve 
 children's ulsters to make up. This job when 
 finished would bring me six and sixpence." 
 
 "How much?" 
 
 '' Six and sixpence, sir." 
 
 '' For the whole twelve ?" asked Sir Eichard. 
 
 " Yes, sir — that was sixpence halfpenny for makin' 
 up each ulster. It 's not much, sir." 
 
 '^ No," murmured Wealth in an absent manner, 
 " sixpence halfpenny is not much." 
 
 " But. when I took them back," continued Hetty — 
 and here the tears became again obstreperous and 
 difficult to restrain — "the master said he'd forgot 
 to tell me that this order was for the colonies, that 
 he had taken it at a very low price, and that he 
 could only give me three shillin's for the job. Of — 
 of course three shillin's is better than nothin', but 
 after workin' hard for such a long long time an' 
 expectin' six, it was — " 
 
 Here the tears refused to be pent up any longer, 
 and the poor girl quietly bending forward hid her 
 face in her hand. 
 
78 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Come, I think we will go now," said Sir Eichard, 
 rising hastily. "Good-night, Mrs. Frog, I shall 
 probably see you again — at least — you shall hear 
 from me. Now, Di — say good-night to your boy." 
 
 In a few minutes Sir Eichard stood outside, taking 
 in deep draughts of the comparatively fresher air of 
 the court. 
 
 " The old screw," growled Bobby, when the door 
 was shut. " 'E didn't leave us so much as a single 
 bob — not even a brown, though 'e pretends that six 
 of 'em ain't much." 
 
 '* Don't be hard on him, Bobby," said Hetty, drying 
 her eyes ; " he spoke very kind, you know, an' p'raps 
 he means to help us afterwards." 
 
 " Spoke kind," retorted the indignant boy ; " I tell 
 'ee wot, Hetty, you 're far too soft an' forgivin*. I 
 s'pose that 's wot they teaches you in Sunday-school 
 at George Yard — eh ? Vill speakin' kind feed us, 
 vill it clothe us, vill it pay for our lodgin's ?" 
 
 The door opened at that moment, and No. Q6Q 
 re-entered. 
 
 " The gentleman sent me back to give you this, 
 Mrs. Frog (laying a sovereign on the rickety table). 
 He said he didn't like to offer it to you himself 
 for fear of hurting your feelings, but I told him 
 he needn't be afraid on that score ! Was I right. 
 Missis ? Look well after it, now, an' see that Ned 
 don't get his fingers on it." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 79 
 
 Giles left the room, and Mrs. Frog, taking up the 
 piece of gold, fondled it for some time in her thin 
 fingers, as though she wished to make quite sure of 
 its reality. Then wrapping it carefully in a piece 
 of old newspaper, she thrust it into her bosom. 
 
 Bobby gazed at her in silence up to this point, 
 and then turned his face to the wall. He did not 
 speak, but we cannot say that he did not pray, for, 
 mentally he said, " I beg your parding, old genl'm'nj 
 an' I on'y pray that a lot of fellers like you may 
 come 'ere sometimes to 'urt our feelin's in that vay 1" 
 
 At that moment Hetty bent over the bed, and, 
 softly kissing her brother's dirty face, whispered, 
 " Yes, Bobby, that 's what they teach me in Sunday- 
 school at George Yard." 
 
 Thereafter Wealth drove home in a cab, and 
 Poverty went to bed in her rags. 
 
80 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 BrCYCLINQ AND ITS OCCASIONAL RESULTS. 
 
 It is pleasant to turn from the smoke and turmoil 
 of the city to the fresh air and quiet of the country. 
 
 To the man who spends most of his time in the heart 
 of London, going into the country — even for a short 
 distance — is like passing into the fields of Elysium. 
 This was, at all events, the opinion of Stephen 
 Welland; and Stephen must have been a good 
 judge, for he tried the change frequently, being ex- 
 ceedingly fond of bicycling, and occasionally taking 
 what he termed long spins on that remarkable 
 instrument. 
 
 One morning, early in the summer-time, young 
 Welland (he was only eighteen) mounted his iron 
 horse in the neighbourhood of Kensington, and glided 
 away at a leisurely pace through the crowded streets. 
 Arrived in the suburbs of London he got up steam, to 
 use his own phrase, and went at a rapid pace until 
 he met a " chum," by appointment. This chum was 
 also mounted on a bicycle, and was none other than 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 81 
 
 our friend Samuel Twitter, Junior — known at home 
 as Sammy, and by his companions as Sam. 
 
 "Isn't it a glorious day, Sam?'' said Welland as 
 he rode up and sprang off his steed. 
 
 " Magnificent ! " answered his friend, also dis- 
 mounting and shaking hands. " Why, Stephen, what 
 an enormous machine you ride ! " 
 
 "Yes, it's pretty high — 48 inches. My legs are 
 long, you see. Well, where are we to run to-day ? " 
 
 " Wherever you like," said Sam, " only let it be a 
 short run, not more than forty miles, for I 've got an 
 appointment this afternoon with my old dad which 
 I can't get off." 
 
 "That'll do very well," said Welland, "so we can 
 go round by — " 
 
 Here he described a route by country road and 
 village, which we pretend not to remember. It is 
 sufficient to know that it represented the required 
 " short " run of forty miles — such is the estimate of 
 distance by the youth of the present day ! 
 
 " Now then, off w^e go," said Welland, giving his 
 wheel — he quite ignored the existence of the little 
 thing at the back — a shove, putting his left foot on 
 the treddle, and flinging his right leg gracefully 
 over. 
 
 Young Twitter followed suit, but Sammy was 
 neither expert nor graceful. True, he could ride 
 easily, and travel long distances, but he could only 
 
 F 
 
82 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 mount by means of the somewhat clumsy process of 
 hopping behind for several yards. 
 
 Once up, however, he went swiftly enough along- 
 side his tall companion, and the two friends thereafter 
 kept abreast. 
 
 " Oh ! isn't it a charming sensation to have the cool 
 air fanning one's cheeks, and feel the soft tremor of 
 the wheel, and see the trees and houses flow past at 
 such a pace ? It is the likest thing to flying I ever 
 felt," said Welland, as they descended a slight incline 
 at, probably, fifteen miles an hour. 
 
 "It is delightful," replied Sam, " but, I say, we'd 
 better put on the brakes here a bit. It gets much 
 steeper further down." 
 
 Instead of applying the brake, however, young 
 Welland, in the exuberance of his joy, threw his 
 long legs over the handles, and went down the slope 
 at railway speed, ready, as he remarked, for a jump 
 if anything should go wrong. 
 
 Twitter was by no means as bold as his friend, 
 but, being ashamed to show the white feather, he 
 quietly threw his shorter legs over the handles, and 
 thus the two, perched — from a fore-and-aft point of 
 view — upon nothing, went in triumph to the bottom 
 of the hill. 
 
 A long stretch of smooth level road now lay 
 before them. It required the merest touch on the 
 treddles to send them skimminor along like skaters 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 83 
 
 on smooth ice, or swallows flying low. Like gentle 
 ghosts they fleeted along with little more than a 
 miiflled sound, for their axles turned in ball-sockets 
 and their warning bells were silent save when 
 touched. 
 
 Onward they went with untiring energy, mile 
 after mile, passing everything on the way — pedes- 
 trians, equestrians, carts and gigs ; driving over the 
 level ground with easy force, taking the hills with a 
 rush to keep up the pace, and descending on the 
 other sides at what Welland styled a " lightning run." 
 
 Now they were skimming along a road which 
 skirted the margin of a canal, the one with hands 
 in his coat pockets, the other with his arms crossed, 
 and both steering with their feet; now passing 
 under a railway-arch, and giving a wild shout, 
 partly to rouse the slumbering echoes that lodged 
 there, and partly to rouse the spirit of a small 
 dog which chanced to be passing under it — in 
 both cases successfully 1 Anon they were gliding 
 over a piece of exposed ground on which the sun 
 beat with intense light, causing their shadows to 
 race along with them. Again they were down in a 
 hollow, gliding under a row of trees, where they 
 shut off a little of the steam and removed their caps, 
 the better to enjoy the grateful shade. Soon they 
 were out in the sunshine again, the spokes of their 
 wheels invisible, as they topped a small eminence 
 
84 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 from the summit of which they took in one com- 
 prehensive view of undulating lands, with villages 
 scattered all round, farm-houses here and there, green 
 fields and flowering meadows, traversed by rivulet or 
 canal, with cattle, sheep, and horses gazing at them 
 in silent or startled wonder, and birds twittering 
 welcome from the trees and hedge-rows everywhere. 
 
 Now they were crossing a bridge and nearing a 
 small town where they had to put hands to the 
 handles again and steer with precaution, for little 
 dogs had a tendency to bolt out at them from un- 
 expected corners, and poultry is prone to lose its 
 heads and rush into the very jaws of danger, in a 
 cackling effort to avoid it. Stray kittens and pigs, 
 too, exhibited obstinate tendencies, and only gave in 
 when it was nearly too late for repentance. Little 
 children, also, became sources of danger, standing 
 in the middle of roads until, perceiving a possible 
 catastrophe, they dashed wildly aside — always to the 
 very side on which the riders had resolved to pass, 
 — and escaped by absolute miracle ! 
 
 Presently they came to a steep hill. It was not 
 steep enough to necessitate dismounting, but it ren- 
 dered a rush inadvisable. They therefore worked up 
 slowly, and, on gaining the top, got off to breathe 
 and rest a while. 
 
 " That was a glorious run, wasn't it, Sam ? " said 
 Welland, flicking the dust from his knees with 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 85 
 
 his handkerchief. " What d' ye say to a glass of 
 beer?" 
 
 " Can't do it, Stephen, I 'm Blue Eibbon." 
 
 " Oh ! nonsense. Why not do as I do — drink in 
 moderation ? " 
 
 " Well, I didn't think much about it when I put 
 it on,'' said Sam, who was a very sensitive, and not 
 very strong-minded youth ; " the rest of us did it, 
 you know, by father's advice, and I joined because 
 they did." 
 
 Welland laughed rather sarcastically at this, but 
 made no rejoinder, and Sam, who could not stand 
 being laughed at, said — 
 
 "Well, come, I'll go in for one glass. I'll be 
 my own doctor, and prescribe it medicinally! 
 Besides, it 's an exceptional occasion this, for it is 
 awfully hot." 
 
 " It 's about the best run I ever had in the same 
 space of time," said Welland on quitting the beer 
 shop. 
 
 *' Eirst-rate," returned Sam, " I wish my old dad 
 could ride with us. He would enjoy it so." 
 
 " Couldn't we bring him out on a horse ? He 
 could ride that, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Kever saw him on a horse but once," said Sam, 
 " and that time he fell off. But it 's worth suggest- 
 ing to him." 
 
 "Better if he got a tricycle," said Welland. 
 
86 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " I don't think that would do, for he 's too old for 
 long rides, and too short-winded. N'ow, Stephen, 
 I 'm not going to run down this hill. We must 
 take it easy, for it 's far too steep." 
 
 " ISTonsense, man, it *s nothing to speak of; see, I '11 
 go first and show you the way." 
 
 He gave the treadle a thrust that sent him off 
 like an arrow from a bow. 
 
 " Stay ! there 's a caravan or something at the 
 bottom — wild beasts' show, I think ! Stop ! hold on !" 
 
 But Sam Twitter shouted in vain. Welland's 
 was a joyous spirit, apt to run away with him. He 
 placed his legs over the handles for security, and 
 allowed the machine to run. It gathered speed as 
 it went, for the hill became steeper, insomuch that 
 the rider once or twice felt the hind- wheel rise, and 
 had to lean well back to keep it on the ground. 
 The pace began to exceed even Welland's idea of 
 pleasure, but now it was too late to use the brake, 
 for well did he know that on such a slope and going 
 at such a pace the slightest check on the front wheel 
 would send him over. He did not feel alarmed 
 however, for he was now near the bottom of the 
 hill, and half a minute more would send him in 
 safety on the level road at the foot. 
 
 But just at the foot there was a sharpish turn in 
 the road, and Welland looked at it earnestly. At 
 an ordinary pace such a turn could have been easily 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 87 
 
 taken, but at such a rate as he had by that time 
 attained, he felt it would require a tremendous lean 
 over to accomplish it. Still he lost no confidence, 
 for he was an athlete by practice if not by profes- 
 sion, and he gathered up his energies for the 
 moment of action. 
 
 The people of the caravan — whoever they were — 
 had seen him coming, and, beginning to realise his 
 danger to some extent, had hastily cleared the road 
 to let him pass. 
 
 Welland considered the rate of speed ; felt, rather 
 than calculated, the angle of inclination; leaned 
 over boldly until the tire almost slipped sideways 
 on the road, and came rushing round with a magni- 
 ficent sweep, when, horrible sight ! a slight ridge of 
 what is called road-metal crossed the entire road 
 from side to side ! A drain or water pipe had recently 
 been repaired, and the new ridge had not yet been 
 worn down by traffic. There was no time for 
 thought or change of action. Another moment 
 and the wheel was upon it, the crash came, and the 
 rider went off with such force that he was shot well 
 in advance of the machine, as it went with tremen- 
 dous violence into the ditch. If Welland's feet had 
 been on the treadles he must have turned a complete 
 somersault. As it was he alighted on his feet, 
 but came to the ground with such force that he 
 failed to save himself. One frantic effort he made 
 
88 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 and then went down headlong and rolled over on 
 his back in a state of insensibility. 
 
 When Sam Twitter came to the bottom of the 
 hill with the brake well applied he was able to 
 check himself in time to escape the danger, and ran 
 to where his friend lay. 
 
 For a few minutes the unfortunate youth lay as if 
 he had been dead. Then his blood resumed its 
 flow, and when the eyes opened he found Sam kneel- 
 ing on one side of him with a smelling bottle which 
 some lady had lent him, and a kindly-faced elderly 
 man with an iron-grey beard kneeling on the other 
 side and holding a cup of water to his lips. 
 
 " That 's right, Stephen, look up," said Sam, who 
 was terribly frightened, " you 're not much hurt, are 
 you?" 
 
 "Hurt, old fellow, eh?" sighed Stephen, ''why 
 should I be hurt ? Where am I ? What has hap- 
 pened ? " 
 
 " Take a sip, my young friend, it will revive you," 
 said the man with the kindly face. '' You have had 
 a narrow escape, but God has mercifully spared you. 
 Try to move now; gently — we must see that no 
 bones have been broken before allowing you to 
 rise." 
 
 By this time Welland had completely recovered, 
 and was anxious to rise ; all the more that a crowd 
 of children surrounded him, among whom he ob- 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 89 
 
 served several ladies and gentlemen, but he lay still 
 until the kindly stranger had felt him all over and 
 come to the conclusion that no serious damage had 
 been done. 
 
 " Oh ! I 'm all right, thank you," said the youth 
 on rising, and affecting to move as though nothing 
 had happened, but he was constrained to catch hold 
 of the stranger rather suddenly, and sat down on the 
 grass by the road-side. 
 
 " I do believe I Ve got a shake after all," he said 
 with a perplexed smile and sigh. " But," he added, 
 looking round with an attempt at gaiety, " I suspect 
 my poor bicycle has got a worse shake. Do look 
 after it, Sam, and see how it is." 
 
 Twitter soon returned with a crestfallen expres- 
 sion. "It's done for, Stephen. I'm sorry to say 
 the whole concern seems to be mashed up into a 
 kind of wire-fencing ! " 
 
 " Is it past mending, Sam ? " 
 
 " Past mending by any ordinary blacksmith, cer- 
 tainly. No one but the maker can doctor it, and I 
 should think it would take him a fortnight at 
 least." 
 
 " What is to be done ? " said Stephen, with some 
 of his companion's regret of tone. " What a fool I 
 was to take such a hill — spoilt such a glorious day 
 too — for you as well as myself, Sam. I'm mry 
 sorry, but that won't mend matters." 
 
90 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 '•' Are you far from home, gentlemen ? " asked the 
 man with the iron-grey beard, who had listened to 
 the conversation with a look of sympathy. 
 
 " Ay, much too far to walk," said Welland. " D' you 
 happen to know how far off the nearest railway sta- 
 tion is ? '' 
 
 "Three miles," answered the stranger, "and in your 
 condition you are quite unfit to walk that distance." 
 
 " I 'm not so sure of that," replied the youth, with 
 a pitiful look. " I think I 'm game for three miles, 
 if I liad nothing to carry but myself, but I can't 
 leave my bicycle in the ditch, you know ! " 
 
 " Of course you can't," rejoined the stranger in a 
 cheery tone, " and I think we can help you in this 
 difficulty. I am a London City Missionary. My 
 name is John Seaward. We have, as you see, 
 brought out a number of our Sunday-school 
 children, to give them a sight of God's beautiful 
 earth; poor things, they've been used to bricks, 
 mortar, and stone all their lives hitherto. Now, if 
 you choose to spend the remainder of the day with 
 us, we will be happy to give you and the injured 
 bicycle a place in our vans till we reach a cabstand 
 or a railway station. What say you ? It will give 
 much pleasure to me and the teachers." 
 
 Welland glanced at his friend. " You see, Sam, 
 there's no help for it, old boy. You'll have to 
 return alone." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 91 
 
 " Unless your friend will also join us," said the 
 missionary. 
 
 "You are very kind," said Sam, "but I cannot 
 stay, as I have an engagement which must be kept. 
 Never mind, Stephen. I'll just complete the trip 
 alone, and comfort myself with the assurance that 
 I leave you in good hands. So, good-bye, old boy." 
 
 " Good-bye, Twitter," said Stephen, grasping his 
 friend's hand. 
 
 "Twitter," repeated the missionary, "I heard 
 your friend call you Sam just now. Excuse my 
 asking — are you related to Samuel Twitter of 
 Twitter, Slime, and Co., in the city ? " 
 
 " I 'm his eldest son," said Sam. 
 
 "Then I have much pleasure in making your 
 acquaintance," returned the other, extending his 
 hand, " for although I have never met your father, 
 I know your mother w^ell. She is one of the best 
 and most regular teachers in our Sunday-schools. Is 
 she not, Hetty?" he said, turning to a sweet-faced 
 girl who stood near him. 
 
 " Indeed she is, I was her pupil for some years, 
 and now I teach one of her old classes," replied the 
 girl. 
 
 "I work in the neighbourhood of Whitechapel, 
 sir," continued the missionary, "and most of the 
 children here attend the Institution in George 
 Yard." 
 
92 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Well, I shall tell my mother of this unexpected 
 meeting," said Sam, as he remounted his bicycle. 
 "Good-bye, Stephen. Don't romp too much with 
 the children !" 
 
 " Adieu, Sam, and don't break your neck on the 
 bicycle." 
 
 In a few minutes Sara Twitter and his bicycle 
 were out of sight. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 93 
 
 CHAPTEK VIIL 
 
 A GREAT AND MEMORABLE DAY. 
 
 When young Stephen Welland was conducted by 
 John Seaward the missionary into a large field 
 dotted with trees, close to where his accident had 
 happened, he found that the children and their 
 guardians were busily engaged in making arrange- 
 ments for the spending of an enjoyable day. 
 
 And then he also found that this was not a mere 
 monster excursion of ordinary Sunday-schools, but 
 one of exceedingly poor children, whose garments, 
 faces, and general condition, told too surely that 
 they belonged to the lowest grade in the social scale. 
 
 "Yes," said the missionary, in reply to some 
 question from Welland, "the agency at George 
 Yard, to which I have referred, has a wide-embrac- 
 ing influence — though but a small lump of leaven 
 when compared with the mass of corruption around 
 it. This is a flock of the ragged and utterly forlorn, 
 to many of whom green fields and fresh air are 
 absolutely new, but we have other flocks besides 
 these." 
 
94 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Indeed ! Well, now I look at them more care- 
 fully, I see that their garments do speak of squalid 
 poverty. I have never before seen such a ragged 
 crew, though I have sometimes encountered indi- 
 viduals of the class on the streets." 
 
 "Hm!" coughed the missionary with a peculiar 
 smile. *'They are not so ragged as they were, 
 Neither are they as ragged as they will be in an 
 hour or two." 
 
 " What do you mean ?" 
 
 " I mean that these very rough little ones have 
 to receive peculiar treatment before we can give 
 them such an outing as they are having to-da}'-. 
 As you see, swings and see-saws have been put up 
 here, toys are now being distributed, and a plentiful 
 feast will ere long be forthcoming, through the 
 kindness of a Christian gentleman whose heart the 
 Lord has inclined to ' consider the poor ;' but before 
 we could venture to move the little band, much of 
 their ragged clothing had to be stitched up to pre- 
 vent it falling off on the journey, and we had to 
 make them move carefully on their way to the 
 train — for vans have brought us only part of the 
 way. Now that they are here, our minds are some- 
 what relieved, but I suspect that the effect of games 
 and romping will undo much of our handiwork. 
 Come, let us watch them." 
 
 The youth and the missionary advanced towards 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 95 
 
 a group of the children, whose souls, for the time 
 being, were steeped in a see-saw. This instrument 
 of delight consisted of a strong plank balanced on 
 the trunk of a noble tree which had been recently 
 felled, with many others, to thin the woods of the 
 philanthropist's park. It was an enormous see-saw ! 
 such as the ragged creatures had never before seen 
 — perhaps never conceived of, their experiences in 
 such joys having been hitherto confined to small 
 bits of broken plank placed over empty beer barrels, 
 or back-yard fences. No fewer than eight children 
 were able to find accommodation on it at one and 
 the same time, besides one of the bigger boys to 
 straddle in the centre ; and it required the utmost 
 vigilance on the part of a young man teacher at one 
 end of the machine, and Hetty Frog at the other 
 end, to prevent the little ragamufiins at either ex- 
 tremity from being forced off. 
 
 Already the missionary's anticipation in regard 
 to the undoing of their labour had begun to be 
 verified. There were at least four of the eight 
 whose nether garments had succumbed to the effort 
 made in mounting the plank, and various patches 
 of flesh-colour revealed the fact that the poor little 
 wearers were innocent of flannels. But it was 
 summer-time, and the fact had little effect either on 
 wearers or spectators. The missionary, however, 
 was not so absorbed in the present but that lie felt 
 
96 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 impelled to remark to Welland : "That is their 
 winter as well as summer clothing." 
 
 The bicyclist said nothing in reply, but the 
 remark was not lost upon him. 
 
 " Now, Dick Swiller," said the young man teacher, 
 " I see what you 're up to. You mustn't do it !" 
 
 Eichard S wilier, who was a particularly rugged 
 as well as ragged boy of about thirteen, not being in 
 the habit of taking advice, did do it. That is, he 
 sent his end of the plank up with such violence 
 that the other end came to the ground with a shock 
 which caused those who sat there to gasp, while it 
 all but unseated most of those who were on the 
 higher end. Indeed one very small and pinched 
 but intelligent little boy, named by his companions 
 Blobby, who looked as if Time, through the influ- 
 ence of privation and suffering, had been dwindling 
 instead of developing him, — actually did come off 
 with a cry of alarm, which, however, changed into 
 a laugh of glee when he found himself in his 
 teacher's arms, instead of lying "busted on the 
 ground," as he afterwards expressed it when relat- 
 ing the incident to an admiring audience of fellow 
 ragamuffins in the slums of Spitalfields. 
 
 Blobby was immediately restored to his lost 
 position, and Swiller was degraded, besides being 
 made to stand behind a large tree for a quarter of an 
 hour in forced inaction, so that he might have time 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 97 
 
 to meditate on the evil consequences of disobe- 
 dience. 
 
 " Take care, Eobin," said Hetty, to a very small 
 but astonishingly energetic fellow, at her end of the 
 see-saw, who was impressed with the notion that he 
 was doing good service by wriggling his own body 
 up and down, " if you go on so, you '11 push Lilly 
 Snow off." 
 
 Eobin, unlike Dick, was obedient. He ceased his 
 efforts, and thereby saved the last button which 
 held his much too small waistcoat across his bare 
 bosom. 
 
 "What a sweet face the child she calls Lilly 
 Snow has — if it were only clean," observed Welland. 
 " A little soap and water with a hair brush would 
 make her quite beautiful." 
 
 "Yes, she is very pretty," said the missionary, 
 and the kindly smile with which he had been 
 watching the fun vanished, as he added in a sorrow- 
 ful voice, " her case is a very sad one, dear child. 
 Her mother is a poor but deserving woman who 
 earns a little now and then by tailoring, but she has 
 been crushed for years by a wicked and drunken 
 husband who has at last deserted her. We know 
 not where he is, perhaps dead. Five times has her 
 home been broken up by him, and many a time has 
 she with her little one been obliged to sit on door- 
 steps all night, when homeless. Little Lilly attends 
 
98 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 our Sunday-school regularly, and Hetty is her 
 teacher. It is not long since Hetty herself was a 
 scholar, and I know that she is very anxious to lead 
 Lilly to the Lord. The sufferings and sorrows to 
 which this poor child has been exposed have told 
 upon her severely, and I fear that her health will 
 give way. A day in the country like this may do 
 her good perhaps." 
 
 As the missionary spoke little Lilly threw up her 
 arms and uttered a cry of alarm. Eobin, although 
 obedient, was short of memory, and his energetic 
 spirit being too strong for his excitable little frame, 
 he had recommenced his wriggling, with the effect 
 of bursting the last button off his waistcoat and 
 thrusting Lilly off the plank. She was received, 
 however, on Hetty's breast, who fell with her to the 
 ground. 
 
 "Not hurt, Hetty!" exclaimed the missionary, 
 running forward to help the girl up. 
 
 " Oh ! no, sir," replied Hetty with a short laugh, 
 as she rose and placed Lilly on a safer part of the 
 see-saw. 
 
 "Come here, Hetty," said John Seaward, "and 
 rest a while. You have done enough just now ; let 
 some one else take your place." 
 
 After repairing the buttonless waistcoat with a 
 pin and giving its owner a caution, Hetty went and 
 sat down on the grass beside the missionary. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 99 
 
 "How is Bobby ?" asked the latter, "I have not 
 found a moment to speak to you till now." 
 
 "Thank you, sir, he's better; much better. I 
 fear he will be well too soon." 
 
 " How so ? That 's a strange remark, my girl." 
 
 "It may seem strange, sir, but — you know — 
 father 's very fond of Bobby." 
 
 "Well, Hetty, that's not a bad sign of your 
 father." 
 
 " Oh but, sir, father sits at his bed-side when he 's 
 sober, an' has such long talks with him about 
 robberies and burglaries, and presses him very hard 
 to agree to go out with him when he's well. I 
 can't bear to hear it, for dear Bobby seems to listen 
 to what he says, though sometimes he refuses, and 
 defies him to do his worst, especially when he — " 
 
 " Stay, dear girl. It is very very sad, but don't 
 tell me anything more about your father. Tell it all 
 to Jesus, Hetty. He not only sympathises with, but 
 is able to save — even to the uttermost." 
 
 " Yes, thank God for that ' uttermost,' " said the 
 poor girl, clasping her hands quickly together. " Oh, 
 I understood that when He saved me, and I will 
 trust to it now." 
 
 " And the gentleman who called on you, — has he 
 been again?" asked the missionary. 
 
 " No, sir, he has only come once, but he has sent 
 his butler three or four times with some money for us. 
 
100 DUSTY DIAMONDS: 
 
 and always with the message that it is from Miss 
 Diana, to be dividec'' between Bobby and me. 
 Unfortunately father chanced to be at home the 
 first time he came and got it all, so we got none of 
 it. But he was out the other times. The butler is 
 an oldish man, and a very strange one. He went 
 about our court crying." 
 
 "Crying! Hetty, that's a curious condition for 
 an oldish butler to be in." 
 
 " Oh, of course I don't mean cryin* out like a baby," 
 said Hetty, looking down with a modest smile, " but 
 I saw tears in his eyes, and sometimes they got on 
 his cheeks. I can't think what 's the matter with 
 him." 
 
 Whatever Mr. Seaward thought on this point he 
 said nothing, but asked if Bobby was able to go out. 
 
 Oh yes, he was quite able to walk about now 
 with a little help, Hetty said, and she had taken 
 several walks with him and tried to get him to 
 speak about his soul, but he only laughed at that, 
 and said he had too much trouble with his body to 
 think about his soul — there was time enough for 
 that! 
 
 They were interrupted at this point by a merry 
 shout of glee, and, looking up, found that young 
 Welland had mounted the see-saw, taken Lilly Snow 
 in front of him, had Dick Swiller reinstated to 
 counterbalance his extra weight, and was enjoying 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 101 
 
 himself in a most hilarious manner among the 
 fluttering rags. Assuredly, the fluttering rags did 
 not enjoy themselves a whit less hilariously than 
 he. 
 
 In this condition he was found by the owner of 
 the grounds, George Brisbane, Esq., of Lively Hall, 
 who, accompanied by his wife, and a tall, dignified 
 friend with a little girl, approached the see-saw. 
 
 " I am glad you enjoy yourself so much, my young 
 friend," he said to Welland ; " to which of the ragged 
 schools may you belong ?'* 
 
 In much confusion — for he was rather shy — 
 Welland made several abortive efforts to check the 
 see-saw, which efforts Dick Swiller resisted to the 
 uttermost, to the intense amusement of a little girl 
 w^ho held Mrs. Brisbane's hand. At last he suc- 
 ceeded in arresting it and leaped off. 
 
 " I beg pardon," he said, taking off his cap to the 
 lady as he advanced, "for intruding uninvited 
 on—" 
 
 " Pray don't speak of intrusion," interrupted Mr. 
 Brisbane, extending his hand ; " if you are here as 
 Mr. Seaward's friend you are a welcome guest. 
 Your only intrusion was among the little ones, but 
 as they seem not to resent it neither do I." 
 
 Welland grasped the proffered hand. "Thank 
 you very much," he returned, " but I can scarcely 
 lay claim to Mr. Seaward's friendship. The fact is. 
 
102 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 I am here in consequence of an accident to my 
 bicyle." 
 
 " Oh ! then you are one of the poor unfortunates 
 after all," said the host. "Come, you are doubly 
 welcome. Not hurt much, I hope. No? That's 
 all right. But don't let me keep you from your 
 amusements. Eemember, we shall expect you at 
 the feast on the lawn. You see, Sir Eichard," he 
 added, turning to his dignified friend, " when we go 
 in for this sort of thing we don't do it by halves. 
 To have any lasting effect, it must make a deep 
 impression. So we have got up all sorts of amuse- 
 ments, as you observe, and shall have no fewer than 
 two good feeds. Come, let us visit some other — 
 Why, what are you gazing at so intently ?" 
 
 He might well ask the question, for Sir Eichard 
 Brandon had just observed Hetty Frog, and she, un- 
 accustomed to such marked attention, was gazing in 
 perplexed confusion on the ground. At the same 
 time little Di, having caught sight of her, quitted 
 Mrs. Brisbane, ran towards her with a delighted 
 scream, and clasping her hand in both of hers, pro- 
 claimed her the sister of '' my boy '' ! 
 
 Hetty's was not the nature to refuse such affection. 
 Though among the poorest of the poor, and clothed 
 in the shabbiest and most patchy of garments 
 (which in her case, however, were neat, clean and 
 well mended), she was rich in a loving disposition ; 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 103 
 
 SO that, forgetting herself and the presence of others, 
 she stooped and folded the little girl in her arms. 
 And, when the soft brown hair and pale pretty face 
 of Poverty were thus seen as it were co-mingling 
 with the golden locks and rosy cheeks of Wealth, 
 even Sir Eichard was forced to admit to himself that 
 it was not after all a very outrageous piece of impro- 
 priety ! 
 
 " Oh ! I 'm so glad to hear that he 's much better, 
 and been out too ! I would have come to see him 
 again long long ago, but p — " 
 
 She checked herself, for Mrs. Screwbury had care- 
 fully explained to her that no good girl ever said 
 anything against her parents ; and little Di had 
 swallowed the lesson, for, when not led by passion, 
 she was extremely teachable. 
 
 " And oh ! " she continued, opening her great blue 
 lakelets to their widest state of solemnity, "you 
 haven't the smallest bit of notion how I have 
 dreamt about my boy — and my policeman too ! I 
 never can get over the feeling that they might 
 both have been killed, and if they had, you know, it 
 would have been me that did it; only think ! I would 
 have — been — a murderer! P'raps they'd have 
 hanged me !'* 
 
 " But they weren't killed, dear," said Hetty, unable 
 to restrain a smile at the awful solemnity of the 
 child, and the terrible fate referred to. 
 
104 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " No — I 'm so glad, but I can't get over it," con- 
 tinued Di, while those near to her stood quietly by 
 unable to avoid overhearing, even if they had wished 
 to do so. "And they do such strange things in my 
 dreams," continued Di, " you can't think. Only last 
 night I was in our basket-cart — the dream-one, you 
 know, not the real one — and the dream-pony ran away 
 again, and gave my boy such a dreadful knock that 
 he fell flat down on his back, tumbled over two or 
 three times, and rose up — a policeman ! Not my 
 policeman, you know, but quite another one that I 
 had never seen before ! But the very oddest thing 
 of all was that it made me so angry that I jumped 
 with all my might on to his breast, and when I got 
 there it wasn't the policeman but the pony ! and it 
 was dead — quite dead, for I had killed it, and I 
 wasn't sorry at all — not a bit ! " 
 
 This was too much for Hetty, who burst into a 
 
 ^ laugh, and Sir Eichard thought it time to go and see 
 
 the games that were going on in other parts of the 
 
 field, accompanied by Welland and the missionary, 
 
 while Hetty returned to her special pet Lilly Snow. 
 
 And, truly, if "one touch of nature makes the 
 whole world kin," there were touches of nature 
 enough seen that day among these outcasts of 
 society to have warranted their claiming kin with 
 the whole world. 
 
 Leap-frog was greatly in favour, because the prac- 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 105 
 
 titioners could abandon themselves to a sqnirrel-and- 
 cat sort of bound on the soft grass, which they 
 had never dared to indulge in on the London pave- 
 ments. It was a trying game, however, to the rags, 
 which not only betrayed their character to the eye 
 by the exhibition of flesh tints through numerous 
 holes, but addressed themselves also to the ears by 
 means of frequent and explosive rendings. Pins, 
 however, were applied to the worst of these with 
 admirable though temporary effect, and the fun 
 became faster and more furious, — especially so 
 when the points of some of the pins touched up the 
 flesh-tints unexpectedly. 
 
 On these occasions the touches of nature became 
 strongly pronounced — expressing themselves gener- 
 ally in a yell. Another evidence of worldly kinship 
 was, that the touched-up ones, instead of attributing 
 the misfortune to accident, were prone to turn round 
 with fierce scowl and doubled fists under the impres- 
 sion that a guilty comrade was in rear ! 
 
 The proceedings were totally arrested for one hour 
 at mid-day, when unlimited food was issued, and 
 many of the forlorn ones began to feel the rare sen- 
 sation of being stuffed quite full and rendered in- 
 capable of wishing for more ! But this was a mere 
 interlude. Like little giants refreshed they rose 
 up again to play — to swing, to leap, to wrestle, to 
 ramble, to gather flowers, to roll on the grass, to bask 
 
106 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 in the gladdening sunshine, and, in some cases, to 
 thank God for all His mercies, in spite of the latent 
 feeKng of regret that there was so little of all that 
 enjoyment in the slums, and dark courts, and filthy 
 back-streets of the monster city. 
 
 Of course all the pins were extracted in this 
 second act of the play, and innumerable new and 
 gaping wounds were introduced into the clothing, 
 insomuch that all ordinary civilised people, except 
 philanthropists, would have been shocked with the 
 appearance of the little ones. 
 
 But it was during the third and closing act of the 
 play that the affair culminated. The scene was laid 
 on the lawn in front of Mr. Brisbane's mansion. 
 
 Enter, at one end of the lawn, a band of small and 
 dirty but flushed and happy boys and girls, in rags 
 which might appropriately be styled ribbons. At 
 the other end of the lawn a train of domestics 
 bearing trays with tea, cakes, buns, pies, fruits, and 
 other delectable things, to which the ragged army 
 sits down. 
 
 Enter host and hostess, with Sir Eichard, friends 
 and attendants. 
 
 {Host) — after asking a blessing — "My little 
 friends, this afternoon we meet to eat, and only one 
 request have I to make — that you shall do your 
 duty well. (Small boy in ribbons. — Von't I, just !) 
 No platter shall return to my house till it be empty. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 107 
 
 No little one shall quit these premises till he be full ; 
 what cannot be eaten must be carried away." 
 
 (The ragged army cheers.) 
 
 (^osz^.)— Enough. Fall-to. 
 
 [They fall-to.] 
 
 {Little hoy in tatters, pausing.) — " / shan't fall two, 
 I '11 fall three or four." 
 
 {Another little boy, in worse tatters.) — " So shall 
 I." 
 
 {First little hoy.) — " I say, Jim, wot would mother 
 say if she was here ? " 
 
 {Jim,) — " She 'd say nothin*. 'Er mouth 'ud be too 
 full to speak." 
 
 (Prolonged silence. Only mastication heard, 
 mingled with a few cases of choking, which are 
 promptly dealt with.) 
 
 {Blohly, with a sigh.) — " I say, Eobin, I 'm gettin 
 tight." 
 
 {Eohin, with a gasp.) — "So am I; I'm about 
 bustin'." 
 
 {Blohhy, coming to another pause.) — " I say, Eobin, 
 I 'm as full as I can 'old. So 's all my pockits, an' 
 there 's some left over !" 
 
 (Bohin — sharply.) — " Stick it in your 'at, then." 
 (Blobby takes off his billycock, thrusts the 
 remnant of food therein, and puts it on.) 
 
 Enter the brass band of the neighbouring village 
 (the bandsmen being boys), which plays a selection 
 
108 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 of airs, and sends a few of the smaller ragamuffins 
 to sleep. 
 
 (Sir Richard Brandon, confidentially to his friend.) 
 — " It is an amazing sight." 
 
 (Host,) — "Would that it were a more common 
 sight!" 
 
 Enter more domestics with more tea, buns, and 
 fruit ; but the army is glutted, and the pockets are 
 brought into requisition : much pinning being a 
 necessary consequence. 
 
 {Lilly Snow, softly.) — " It 's like 'eaven !" 
 
 (Hetty, remonstratingly.) — " Oh ! Lilly, 'eaven is 
 quite different." 
 
 (Dick Swiller.) — "I'm sorry for it. Couldn't be 
 much 'appier to my mind." 
 
 (Host.) — "Now, dear boys and girls, before we close 
 the proceedings of this happy day, my excellent 
 friend, your missionary, Mr. Seaward, will say a few 
 words." 
 
 (John Seaward steps to the front, and says a few 
 words — says them so well, too, so simply, so kindly, 
 yet so heartily, that the army is roused to a pitch 
 of great enthusiasm ; but we leave this speech to the 
 reader's imagination : after which — 
 Exeunt Omnes. 
 
 And, as the curtain of night falls on these ragged 
 ones, scattered now, many of them, to varied homes 
 of vice, and filth, and misery, the heavy eyelids close 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 109 
 
 to open again, perchance, in ecstatic dreams of food, 
 and fun and green fields, fresh air and sunshine, 
 which impress them more or less with the idea 
 embodied in the aphorism, that "God made the 
 country, but man made the town." 
 
110 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 HOW THE POOR ARE SUCCOURED. 
 
 " I AM obliged to you, Mr. Seaward, for coming 
 out of your way to see me," said Sir Eichard 
 Brandon, while little Di brought their visitor a 
 chair. "I know that your time is fully ociBupied, 
 and would not have asked you to call had not my 
 friend Mr. Brisbane assured me that you had to pass 
 my house daily on your way to — to business." 
 
 " No apology. Sir Eichard, pray. I am at all times 
 ready to answer a call whether of the poor or the 
 rich, if by any means I may help my Lord's cause." 
 
 The knight thought for a moment that he might 
 claim to be classed among the poor, seeing that his 
 miserable pittance of five thousand barely enabled 
 him to make the two ends meet, but he only said : 
 "Ever since we had the pleasure of meeting at that 
 gathering of ragged children, my little girl here has 
 been asking so many questions about poor people — 
 the lower orders, I mean — which I could not answer, 
 that I have asked you to call, that we may get some 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. Ill 
 
 information about them. You see, Diana is an 
 eccentric little puss " (Di opened her eyes very wide 
 at this, wondering what " eccentric " could mean), 
 " and she has got into a most unaccountable habit of 
 thinking and planning about poor people." 
 
 " A good habit, Sir Eichard," said the missionary. 
 " * Blessed are they that consider the poor.' " 
 
 Sir Eichard acknowledged this remark with a 
 
 little bow. " Now, we should like to ask, if you have 
 
 , no objection, what is your chief object in the mission 
 
 at — what did you say its name — ah ! George Yard ?" 
 
 " To save souls,'* said Mr. Seaward. 
 
 " Oh — ah — precisely," said the knight, taken some- 
 what aback by the nature and brevity of the 
 answer, " that of course ; but I meant, how do you 
 proceed? What is the method, and what the 
 machinery that you put in motion?" 
 
 "Perhaps," said the missionary, drawing a small 
 pamphlet from his pocket, "this will furnish you 
 with all the information you desire. You can 
 read it over to Miss Diana at your leisure — and 
 don't return it; I have plenty more. Meanwhile 
 I may briefly state that the mission premises are in 
 George Yard, High Street, Whitechapel, one of the 
 worst parts of the east of London, where the fire of 
 sin and crime rages most fiercely ; where the soldiers 
 of the Cross are comparatively few, and would be 
 overwhelmed by mere numbers, were it not that they 
 
112 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 are invincible, carrying on the war as they do in 
 the strength of Him who said, ' Lo, I am with you 
 alway." 
 
 " In the old coaching days," continued Mr. Sea- 
 ward, " this was a great centre, a starting-point for 
 mail-coaches. For nigh thirty years the mission has 
 been there. The ' Black Horse * was a public-house 
 in George Yard, once known to the magistrates as 
 one of the worst gin-shops and resort of thieves and 
 nurseries of crime in London. That public-house is 
 now a shelter for friendless girls, and a place where 
 sick children of the poor are gratuitously fed." 
 
 From this point the missionary went off into a 
 graphic account of incidents illustrative of the great 
 work done by the mission, and succeeded in deeply 
 interesting both Diana and her father, though the 
 latter held himself well in hand, knowing, as he was 
 fond of remarking, that there were two sides to every 
 question. 
 
 Checking his visitor at one point, he said, " You 
 have mentioned ragged schools and the good that is 
 done by them, but why should not the school-boards 
 look after such children ?" 
 
 "Because, Sir Kichard, the school-boards cannot 
 reach them. There are upwards of 150,000 people 
 in London who have never lived more than three 
 months in one place. No law reaches this class, 
 because they do not stay long enough in any 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 113 
 
 neighbourhood for the school-board authorities to 
 put the law into operation. Now, nearly thr^e 
 hundred of the children of these wanderers meet in 
 our Free Eagged Day Schools twice a day for in- 
 struction. Here we teach them as efl&ciently as we 
 can in secular matters, and of course they are 
 taught the Word of God, and told of Jesus the 
 Saviour of sinners ; but our difficulties are great, for 
 children as well as parents are often in extremest 
 poverty, the former suffering from hunger even 
 when sent to school — and they never stay with us 
 long. Let me give you an instance : — 
 
 " One morning a mother came and begged to have 
 her children admitted. She had just left the work- 
 house. Three children in rags, that did not suffice 
 to cover much less to protect them, stood by her 
 side. She did not know where they were to sleep 
 that night, but hoped to obtain a little charing and 
 earn enough to obtain a lodging somewhere. She 
 could not take the children with her while seeking 
 work — Would we take them in ? for, if not, they 
 would have to be left in the streets, and as they were 
 very young they might lose themselves or be run 
 over. We took them in, fed, sympathised with, 
 and taught them. In the afternoon the mother 
 returned weary, hungry, dejected. She had failed 
 to obtain employment, and took the children away 
 to apply for admission to a casual ward.'' 
 
 H 
 
114 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 "What is a casual ward, Mr. Missionary ?" asked 
 Di. 
 
 " Seaward, my love, — his name is not Missionary,'* 
 said Sir Eichard. 
 
 "A casual ward," answered the visitor, "is an 
 exceedingly plain room with rows of very poor beds ; 
 mere wooden frames with canvas stretched on them, 
 in which any miserable beggars who choose to 
 submit to the rules may sleep for a night after 
 eating a bit of bread and a basin of gruel — for all 
 which they pay nothing. It is a very poor and 
 comfortless place — at least you would think it so — 
 and is meant to save poor people from sleeping, 
 perhaps dying, in the streets." 
 
 "Do some people sleep in the streets?" asked Di 
 in great surprise. 
 
 " Yes, dear, I 'm sorry to say that many do." 
 
 "D'you mean on the stones, in their night-dresses ?" 
 asked the child with increasing surprise. 
 
 " Yes, love," said her father, " but in their ordinary 
 clothes, not in their night-dresses — they have no 
 night-dresses." 
 
 Little Di had now reached a pitch of surprise which 
 rendered her dumb, so the missionary continued :• — 
 
 "Here is another case. A poor widow called 
 once, and said she would be so grateful if we would 
 admit her little girl and boy into the schools. She 
 looked clean and tidy, and the children had not been 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 115 
 
 neglected. She could not afford to pay for tliem, as 
 she had not a penny in the world, and applied to us 
 because we made no charge. The children were 
 admitted and supplied with a plain but nourishing 
 meal, while their mother went away to seek for 
 work. We did not hear how she sped, but she had 
 probably taken her case to God, and found Him 
 faithful, for she had said, before going away, * I know 
 that God is the Father of the fatherless, and the 
 husband of the widow.' " 
 
 " Again, another poor woman came. Her husband 
 had fallen sick. Till within a few days her children 
 had been at a school and paid for, but now the bread- 
 winner was ill — might never recover — and had gone 
 to the hospital. These children were at once ad- 
 mitted, and in each case investigation was made to 
 test the veracity of the applicants. 
 
 "Of course," continued the missionary, "I have 
 spoken chiefly about the agencies with which I 
 happen to have come personally in contact, but it 
 must not be supposed that therefore I ignore or am 
 iniifFerent to the other grand centres of influence 
 which are elsewhere at work in London; such as, 
 for instance, the various agencies set agoing and 
 superintended by Dr. Barnardo, whose Home for 
 Working and Destitute Boys, in Stepney Causeway, 
 is a shelter from which thousands of rescued little 
 ones go forth to labour as honest and useful members 
 
116 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 of society, instead of dying miserably in the slums 
 of London, or growing np to recruit the ranks of our 
 criminal classes. These agencies, besides rescuing 
 destitute and neglected children, include Homes for 
 destitute girls and for little hoys in Ilford and Jersey, 
 an Infirmary for sieJc children of the destitute classes 
 in Stepney, Orjphan Homes, Ragged and Day schools, 
 Free dinner-table to destitute children. Mission Halls, 
 Coffee Palaces, and, in short, a grand net-work of 
 beneficent agencies — Evangelistic, Temperance, and 
 Medical — for the conduct of which is required not 
 far short of One Hundred Pounds a day !" 
 
 Even Sir Kichard Brandon, with all his supposed 
 financial capacities, seemed struck with the magni- 
 tude of this sum. 
 
 " And where does Dr. Barnardo obtain so large an 
 amount ?" he asked. 
 
 " Erom the voluntary gifts of those who sympa- 
 thise with and consider the poor," replied Seaward. 
 
 " Then," he added, " there is that noble work 
 carried on by Miss Eye of the Emigration Home for 
 Destitute Little Girls, at the Avenue House, Peck- 
 ham, from which a stream of destitute little ones 
 continually flows to Canada, where they are much 
 wanted, and who, if allowed to remain here, would 
 almost certainly be lost. Strong testimony to the 
 value of this work has been given by the Bishops 
 of Toronto and Niagara, and other competent judges. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 117 
 
 Let me mention a case of one of Miss Eye's little 
 ones, which speaks for itself. 
 
 " A little girl of six was deserted by both father 
 and mother." 
 
 " Oh ! poor little thing !" exclaimed the sympa- 
 thetic Di, with an amazing series of pitiful curves 
 about her eyebrows. 
 
 "Yes, poor indeed!" responded Seaward. "The 
 mother forsook her first ; then her father took her 
 on the tramp, but the little feet could not travel 
 fast enough, so he got tired of her and offered her 
 to a workhouse. They refused her, so the tramp- 
 ing was continued, and at last baby was sold for 
 three shillings to a stranger man. On taking his 
 purchase home, however, the man found that his 
 wife was unwilling to receive her ; he therefore sent 
 poor little baby adrift in the streets of London !" 
 
 " What a shame !" cried Di, with flashing orbs. 
 
 ** Was it not ? But, when father and mother cast 
 this little one off, the Lord cared for it. An 
 inspector of police, who found it, took it to his 
 wife, and she carried it to Miss Eye's Home, where 
 it was at once received and cared for, and, doubt- 
 less, this little foundling girl is now dwelling happily 
 and usefully with a Canadian family." 
 
 " How nice !" exclaimed Di, her eyes, lips, and 
 teeth bearing eloquent witness to her satisfaction. 
 
 " But no doubt you have heard of Miss Eye's work, 
 
118 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 as well as that of Miss Annie Macplierson at the 
 Home of Industry, and, perhaps, contributed to — " 
 
 " No," interrupted Sir Eichard, quickly, " I do not 
 contribute; but pray, Mr. Seaward, are there other 
 institutions of this sort in London ? " 
 
 " Oh ! yes, there are several. It would take me 
 too long to go into the details of the various agencies 
 we have for. succouring the poor. There is, among 
 others, The Church of England ' Central Home for 
 Waifs and Strays^ with a 'Eeceiving House' for 
 boys in Upper Clapton, and one for girls in East 
 Dulwich, with the Archbishop of Canterbury for its 
 President. Possibly you may have heard of the 
 ' Strangers' Best,' in St. George Street, Eatcliff High- 
 way, where, as far as man can judge, great and 
 permanent good is .being constantly done to the 
 souls of sailors. A sailor once entered this 'Eest' 
 considerably the worse for drink. He was spoken 
 to by Christian friends, and asked to sign the pledge. 
 He did so, and has now been steadfast for years. 
 Eeturning from a long voyage lately, he went to re- 
 visit the Best, and there, at the Bible- class, prayed. 
 Part of his prayer was — ' God bless the Strangers' 
 Eest. Lord, we thank Thee for this place, and 
 we shall thank Thee to all eternity.' This is a 
 sample of the feeling with which the place is re- 
 garded by those who have received blessing there. 
 In the same street, only a few doors from this Eest, 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 119 
 
 is the ' Sailor's Welcome Home* This is more of a 
 home than the other, for it furnishes lodging and 
 iinintoxicating refreshment, while its devoted soul- 
 loving manager, Miss Child, and her assistant 
 workers, go fearlessly into the very dens of iniquity, 
 and do all they can to bring sailors to Jesus, and 
 induce them to take the pledge against strong drink, 
 in which work they are, through God's blessing, 
 wonderfully successful. These two missions work, 
 as it were, into each other's hands. In the ' Eest ' 
 are held prayer-meetings and Bible-classes, and when 
 these are dismissed, the sailors find the open door of 
 the ' Welcome Home ' ready to receive them, and 
 the inmates there seek to deepen the good influence 
 that has been brought to bear at the meetings — and 
 this in the midst of one of the very worst parts of 
 London, where temptation to every species of evil is 
 rampant, on the right hand and on the left, before 
 and behind. 
 
 "But, Sir Eichard, although I say that a grand 
 and extensive work of salvation to soul, body, and 
 spirit is being done to thousands of men, and 
 women, and children, by the agencies which I have 
 mentioned, and by many similar agencies which I 
 have not now time to mention, as wxU as by the 
 band of City Missionaries to which I have the 
 honour to belong, I would earnestly point out that 
 these all put together only scratch the surface of 
 
120 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 the vast mass of corruption which has to be dealt 
 with in this seething world of London, the population 
 of which is, as you are aware, equal to that of all 
 Scotland ; and very specially would I remark that 
 the work is almost exclusively carried on by the 
 voluntary contributions of those who ^ consider the 
 poor ' ! 
 
 " The little tract which I have given you will ex- 
 plain much of the details of this great work, as 
 carried on in the George Yard Mission. When you 
 have read that, if you desire it, I will call on you 
 again. Meanwhile engagements compel me to take 
 my leave." 
 
 After luncheon, that day, Sir Eichard drew his 
 chair to the window, but instead of taking up the 
 newspaper and recommending his little one to visit 
 the nursery, he said : — 
 
 " Come here, Di. You and I will examine this 
 pamphlet — this little book — and I'll try to explain 
 it, for reports are usually very dry." 
 
 Di looked innocently puzzled. "Should reports 
 always be wet, papa ?" 
 
 Sir Eichard came nearer to the confines of a laugh 
 than he had reached for a long time past. 
 
 " Xo, love — not exactly wet, but — hm — you shall 
 hear. Draw the stool close to my knee and lay your 
 head on it." 
 
 With his large hand on the golden tresses, Sir 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 121 
 
 Eichard Brandon began to examine the record of 
 work done in the George Yard Mission. 
 
 " What is this ?" he said. Toy Classes, — why, this 
 must be something quite in your way, Di.*' 
 
 '' Oh yes, I 'm sure of that, for I adore toys. Tell 
 me about it." 
 
 " These toy classes are for the cheerless and 
 neglected," said the knight, frowning in a business- 
 like way at the pamphlet. " Sometimes so many as 
 eighty neglected little ones attend these classes. On 
 one occasion, only one of these had boots on, which 
 were very old, much too large, and both lefts. When 
 they were seated, toys and scrap-books were lent to 
 them. There were puzzles, and toy-bricks, and 
 many other things which kept them quite happy for 
 an hour. Of course the opportunity was seized to 
 tell them about Jesus and His love. A blessed 
 lesson which they would not have had a chance of 
 learning at home — if they had homes ; but many of 
 them had none. When it was time to go they said 
 — ' Can't we stay longer ? ' 
 
 "The beginning of this class was interesting," 
 said Sir Eichard, continuing to read. " The thought 
 arose — * gather in the most forlorn and wretched 
 children; those who are seldom seen to smile, or 
 heard to laugh ; there are many such who require 
 Christian sympathy.' The thought was immediately 
 acted on. A little barefooted ragged boy was sent 
 
122 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 into the streets to bring in the children. Soon there 
 was a crowd round the school door. The most 
 miserable among the little ones were admitted. The 
 proceedings commenced with prayer — then the toys 
 were distributed, the dirty little hands became 
 active, and the dirty little faces began to look 
 happy. When the toys were gathered up, some 
 could not be found, so, at the next meeting, some of 
 the bigger children were set to watch the smaller 
 ones. Presently one little detective said : ' Please, 
 teacher, Teddy's got a horse in his pocket;' and 
 another said that Sally had an elephant in her 
 pinafore! Occasion was thus found to show the 
 evil of stealing, and teach the blessedness of honesty. 
 They soon gave up pilfering, and they now play 
 with the toys without desiring to take them away." 
 "How nice !" said Di. " Go on, papa." 
 "What can this be ?" continued Sir Eichard, quot- 
 ing — " Wild Flowers of the Forest Bay Nursery. 
 Oh ! I see — very good idea. I '11 not read it, Di. I '11 
 tell you about it. There are many poor widows, you 
 must know, and women whose husbands are bad, 
 who have no money to buy food and shelter for 
 themseves and little ones except what they can 
 earn each day. But some of these poor women 
 have babies, and they can't work, you know, with 
 babies in their arms, neither can they leave the 
 babies at home with no one to look after them, 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 123 
 
 except, perhaps, little sisters or brothers not much 
 older than themselves, so they take their babies to 
 this Cradle-Home, and each pays only twopence, 
 for which small sum her baby is taken in, washed, 
 clothed, warmed, fed, and amused by kind nurses, 
 who keep it till the mother returns from her work 
 to get it back again. Isn't that good ?" 
 
 " Oh ! yes," assented Di, with all her heart. 
 
 "And I read here," continued her father, "that 
 thousands of the infants of the poor die every year 
 because they have not enough food, or enough cloth- 
 ing to keep them warm." 
 
 " Oh v:hat a pity 1" exclaimed Di, the tears of 
 ready sympathy rushing hot into her upturned eyes. 
 
 "So you see," continued Sir Eichard, w^ho had 
 unconsciously, as it were, become a pleader for the 
 poor, " if there were a great many nurseries of this 
 kind all over London, a great many little lives would 
 be saved." 
 
 " And why are there not a great many nurseries 
 of that kind, papa ?" 
 
 "Well, I suppose, it is because there are no 
 funds." 
 
 " No what ? papa." 
 
 " Not enough of money, dear." 
 
 " Oh ! what a pity ! I wish I had lots and lots 
 of money, and then wouldn't I have Cradle-Homes 
 everywhere?" 
 
124 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Sir Eichard, knowing that he had " lots and lots " 
 of money, but had not hitherto contributed one 
 farthing to the object under consideration, thought 
 it best to change the subject by going on with the 
 George Yard Eecord. 
 
 But we will not conduct the reader through it 
 all — interesting though the subject certainly is. 
 Suffice it to say that he found the account classed 
 under several heads. Under " Feeding the Hungry !' 
 for instance, he learned that many poor children are 
 entirely without food, sometimes, for a whole day, 
 so that only two courses are open to them — to steal 
 food and become criminals, or drift into sickness 
 and die. From which fate many hundreds are 
 annually rescued by timely aid at George Yard, the 
 supplies for which are sent 'by liberal-minded Chris- 
 tians in all ranks of life — from Mr. Crackaby with 
 his £150 a year, up through Mr. Brisbane and his 
 class to the present Earl of Shaftesbury — who, by the 
 way, has taken a deep interest and lent able support 
 to this particular Mission for more than a quarter of 
 a century. But the name of Sir Eichard Brandon 
 did not appear on the roll of contributors. He had 
 not studied the " lower orders " much, except from 
 a politico -economical -argumentative- after-dinner- 
 port-winy point of view. 
 
 Under the head of " Clothing necessitous Chil- 
 dren" lie found that some of the little ones 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 125 
 
 presented themselves at the school-door in such a 
 net-work of rags, probably infected, as to be unfit 
 even for a Eagged School. They were therefore 
 taken in, had their garments destroyed, and were 
 supplied with new clothes. Also, that about 1000 
 children between the ages of three and fourteen 
 years were connected with the Institution — scat- 
 tered among the various works of usefulness con- 
 ducted for the young. 
 
 Under " Wo7'Jc among Lads" he found that those 
 big boys whom one sees idling about corners of 
 streets, fancying themselves men, smoking with 
 obvious dislike and pretended pleasure, and on the 
 highroad to the jail and the gallows — that those 
 boys were enticed into classes opened for carpentry, 
 turning, fretwork, and other attractive industrial 
 pursuits — including even printing, at a press sup- 
 plied by Lord Shaftesbury. This, in connection 
 with evening classes for reading, writing, and 
 arithmetic — the whole leading up to the gxand 
 object and aim of all — the salvation of souls. 
 
 Under other heads he found that outcast boys 
 were received, sheltered, sent to Industrial Homes, 
 or returned to friends and parents ; that temperance 
 meetings were held, and drunkards, male and female, 
 sought out, prayed for, lovingly reasoned with, and 
 reclaimed from this perhaps the greatest curse of the 
 land ; that Juvenile Bands of Hope were formed, on 
 
126 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 the ground of prevention being better than cure; 
 that lodging-houses, where the poorest of the poor, 
 and the lowest of the low do congregate, were 
 visited, and the gospel proclaimed to ears that were 
 deaf to nearly every good influence ; that mothers' 
 meetings were held— one of them at that old head- 
 quarters of sin, the " Black Horse," where counsel 
 and sympathy were mingled with a Clothing Club 
 and a Bible-woman; that there were a Working 
 Men's Benefit Society, Bible Classes, Sunday Schools, 
 a Sewing Class, a Mutual Labour Loan Society, a 
 Shelter for Homeless Girls, a library, an Invalid 
 Children's Dinner, a bath-room and lavatory, a 
 Flower Mission, and — hear it, ye who fancy that a 
 penny stands very low in the scale of financial little- 
 ness — a Farthing Bank ! All this free — conducted 
 by an unpaid band of considerably over a hundred 
 Christian workers, male and female — and leaven- 
 ing the foundations of society, without which, and 
 similar missions, there would be very few leavening 
 influences at all, and the superstructure of society 
 would stand a pretty fair chance of being burst up 
 or blown to atoms — though the superstructure is not 
 very willing to believe the fact ! 
 
 In addition to all this, Sir Eichard learned, to his 
 great amazement, that the Jews won't light their 
 fires on the Sabbath-day — that is, on our Saturday — 
 that they won't even poke it, and that this abstinence 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 127 
 
 is the immediate cause of a source of revenue to the 
 un- Jewish poor, whom the Jews hire to light and 
 poke their fires for them. 
 
 And, lastly, Sir Eichard Brandon learned that 
 Mr. George Holland, who had managed that mission 
 for more than quarter of a century, was resolved, in 
 the strength of the Lord, to seek out the lost and 
 rescue the perishing, even though he. Sir Eichard, 
 and all who resembled him, should refuse to aid by 
 tongue or hand in the glorious work of rescuing the 
 poor from sin and its consequences. 
 
128 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BALLS, BOBBY, SIR RICHARD, AND GILES APPEAR ON THE STAGE. 
 
 As from the sublime to the ridiculous there is 
 but a step, so, from the dining-room to the kitchen 
 there is but a stair. Let us descend the stair and 
 learn that while Sir Eichard was expounding the 
 subject of " the poor " to little Di, Mr. Balls, the 
 butler, was engaged on the same subject in the 
 servants' hall. 
 
 " I cannot tell you,*' said Balls, " what a impres- 
 sion the sight o' these poor people made on me." 
 
 "La! Mr. Balls," said the cook, who was not 
 unacquainted with low life in London, having her- 
 self been born within sound of Bow-Bells, " you Ve 
 got no occasion to worrit yourself about it. It 'as 
 never bin different." 
 
 "That makes it all the worse, cook," returned 
 Balls, standing with his back to the fireplace and 
 his legs wide apart; "if it was only a temporary 
 depression in trade, or the repeal of the corn laws 
 that did it, one could stand it, but to think that 
 such a state of things always goes on is something 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 129 
 
 fearful. You know I 'm a country-bred man myself, 
 and ain't used to the town, or to such awful sights 
 of squalor. It almost made me weep, I do assure 
 you. One room that I looked into had a mother 
 and two children in it, and I declare to you that 
 the little boy was going about stark naked, and his 
 sister was only just a slight degree better." 
 
 "P'raps they was goin' to bed," suggested Mrs. 
 Screwbury. 
 
 " No, nurse, they wasn't ; they was playing about 
 evidently in their usual costume — for that evenin' 
 at least. I would not have believed it if I had not 
 seen it. And the mother was so tattered and drag- 
 gled and dirty— which, also, was the room." 
 
 " Was that in the court where the Frogs live ? " 
 asked Jessie Summers. 
 
 " It was, and a dreadful court too — shocking ! " 
 
 " By the way, Mr. Balls," asked the cook, " is there 
 any chance o' that brat of a boy Bobby, as they call 
 him, coming here ? I can't think why master has 
 offered to take such a creeter into his service." 
 
 " No, cook, there is no chance. I forgot to tell 
 you about that little matter. The boy was here 
 yesterday and he refused — absolutely declined a 
 splendid offer." 
 
 " I 'm glad to hear it," returned t?he cook. 
 
 " Tell us about it, Mr. Balls," said Jessie Summers 
 with a reproachful look at the other. " I 'm quite 
 
130 ^ DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 fond of that boy — he 's such a smart fellow, and 
 wouldn't be bad-looking if he 'd only wash his face 
 and comb his hair." 
 
 " He 's smart enough, no doubt, but impudence is 
 his strong point," rejoined the butler with a laugh. 
 The way he spoke to the master beats everything. 
 
 " ' I Ve sent for you, my boy,' said Sir Eichard, in 
 his usual dignified, kindly way, * to offer you the 
 situation of under-gardener in my establishment.' 
 
 " ' Oh ! that 's wot you wants with me, is it ? ' 
 said the boy, as bold as brass ; indeed I may say as 
 bold as gun-metal, for his eyes an' teeth glittered as 
 he spoke, and he said it with the air of a dook. 
 Master didn't quite seem to like it, but I saw he 
 laid restraint on himself and said : ' You have to 
 thank iiiy daughter for this offer — ' 
 
 "'Thank you, Miss,' said the boy, turnin' to Miss 
 Di with a low bow, imitatin' Sir Eichard's manner, 
 I thought, as much as he could." 
 
 " ' Of course,' continued the master, rather sharply, 
 ' I offer you this situation out of mere charity — ' 
 
 " ' Oh ! you do, do you ? ' said the extraordinary 
 boy in the coolest manner, ' but wot if I objec' to 
 receive charity ? Ven I 'olds a 'orse I expecs to be 
 paid for so doin', same as you expecs to be paid 
 w'en you attends a board-meetin' to grin an' do 
 nuffin.' 
 
 " ' Come, come, boy/ said Sir Eichard, gettin' 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 131 
 
 redder in the face than I ever before saw him, ' I am 
 not accustomed to low pleasantry, and — ' 
 
 "*An* I ain't accustomed/ broke in the boy, 
 'to 'igh hinsults. Do you think that every gent 
 what vears a coat an' pants with 'oles in 'em is a 
 beggar ? ' 
 
 " For some moments master seemed to be struck 
 speechless, an' I feared that in spite of his well- 
 known gentleness of character he 'd Jbhrow the ink- 
 stand at the boy's head, but he didn't ; he merely 
 said in a low voice, ' I would dismiss you at once, 
 boy, were it not that I have promised my daughter 
 to offer you employment, and you can see by her 
 looks how much your unnatural conduct grieves her/ 
 
 " An' this was true, for poor Miss Di sat there 
 with her hands clasped, her eyes full of tears, her 
 eyebrows disappearin' among her hair with astonish- 
 ment, and her whole appearance the very pictur' of 
 distress. ' However,' continued Sir Kichard, ' I still 
 make you the offer, though I doubt much whether 
 you will be able to retain the situation. Your 
 wages will — ' 
 
 " ' Please sir,' pleaded the boy, * don't mention the 
 wages. I couldn't stand that. Indeed I couldn't. 
 It would really be too much for me.' 
 
 " ' Why, what do you mean ? ' says master. 
 
 " * I mean,' says Impudence, 'that I agree with you. 
 I don't think I could retain the sitivation, cos w'y ? 
 
132 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Ill the fust place, I a'int got no talent at gardenin'. 
 The on'y time I tried it was w'en I planted a toolip 
 in a ilower-pot, an' w'en I dug it up to see 'ow it 
 was a-gittin on a cove told me I 'd planted it upside 
 down. Howsever, I wasn't goin' to be beat by that 
 cove, so I say to 'im, Jack, I says, I planted it so a- 
 purpus, an' w'en it sprouts I 'm agoin' to 'ang it up 
 to see if it won't grow through the 'ole in the 
 bottom. In the second place, I couldn't retain the 
 sitivation 'cause I don't intend to take it, though 
 you was to offer me six thousand no shillin's an' no 
 pence no farthin's a year as salary.' 
 
 "I r'ally did think master would ha' dropt out 
 of his chair at that. ^ As for Miss Di, she was so 
 tickled that she gave a sort of hysterical laugh. 
 
 " ' Balls,' said master, ' show him out, and — ' he 
 pulled up short, but I knew he meant to say have 
 an eye on the great-coats and umbrellas, so I 
 showed the boy out, an' he went down-stairs quite 
 quiet, but the last thing I saw of him was per- 
 formin' a sort of minstrel dance at the end of the 
 street just before he turned the corner and disap- 
 peared." 
 
 " Imp'rence !" exclaimed the cook. 
 
 " Naughty, ungrateful boy !" said Mrs. Screwbury 
 
 " But it was plucky of him," said Jessie Summers. 
 
 "I would call it cheeky," said Balls, "I can't 
 think what put it into his head to go on so." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 133 
 
 If Mr. Balls had followed Bobby Frog in spirit, 
 watched his subsequent movements, and listened to 
 his remarks, perhaps he might have understood the 
 meaning of his conduct a little better. 
 
 After he had turned the corner of the street, as 
 above mentioned, Bobby trotted on for a short space, 
 and then, coming to a full stop, executed a few 
 steps of the minstrel dance, at the end of which he 
 brought his foot down with tremendous emphasis 
 on the pavement, and said — " Yes, I Ve bin an' done 
 it. I know'd I was game for a good deal, but I did 
 not think I was up to that. One never knows wot 
 'e's fit for till 'e tries. Wot '11 Hetty think, I 
 wonder?" 
 
 What Hetty thought he soon found out, for he 
 overtook her on the Thames embankment on her 
 way home. Bobby was fond of that route, though 
 a little out of his way, because he loved the running 
 water, though it was muddy, and the sight of 
 steamers and barges. 
 
 " Well, Bobby," she said, laying her hand on his 
 shoulder, " where have you been ?" 
 
 " To see old Swallow'd-the-poker, Hetty." 
 
 "What took you there?" asked the girl in 
 surprise. 
 
 "My legs. You don't suppose I've set up my 
 carriage yet, do you ?" 
 
 " Come, you know what I mean." 
 
134 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Veil, then, I went because I was sent for, an' 
 wot d'ye think ? the old genl'man hoffered me the 
 sitivation of under-gardener !" 
 
 " You don't say so ! Oh ! Bobby, what a lucky 
 boy — an' what a kind gentleman ! Tell me all about 
 it now," said Hetty, pressing her hand more tenderly 
 on her brother's shoulder. " What wages is he to 
 give you?" 
 
 "No wages wotsomever." 
 
 Hetty looked into her brother's face with an 
 expression of concerned surprise. She knew some 
 tradespeople who made her work hard for so very 
 little, that it was not difficult to believe in a gentle- 
 man asking her brother to work for nothing ! Still 
 she had thought better of Sir Eichard, and expected 
 to hear something more creditable to him. 
 
 " Ah, you may look, but I do assure you he is to 
 give me no wages, an' I 'm to do no work." 
 
 Here Bobby executed a few steps of his favourite 
 dance, but evidently from mere habit, and uncon- 
 sciously, for he left off in the middle, and seemed to 
 forget the salient point of emphasis with his foot. 
 
 " What do you mean, Bobby ? — be earnest, like a 
 dear boy, for once." 
 
 " Earnest !" exclaimed the urchin with vehemence. 
 "I never was more in earnest in my life. You 
 should 'ave seen Swallow'd-the-poker w'en I refused 
 to 'ave it." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 135 
 
 "Eefiisedit?" 
 
 " Ay — re-fused it. Come Hetty, 1 11 explain." 
 
 The boy dropped his facetious tone and manner 
 while he rapidly ran over the chief points of his 
 interview with Sir Eichard. 
 
 " But why did you refuse so good an offer ?" asked 
 Hetty, still unable to repress her surprise. 
 
 " Because of daddy." 
 
 "Daddy?" 
 
 "Ay, daddy. You know he's fond o' me, is 
 daddy, and, d'ye know, though p'r'aps you mayn't 
 believe it, I 'm raither fond o' him ; but 'e 's a bad-un 
 is daddy. He 's bent on mischief, you see, an' 'e 's 
 set his 'art on my 'elpin' of Im. But I wont 'elp 'im 
 — that 's flat. Now, what d'ye think, Hetty " (here 
 he dropped his voice to almost a whisper and looked 
 solemn), " dad wants to make use o' me to commit 
 a burglary on Swallow'd-the-poker's 'ouse." 
 
 "You don't mean it, Bobby !", 
 
 "But I do, Hetty. Dad found out from that 
 rediklous butler that goes veepin' around our court 
 like a leeky pump, that the old gen'l'man was goin' 
 to hoffer me this sitivation, an 'e 's bin wery 'ard on 
 me to accept it, so that I may find out the ways o' 
 the 'ouse where the plate an' waluables lay, let 'im in 
 some fine dark night an' 'elp 'im to carry off the swag." 
 
 A distressed expression marked poor Hetty's re- 
 ception of this news, but she said never a word. 
 
136 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Now you won't tell, Hetty ?" said the boy with 
 a looli of real anxiety on his face. " It 's not so 
 much his killin' me I cares about, but I wouldn't 
 bring daddy to grief for any money. I 'd raither 'elp 
 'im than that. You '11 not say a word to nobody ?" 
 
 " No, Bobby, I won't say a word." 
 
 "Veil, you see," continued the boy, "ven I'd 
 made myself so disagreeable that the old gen'l'man 
 would 'ave nothin' to do with me, I came straight 
 away, an' 'ere I am ; but it was a trial, let me tell 
 you, specially ven 'e come to mention wages — an' 
 sitch a 'eavenly smell o' roasted wittles come up 
 from the kitchen too at the moment, but I 'ad only 
 to look at Miss Di, to make me as stubborn as a 
 hox or a hass. 'Wot!' thinks I to myself, 'betray 
 that hangel — no, never !' yet if I was to go into that 
 'ouse I know I'd do it, for daddy's got sitch a 
 wheedlin' way with 'im w'en 'e likes, that I couldn't 
 'old hout long — so I giv' old Swallowed-the-poker 
 sitch a lot o' cheek that I thought 'e'd kick me 
 right through the winder. He was considerable 
 astonished as well as riled, I can tell you, an' Miss 
 Di's face was a pictur', but the old butler was the 
 sight. He'd got 'is face screwed up into sitch a 
 state o' surprise that it looked like a eight-day clock 
 with a gumboil. Now, Hetty, I 'm goin' to tell 'ee 
 what '11 take your breath away, I 've made up my 
 mind to go to Canada !" 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 137 
 
 Hetty did, on hearing this, look as if her breath 
 had been taken away. When it returned sufficiently 
 she said : — ■ 
 
 " Bobby, what put that into your head ?" 
 
 "The 'Ome of Hindustry," said Bobby with a 
 mysterious look. 
 
 " The Home of Industry," repeated the girl in 
 surprise, for she knew that Institution well, having 
 frequently assisted its w^orkers in their labour of 
 love. 
 
 " Yes, that 's the name — 'Ome of Hindustry. what 
 sends off so many ragged boys to Canada under 
 Miss Macpherson." 
 
 " Ay, Bobby, it does a great deal more than that," 
 returned the girl. " Sending off poor boys and girls 
 to Canada is only one branch of its work. If you 'd 
 bin to its tea-meetin's for the destitute, as I have, 
 an its clothin' meetings and its mothers' meetin s 
 an'—" 
 
 " 'Ow d' ye know I 'aven't bin at 'em all?" asked 
 the boy with an impudent look. 
 
 "Well, you know, you couldn't have been at the 
 mothers' meetings, Bobby." 
 
 " Oh ! for the matter o' that, no more could you." 
 
 " True, but I 've heard of them all many and 
 many a time; but come, tell me all about it. How 
 did you come to go near the Home of Industry at 
 all after refusinGj so often to <^o with me ?" 
 
138 DUSTY DIAMONDS 
 
 "Veil, I didn't go because of bein' axed to go, 
 you may be sure o' that, but my little dosser, Tim 
 Lumpy, you remember 'im ? The cove wi' the nose 
 like a button, an' no body to speak of — all legs an' 
 arms, like a 'uman win'-mill ; veil, you must know 
 they 've nabbed 'im, an' given 'im a rig-out o' noo 
 slops, an' they 're goin' to send 'im to Canada. So 
 I 'appened to be down near the 'Ome one day three 
 weeks past, an' I see Lumpy a-goin' in. "Alio!' 
 says L "Alio!' says 'e; an' then 'e told me all 
 about it. 'Does they feed you well?' I axed. 
 ' Oh ! don't they, just ! ' said 'e. * There 's to be a 
 blow hout this wery night,' said 'e. *I wonder,' 
 says I, ' if they 'd let me in, for I 'm uncommon 
 'ungry, I tell you; 'ad nuffin to heat since last 
 night.' Just as I said that, a lot o' fellers like me 
 came tumblin' up to the door — so I sneaked in wi' 
 the rest — for I thought they 'd kick me hout if they 
 knowed I'd come without inwitation." 
 
 " Well, and what then ? " asked Hetty. 
 
 Here our little street Arab began to tell, in his 
 own peculiar language and style, how that he went 
 in, and found a number of ladies in an upper room 
 with forms set, and hot tea and bread to be had — 
 as much as they could stuff — for nothing ; that the 
 boys were very wild and unruly at first, but that 
 after the chief lady had prayed they became better, 
 and that when half-a-dozen nice little rirls were 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 139 
 
 brought in and bad sung a bymn or two they were 
 quite quiet and ready to listen. Like many other 
 people, this city Arab did not like to speak out 
 freely, even to his sister, on matters that touched his 
 feelings deeply, but he said enough to let the eager 
 and thankful Hetty know that not only had Jesus 
 and His love been preached to the boys, but 
 she perceived that what had been said and sung 
 had made an unusual impression, though the little 
 ragged waif sought to conceal it under the veil of 
 cool pleasantry, and she now recognised the fact 
 that the prayers which she had been putting up 
 for many a day in her brother's behalf had been 
 answered. 
 
 "Oh! I'm so happy," she said; and, unable to 
 restrain herself, flung her arms round Bobby's neck 
 and kissed him. 
 
 It was evident that the little fellow rather liked 
 this, though he pretended that he did not. 
 
 " Come, old gal," he said brusquely, " none o' that 
 sort o' thing. I can't stand it. Don't you see, the 
 popilation is lookin' at us in surprise; besides, 
 you 've bin an' crushed all my shirt front ! " 
 
 " But," continued Hetty, as they walked on again, 
 " I 'm not happy to hear that you are goin' to Canada. 
 What ever will I do without you, Bobby ? " 
 
 Poor girl, she could well afford to do without him 
 in one sense, for he had hitherto been chiefly an 
 
140 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 object of anxiety and expense to her, though also 
 an object of love. 
 
 " 1 'm sorry to think of goin' too, Hetty, for your 
 sake an' mother's, but for daddy's sake and my own 
 I must go. You see, I can't 'old hout agin 'im. 
 Wen 'e makes up 'is mind to a thing you know 'e 
 sticks to it, for 'e 's a tough un ; an' 'e 's got sitch a 
 wheedlin' sort o' way with 'im that I can't 'elp givin' 
 in a'most. So, you see, it '11 be better for both of 
 us that I should go away. But I '11 come back, 
 you know, Hetty, with a fortin — see if I don't — an' 
 then, oh ! won't I keep a carridge an' a ridin' 
 'oss for daddy, an' feed mother an' you on plum- 
 dufif an' pork sassengers to breakfast, dinner, an' 
 supper, with ice cream for a relish I " 
 
 Poor Hetty did not even smile at this prospect of 
 temporal felicity. She felt that in the main the 
 boy was right, and that the only chance he had of 
 escaping the toils in which her father was wrapping 
 him by the strange union of affection and villainy, 
 was to leave the country. She knew, also, that, 
 thanks to the Home of Industry and its promoters, 
 the sending of a ragged, friendless, penniless London 
 waif, clothed and in his right mind, to a new land 
 of bright and hopeful prospects, was an event 
 brought within the bounds of possibility. 
 
 That night Bob Frog stood with his dosser {i.e, 
 his friend) Tim Lumpy, discussing their future 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 141 
 
 prospects iu the partial privacy of a railway arch. 
 They talked long, and, for waifs, earnestly — both as 
 to the land they were about to quit and that to 
 which they were going; and the surprising fact 
 might have been noted by a listener — had there 
 been any such present, save a homeless cat — that 
 neither of the boys perpetrated a joke for the space 
 of at least ten minutes. 
 
 " Vy," observed little Frog at length, " you seem 
 to 'ave got all the fun drove out o' you, Lumpy." 
 
 " Not a bit on it," returned the other, with a hurt 
 look, as though he had been charged with some 
 serious misdemeanour, " but it do seem sitch a shabby 
 thing to go an' forsake my blind old mother." 
 
 " But yer blind old mother wants you to go," said 
 Bobby, " an' says she '11 be well looked arter by the 
 ladies of the 'Ome, and that she wouldn't stand 
 in the way o' your prospec's. Besides, she ain't yer 
 mother !" 
 
 This was true. Tim Lumpy had neither father 
 nor mother, nor relative on earth, and the old 
 woman who, out of sheer pity, had taken him in and 
 allowed him to call her " mother," was a widow at 
 the lowest possible round of that social ladder, at 
 the top of which — figuratively speaking — sits Her 
 Gracious Majesty the Queen. Mrs. Lumpy had 
 found him on her door-step, weeping and in rags, at 
 the early age of five years. She had taken him in, 
 
142 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 and fed him on part of a penny loaf which formed 
 the sole edible substance for her own breakfast. She 
 had mended his rags to the extent of her ability, but 
 she had not washed his face, having no soap of her 
 own, and not caring to borrow from neighbours who 
 were in the same destitute condition. Besides, she 
 had too hard a battle to fight with an ever-present 
 and pressing foe, to care much about dirt, and 
 no doubt deemed a wash of tears now and then 
 sufficient. Lumpy himself seemed to agree with 
 her as to this, for he washed himself in that fashion 
 frequently. 
 
 Having sought for his parents in vain, with the 
 aid of the police, Mrs. Lumpy quietly kept the boy 
 on ; gave him her surname, prefixed that of Timothy, 
 answered to the call of mother, and then left him to 
 do very much as he pleased. 
 
 In these circumstances, it was not surprising that 
 little Tim soon grew to be one of the pests of his 
 alley. Tim was a weak-eyed boy, and remarkably 
 thin, being, as his friend had said, composed chiefly 
 of legs and arms. There must have been a good deal 
 of brain also, for he was keen-witted, as people soon 
 began to find out to their cost. Tim was observant 
 also. He observed, on nearing the age of ten years, 
 that in the great river of life which daily flowed past 
 him, there were certain faces which indicated tender 
 and kindly hearts, coupled with defective brain- 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 143 
 
 action, and a good deal of self-will. He became 
 painfully shrewd in reading such faces, and, on w^et 
 days, would present himself to them with his bare 
 little red feet and half-naked body, rain water (doing 
 duty for tears), running from his weak bloodshot 
 eyes, and falsehoods of the most pitiable, complex, 
 and impudent character pouring from his thin blue 
 lips, whilst awful solemnity seemed to shine on his 
 visage. The certain result was — coppers ! 
 
 These kindly ones have, unw^ittingly of course, 
 changed a text of Scripture, and, for the words 
 " consider the poor," read " throw coppers to the 
 poor!" You see, it is much easier to relieve one's 
 feelings by giving away a few pence, than to take 
 the trouble of visiting, inquiring about, and other- 
 wise considering, the poor ! At all events it would 
 seem so, for Tim began to grow comparatively rich, 
 and corrupted, still more deeply, associates who were 
 already buried sufficiently in the depths of corrup- 
 tion. 
 
 At last little Tim was met by a lady who had 
 befriended him more than once, and who asked him 
 why he preferred begging in the streets to going to 
 the ragged school, where he would get not only food 
 for the body, but for the soul. He replied that he 
 was hungry, and his mother had no victuals to give 
 him, so he had gone out to beg. The lady went 
 straight to Mrs. Lumpy, found the story to be true. 
 
144 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 and that the poor half-blind old woman was quite 
 unable to support the boy and herself. The lady 
 prevailed on the old woman to attend the meetings 
 for poor, aged, and infirm women in Miss Mac- 
 pherson's " Bee-hive," and little Tim was taken into 
 the " Home for Destitute Little Boys under ten years 
 of age." 
 
 It was not all smooth sailing in that Home after 
 Tim Lumpy entered it! Being utterly imtamed, 
 Tim had many a sore struggle ere the temper was 
 brought under control. One day he was so bad that 
 the governess was obliged to punish him by leaving 
 him behind, while the other boys went out for a 
 walk. When left alone, the lady-superintendent 
 tried to converse with him about obedience, but he 
 became frightfully violent, and demanded his rags 
 that he might return again to the streets. Finally 
 he escaped, rushed to his old home in a paroxysm of 
 rage, and then, getting on the roof, declared to the 
 assembled neighbours that he would throw himself 
 down and dash out his brains. In this state a 
 Bible-woman found him. After offering the mental 
 prayer, " Lord, help me," she entreated him to come 
 down and join her in a cup of tea with his old 
 mother. The invitation perhaps struck the little 
 rebel as having a touch of humour in it. At all 
 events he accepted it and forthwith descended. 
 
 Over the tea, the Bible-woman prayed aloud 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 145 
 
 for him, aad the poor boy broke down, burst into 
 tears, and begged forgiveness. Soon afterwards 
 he was heard tapping at the door of the Home — 
 gentle and subdued. 
 
 Thus was this waif rescued, and he now dis- 
 cussed with his former comrade the prospect of 
 transferring themselves and their powers, mental 
 and physical, to Canada. Diverging from this 
 subject to Bobby's father, and his dark designs, 
 Tim asked if Ned Frog had absolutely decided 
 to break into Sir Eichard Brandon's house, and 
 Bobby replied that he had; that his father had 
 wormed out of the butler, who was a soft stupid 
 sort of cove, where the plate and valuables were 
 kept, and that he and another man had arranged 
 to do it. 
 
 " Is the partikler night fixed ?" asked Tim. 
 
 " Yes ; it 's to be the last night o' this month." 
 
 " Why not give notice ?" asked Tim. 
 
 " 'Cause I won't peach on daddy," said Bob Frog 
 stoutly. 
 
 Little Tim received this with a " quite right, old 
 dosser," and then proposed that the meeting should 
 adjourn, as he was expected back at the Home by 
 that time. 
 
 Two weeks or so after that. Police Constable No. 
 666 was walking quietly along one of the streets of 
 his particular beat in the West-end, with that state- 
 
 K 
 
146 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 liness of step which seems to he inseparable from 
 place, power, and six feet two. 
 
 It was a quiet street, such as Wealth loves to 
 inhabit. There were few carriages passing along it, 
 and fewer passengers. No. QQ6 had nothing par- 
 ticular to do — the inhabitants being painfully well- 
 behaved, and the sun high. His mind, therefore, 
 roamed about aimlessly, sometimes bringing play- 
 fully before him a small abode, not very far distant, 
 where a pretty woman was busy with household 
 operations, and a ferocious policeman, about three 
 feet high, was taking into custody an incorrigible 
 criminal of still smaller size. 
 
 A little boy, with very long arms and legs, might 
 have been seen following our friend Giles Scott, 
 until the latter entered upon one of those narrow 
 paths made by builders on the pavements of streets 
 when houses are undergoing repairs. Watching 
 until Giles was half way along it, the boy ran 
 nimbly up and accosted him with a familiar — 
 
 " Well, old man, 'ow are you ? " 
 
 "Pretty bobbish, thank you," returned the con- 
 stable, for he was a good-natured man, and rather 
 liked a little quiet chaff with street-boys when not 
 too much engaged with duty. 
 
 " Well, now, are you aweer that there 's agoin' to 
 be a burglairy committed in this 'ere quarter ?" asked 
 the boy, thrusting both hands deep into his pockets, 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 147 
 
 and bending his body a little back, so as to look 
 more easily up at his tall friend. 
 
 " Ah ! indeed, well no, I didn't know it, for I forgot 
 to examine the books at Scotland Yard this morning, 
 but I Ve no doubt it 's entered there by your friend 
 who 's goin' to commit it." 
 
 " No, it ain't entered there," said the boy, with a 
 manner and tone that rather surprised No. 666; 
 " and I 'd advise you to git out your note-book, an' 
 clap down wot I 'm agoin' to tell ye. You know the 
 'ouse of Sir Eichard Brandon ? " 
 
 "Yes, I know it." 
 
 "Well, that 'ouse is to be cracked on the 31st 
 night o' this month." 
 
 "How d'you know that, lad?" asked Giles, 
 moving towards the end of the barricade, so as to 
 get nearer to his informant. 
 
 " No use, bobby," said Tim, " big as you are, you 
 can't nab me. Believe me or not as you like, but I 
 advise you to look arter that there 'ouse on the 31st 
 if you valley your repitation." 
 
 Tim went off like a congreve rocket, dashed down 
 a side street, sloped into an alley, and melted into 
 a wilderness of bricks and mortar. 
 
 Of course Giles did not attempt to follow, but 
 some mysterious communications passed between 
 him and his superintendent that night before he 
 went to bed. 
 
148 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XL 
 
 SIR RICHARD AND MR. BRISBANE DISCUSS, AND DI LISTENS. 
 
 " My dear sir," said Sir Eichard Brandon, over a 
 glass of sherry one evening after dinner, to George 
 Brisbane, Esq. of Lively Hall, " the management of 
 the poor is a difiicult, a very difficult subject to deal 
 with." 
 
 "It is, unquestionably," assented Brisbane, "so 
 difficult, that I am afraid some of our legislators are 
 unwilling to face it ; but it ought to be faced, for 
 there is much to be done in the way of improving 
 the poor-laws, which at present tend to foster 
 pauperism in the young, and bear heavily on the 
 aged. Meanwhile, philanthropists find it necessary 
 to take up the case of the poor as a private enter- 
 prise." 
 
 " Pardon me, Brisbane, there I think you are in 
 error. Everything requisite to afford relief to the 
 poor is provided by the state. If the poor will not 
 take advantage of the provision, or the ^ machinery 
 is not well oiled and worked by the officials, the 
 remedy lies in greater wisdom on the part of the 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 149 
 
 poor, and supervision of officials — not in further 
 legislation. But what do you mean by our poor- 
 laws bearing heavily on the aged ? " 
 
 "I mean that the old people should be better 
 cared for, simply because of their age. Great age 
 is a sufficient argument of itself, I think, for throw- 
 ing a veil of oblivion over the past, and extending 
 charity with a liberal, pitying hand, because of 
 present distress, and irremediable infirmities. What- 
 ever may be the truth with regard to paupers and 
 workhouses in general, there ought to be a distinct 
 refuge for the aged, which should be attractive — not 
 repulsive, as at present — and age, without reference 
 to character or antecedents, should constitute the 
 title to enter it. ' God pity the aged poor,' is often 
 my prayer, 'and enable ns to feel more for them in 
 tile dreary, pitiful termination of their career.' " 
 
 " But, my dear sir," returned Sir Eichard, " you 
 would have old paupers crowding into such work- 
 houses, or refuges as you call them, by the thousand." 
 
 " Well, better that they should do so than that 
 they should die miserably by thousands in filthy 
 and empty rooms — sometimes without fire, or food, 
 or physic, or a single word of kindness to ease their 
 sad descent into the grave." 
 
 "But, then, Brisbane, as I said, it is their own 
 fault — they have the workhouse to go to." 
 
 " But, then, as / said, Sir Pdchard, the workhouse 
 
150 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 is rendered so repulsive to them that they keep out 
 of it as long as they can, and too often keep out so 
 long that it is too late, and their end is as I have 
 described. However, until things are better arranged, 
 we must do what we can for them in a private 
 way. Indeed Scripture teaches distinctly the neces- 
 sity for private charity, by such words as — ' the poor 
 ye have always with you,* and, 'blessed are they 
 who consider the poor/ Don't you agree with me, 
 Mr. Welland?" 
 
 Stephen Welland — who, since the day of his 
 accident, had become intimate with Mr. Brisbane and 
 Sir Eichard — replied that although deeply interested 
 in the discussion going on, his knowledge of the 
 subject was too slight to justify his holding any 
 decided opinion. 
 
 " Take another glass of .sherry," said Sir Eichard, 
 pushing the decanter towards the young man ; " it 
 will stir your brain and enable you to see your way 
 more clearly through this knotty point." 
 
 " No more, thank you. Sir Eichard." 
 
 " Come, come — fill your glass," said the knight ; 
 " you and I must set an example of moderate drink- 
 ing to Brisbane, as a counter-blast to his Blue 
 Eibbonism." 
 
 Welland smiled and re-filled his glass. 
 
 " Nay, I never thrust my opinions on that point on 
 people," said Brisbane, with a laugh, "but if you 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 151 
 
 loill draw the sword and challenge me, I won't 
 refuse the combat I" 
 
 " N'o, no, Brisbane. Please spare us ! I re-sheath 
 the sword, and need not that you should go all over 
 it again. I quite understand that you are no bigot, 
 that you think the Bible clearly permits and en- 
 courages total abstinence in certain circumstances, 
 though it does not teach it ; that, although a total 
 abstainer yourself, you do not refuse to give drink to 
 your friends if they desire it — and all that sort of 
 thing ; but pray let it pass, and I won't offend 
 again." 
 
 " Ah ! Sir Pdchard, you are an unfair foe. You 
 draw your sword to give me a wound through our 
 young friend, and then sheath it before I can return 
 on you. However, you have stated my position 
 so well that I forgive you and shake hands. But, to 
 return to the matter of private charity, are you 
 aware how little suffices to support the poor — how 
 very far the mere crumbs that fall from a rich man's 
 table will go to sustain them % Now, just take the 
 glass of wine which Welland has swallowed — 
 against his expressed wish, observe, and merely to 
 oblige you. Sir Eichard. Its value is, say, sixpence. 
 Excuse me, I do not of course refer to its real value, 
 but to its recognised restaurant-value! Well, I 
 happened the other day to be at a meeting of old 
 women at the ' Beehive' in Spitalfields ; there were 
 
152 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 some eighty or a hundred of them. With dim eyes 
 and trembling fingers they were sewing garments for 
 the boys who are to be sent out to Canada. Such 
 feeble workers could not find employment elsewhere, 
 but by liberal hearts a plan has been devised whereby 
 many an aged one, past work, can earn a few pence. 
 Twopence an hour is the pay. They are in the 
 habit of meeting once a week for three hours, and 
 thus earn sixpence. Many of these women, I may 
 remark, are true Christians. I wondered how far 
 such a sum would go, and how the poor old things 
 spent it. One woman sixty-three years of age 
 enlightened me. She was a feeble old creature, 
 suffering from chronic rheumatism and a dislocated 
 hip. When I questioned her she said — 
 
 " ' I have difficulties indeed, but I tell my Father 
 all. Sometimes, when I 'm very hungry and have 
 nothing to eat, I tell Him, and I know He hears me, 
 for He takes the feeling away, and it only leaves me 
 a little faint." 
 
 " ' But how do you spend the sixpence that you 
 earn here?' I asked." 
 
 " ' Well, sir,' she said, ' sometimes, when very hard 
 up, I spend part of it this way : — I buy a hap'orth 
 o' tea, a hap'orth o' sugar, a hap'orth o' drippin', a 
 hap'orth o' wood and a penn'orth o' bread. Some- 
 times when better off than usual I get a heap of 
 coals at a time, perhaps quarter of a cwt., because I 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 153 
 
 save a farthing by getting the whole quarter, an' 
 that lasts me a long time, and wi' the farthing I 
 mayhap treat myself to a drop o' milk. Sometimes, 
 too, I buy my penn'orth o' wood from the coopers 
 and chop it myself, for I can make it go further 
 that way/ 
 
 " So, you see, Welland," continued Brisbane, " your 
 glass of sherry would have gone a long way in the 
 domestic calculations of a poor old woman, who 
 very likely once had sons who were as fond of her 
 and as proud of her, as you now are of your own 
 mother." 
 
 " It is very sad that any class of human beings 
 should be reduced to so low an ebb," returned the 
 young man seriously. 
 
 " Yes, and it is very difficult," said Sir Eichard, '' to 
 reduce one's mental action so as to fully understand 
 the exact bearing of such minute monetary arrange- 
 ments, especially for one who is accustomed to 
 regard the subject of finance from a different stand- 
 point." 
 
 " But the saddest thing of all to me, and the most 
 difficult to understand," resumed Brisbane, " is the 
 state of mind and feeling of those professing Chris- 
 tians, who, with ample means, give exceedingly 
 little towards the alleviation of such distress, take 
 little or no interest in the condition of the poor, and 
 allow as much waste in their establishments as 
 
154 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 would, if turned to account, become streamlets of 
 absolute wealth to many of the destitute." 
 
 This latter remark was a thrust which told pretty- 
 severely on the host — all the more so, perhaps, that 
 he knew Brisbane did not intend it as a thrust at all, 
 for he was utterly ignorant of the fact that his friend 
 seldom gave anything away in charity, and even 
 found it difficult to pay his way and make the two 
 ends meet with his poor little five thousand a year 
 — for, you see, if a man has to keep up a fairly large 
 establishment, with a town and country house, and 
 have his yacht, and a good stable, and indulge in bet- 
 ting, and give frequent dinners, and take shootings 
 in Scotland, and amuse himself with jewellery, etc., 
 why, he must pay for it, you know ! 
 
 "The greatest trouble of these poor women, I 
 found," continued Brisbane, "is their rent, which 
 varies from 2s. to 3s. a week for their little rooms, 
 and it is a constant struggle with them to keep out 
 of ' the House," so greatly dreaded by the respect- 
 able poor. One of them told me she had lately 
 saved up a shilling with which she bought a pair of 
 ' specs,' and was greatly comforted thereby, for they 
 helped her fading eyesight. I thought at the time 
 what a deal of good might be done and comfort 
 given if people whose sight is changing would send 
 their disused spectacles to the Home of Industry in 
 Commercial Street, Spitalfields, for the poor. By 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 155 
 
 the way, your sight must have changed more than 
 once, Sir Eichard ! Have you not a pair or two of 
 disused spectacles to spare ?" 
 
 " Well, yes, I have a pair or two, but they have 
 gold rims, which would be rather incongruous on 
 the noses of poor people, don't you think ?" 
 
 " Oh ! by no means. We could manage to convert 
 the rims into blue steel, and leave something over 
 for sugar and tea." 
 
 " Well, I '11 send them," said Sir Richard with 
 a laugh. "By the way, you mentioned a plan 
 whereby those poor women were enabled to do useful 
 work, although too old for much. What plan might 
 that be?" 
 
 "It is a very simple plan," answered Brisbane, 
 " and consists chiefly in the work being apportioned 
 according to ability. Worn garments and odds and 
 ends of stuff are sent to the Beehive from all parts 
 of the country by sympathising friends. These are 
 heaped together in one corner of the room where the 
 poor old things work. Down before this mass of 
 stuff are set certain of the company who have large 
 constructive powers. These skilfully contrive, cut 
 out, alter, and piece together all kinds of clothing, 
 including the house slippers and Glengarry caps 
 worn by the little rescued boys. Even hand- 
 kerchiefs and babies' long frocks are conjured out 
 of a petticoat or muslin lining ! The work, thus 
 
156 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 selected and arranged, is put into tlie hands of 
 those who, though not skilful in originating, have 
 the plodding patience to carry out the designs of 
 the more ingenious, and so garments are produced 
 to cover the shivering limbs of any destitute child 
 that may enter the Eefuge as well as to complete 
 the outfits of the little emigrants." 
 
 "Well, Brisbane, I freely confess," said Sir 
 Eichard, *' that you have roused a degree of interest 
 in poor old women which I never felt before, and it 
 does seem to me that we might do a good deal more 
 for them with our mere superfluities and cast-off 
 clothing. Do the old women receive any food on 
 these working nights besides the pence they earn ? " 
 
 " Xo, I am sorry to say they do not — at least not 
 usually. You see it takes a hundred or more six- 
 pences every Monday merely to keep that sewing- 
 class going, and more than once there has been a 
 talk of closing it for want of funds, but the poor 
 creatures have pleaded so pitifully that they might 
 still be allowed to attend, even though they should 
 work at half-jprice, that it has been hitherto con- 
 tinued. You see it is a matter of no small moment 
 for those women merely to spend three hours in a 
 room with a good fire, besides which they delight in 
 the hymns and prayers and the loving counsel and 
 comfort they receive. It enables them to go out 
 into the cold, even though hungry, with more heart 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 157 
 
 and trust in God as they limp slowly back again to 
 their fireless grates and bare cupboards. 
 
 " The day on which I visited the place I could 
 not bear the thought of this, so I gave a sovereign 
 to let them have a good meal. This sufficed. Large 
 kettles are always kept in readiness for such occa- 
 sions. These were put . on immediately by the 
 matron. The elder girls in training on the floor 
 above set to work to cut thick slices of bread and 
 butter, the tea urns were soon brought down, and in 
 twenty minutes I had the satisfaction of seeing the 
 whole hundred eating heartily and enjoying a hot 
 meal. My own soul was fed, too — for the words 
 came to me, ' I was an hungered and ye gave me 
 meat,' and one old woman, sitting near me, said, ' 1 
 have a long walk home, ai^d have been casting over 
 in my mind all the afternoon whether I could spare 
 a penny for a cup of tea on the way. How good the 
 Lord is to send this ! ' " 
 
 With large, round, glittering eyes and parted lips, 
 and heightened colour and varying expression, sat 
 little Di Brandon at her father's elbow, almost 
 motionless, her little hands clasped tight, and utter- 
 ing never a word, but gazing intently at the speakers 
 and drinking it all in, while sorrow, surprise, sym- 
 pathy, indignation, and intense pity stirred her little 
 heart to its very centre. 
 
 In the nursery she retailed it all over, with an 
 
158 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 eager face and rapid commentary, to the sympathetic 
 Mrs. Screwbury, and finally, in bed, presided over 
 millions of old women who made up mountains of 
 old garments, devoured fields of buttered bread, and 
 drank oceans of steam in gj tea ! 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 159 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 SAMMY TWITTER S FALL. 
 
 We must turn now to Samuel Twitter, senior. 
 
 That genial old man was busy one morning in 
 the nursery, amusing little Mita, who had by that 
 time attained to what we may style the dawn-of- 
 intelligence period of life, and was what Mrs. 
 Loper, Mr. Crackaby, and Mr. Stickler called " en- 
 gaging." 
 
 "Mariarl" shouted Mr. Twitter to his amiable 
 spouse, who was finishing her toilet in the adjoining 
 room. "She's makin' faces at me — ^yes, she's 
 actually attempting to laugh !" 
 
 "The darling!" came from the next room, in 
 emphatic tones. 
 
 " Mariar !" 
 
 "Well, dear." 
 
 "Is Sammy down in the parlour V* 
 
 "I don't know. Why?" 
 
 "Because he's not in his room — tumti-iddidy- 
 too-too — you charming thing!" 
 
 It must be understood that the latter part of this 
 
160 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 sentence had reference to the baby, not to Mrs. 
 Twitter. 
 
 Having expended his affections and all his spare 
 time on Mita, — who, to do her justice, made faces 
 enough at him to repay his attentions in full, — 
 Mr. Twitter descended to the breakfast parlour and 
 asked the domestic if she had seen Sammy yet. 
 
 " No, sir, I hain't." 
 
 " Are you sure he 's not in his room ? " 
 
 " Well, no, sir, but I knocked twice and got no 
 answer." 
 
 " Very odd ; Sammy didn't use to be late, nor to' 
 sleep so soundly," said Mr. Twitter, ascending to 
 the attic of his eldest son. 
 
 Obtaining no reply to his knock, he opened the 
 door and found that the room was empty. More 
 than that, he discovered, to his surprise and alarm, 
 that Sammy's bed was unruffled, so that Sammy 
 himself must have slept elsewhere ! 
 
 In silent consternation the father descended to 
 his bedroom and said, " Mariar, Sammy's gone !" 
 
 "Dead!" exclaimed Mrs. Twitter with a look of 
 horror. 
 
 " No, no ; not dead, but gone — gone out of the 
 house. Did not sleep in it last night, apparently." 
 
 Poor Mrs. Twitter sank into a chair and gazed 
 at her husband with a stricken face. 
 
 Up to that date the familj^ had prospered steadily, 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 161 
 
 and, may we not add, deservedly; their children 
 having been trained in the knowledge of God, their 
 duties having been conscientiously discharged, their 
 sympathies with suffering humanity encouraged, 
 and their general principles carried into practical 
 effect. The consequence was that they were a 
 well-ordered and loving family. There are many 
 such in our land — families which are guided by 
 the Spirit and the Word of God. The sudden 
 disappearance, therefore, of the eldest son of the 
 Twitter family was not an event to be taken lightly, 
 for he had never slept out of his own particular bed 
 without the distinct knowledge of his father and 
 mother since he was born, and his appearance at the 
 breakfast-table had been hitherto as certain as the 
 rising of the sun or the winding of the eight-day 
 clock by his father every Saturday night. 
 
 In addition to all this, Sammy was of an amiable 
 disposition, and had been trustworthy, so that when 
 he came to the years of discretion — which his father 
 had fixed at fifteen — he was allowed a latch-key, as 
 he had frequently to work at his employer's books 
 till a latish hour, — sometimes eleven o'clock — after 
 the family, including the domestic, had gone to rest. 
 
 *' Now, Samuel," said Mrs. Twitter, with a slight 
 return of her wonted energy, "there can be only 
 two explanations of this. Either the dear boy has 
 met with an accident, or — " 
 
 L 
 
162 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 "Well, Mariar, why do you pause ?** 
 
 " Because it seems so absurd to think of, much 
 more to talk of, his going wrong or running away ! 
 The first thing I Ve got to do, Samuel, is to go to 
 the police-office, report the case, and hear what they 
 have to advise." 
 
 " The very thing I was thinking of, Mariar ; but 
 don't it strike you it might be better that / should 
 go to the station?" 
 
 " JS'o, Samuel, the station is near. I can do that, 
 while you take a cab, go straight away to his 
 office and find out at what hour he left. [N'ow, go ; 
 we have not a moment to lose. Mary " (this was 
 the next in order to Sammy) " will look after the 
 children's breakfast. Make haste !" 
 
 Mr. Twitter made haste — made it so fast that he 
 made too much of it, over-shot the mark, and went 
 down-stairs head foremost, saluting the front door 
 with a rap that threw that of the postman entirely 
 into the shade. But Twitter was a springy as well 
 as an athletic man. He arose undamaged, made no 
 remark to his more than astonished children, and 
 went his way. 
 
 Mrs. Twitter immediately followed her husband's 
 example in a less violent and eccentric manner. 
 The superintendent of police received her with that 
 affable display of grave good-will which is a charac- 
 teristic of the force. He listened with patient 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 163 
 
 attention to the rather incoherent tale which she 
 told with much agitation — unbosoming herself to this 
 officer to a quite unnecessary extent as to private 
 feelings and opinions, and, somehow, feeling as if he 
 were a trusted and confidential friend though he 
 was an absolute stranger — such is the wonderful 
 influence of Power in self-possessed repose, over 
 Weakness in distressful uncertainty ! 
 
 Having heard all that the good lady had to say, 
 with scarcely a word of interruption ; having put a 
 few pertinent and relevant questions and noted the 
 replies, the superintendent advised Mrs. Twitter to 
 calm herself, for that it would soon be "all right;" 
 to return home, and abide the issue of his exertions ; 
 to make herself as easy in the circumstances as 
 possible, and, finally, sent her away with the first 
 ray of comfort that had entered her heart since the 
 news of Sammy's disappearance had burst upon her 
 like a thunderclap. 
 
 " What a thing it is," she muttered to herself on 
 her way home, " to put things into the hands of a 
 man! — one you can feel sure will do everything 
 sensibly and well, and without fuss." The good 
 lady meant no disparagement to her sex by this — 
 far from it ; she referred to a manly man as compared 
 with an unmanly one, and she thought, for one 
 moment, rather disparagingly about the salute which 
 her Samuel's bald pate had given to the door that 
 
164 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 morning. Probably she failed to think of the fussy 
 manner in which she herself had assaulted the 
 superintendent of police, for it is said that people 
 seldom see themselves ! 
 
 But Mrs. Twitter was by no means bitter in her 
 thoughts, and her conscience twitted her a little for 
 having perhaps done Samuel a slight injustice. 
 
 Indeed she had done him injustice, for that 
 estimable little man went about his inquiries after 
 the lost Sammy with a lump as big as a walnut on 
 the top of his head, and with a degree of persistent 
 energy that might have made the superintendent 
 himself envious. 
 
 "E'ot been at the office for two days, sir!" ex- 
 claimed Mr. Twitter, repeating — in surprised indig- 
 nation, for he could not believe it — the words of 
 Sammy's employer, who was a merchant in the hard- 
 ware line. 
 
 "No, sir," said the hardware man, whose face 
 seemed as hard as his ware. 
 
 "Do — you — mean — to — tell — me," said Twitter, 
 with deliberate solemnity, " that my son Samuel has 
 not been in this office for two days V 
 
 "That is precisely what I mean to tell you," 
 returned the hardware man, "and I mean to tell 
 you, moreover, that your son has been very irregular 
 of late in his attendance, and that on more than one 
 occasion he has come here drunk. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 165 
 
 " Drunk !" repeated Twitter, almost in a shout. 
 
 " Yes, sir, drunk — intoxicated." 
 
 The hardware man seemed at that moment to Mr. 
 Twitter the hardest- ware man that ever confronted 
 him. He stood for some moments aghast and 
 speechless. 
 
 " Are you aware, sir," he said at last, in impressive 
 tones, " that my son Samuel wears the blue ribbon ?" 
 
 The hardware man inquired, with an expression 
 of affected surprise, what that had to do with the 
 question ; and further, gave it as his opinion that a 
 bit of blue ribbon was no better than a bit of red 
 or green ribbon if it had not something better 
 behind it. 
 
 This latter remark, although by no means meant 
 to soothe, had the effect of reducing Mr. Twitter to 
 a condition of sudden humility. 
 
 " There, sir," said he, " I entirely agree with you, 
 but I had believed — indeed it seems to me almost 
 •impossible to believe otherwise — that my poor boy 
 had religious principle behind his blue ribbon." 
 
 This was said in such a meek tone, and with such 
 a wo-begone look — as the conviction began to dawn 
 that Sammy was not immaculate — that the hard- 
 ware man began visibly to soften, and at last a con- 
 fidential talk was established, in which was revealed 
 such a series of irregularities on the part of the 
 erring son, that the poor father's heart was crushed, 
 
166 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 for the time, and, as it were, trodden in the dust. 
 In his extremity, he looked np to God and found 
 relief in rolling his care upon Him. 
 
 As he slowly recovered from the shock, Twitter's 
 brain resumed its wonted activity. 
 
 "You have a number of clerks, I believe?'' he 
 suddenly asked the hardware man. 
 
 " Yes, I have — four of them." 
 
 "Would you object to taking me through your 
 warehouse, as if to show it to me, and allow me to 
 look at your clerks ?" 
 
 " Certainly not. Come along." 
 
 On entering, they found one tying up a parcel, 
 one writing busily, one reading a book, and one 
 balancing a ruler on his nose. The latter, on being 
 thus caught in the act, gave a short laugh, returned 
 the ruler to its place, and quietly went on with his 
 work. The reader of the book started, endeavoured 
 to conceal the volume, in which effort he was 
 unsuccessful, and became very red in the face as 
 he resumed his pen. 
 
 The employer took no notice, and Mr. Twitter 
 looked very hard at the hardware in the distant end 
 of the warehouse, just over the desk at which the 
 clerks sat. He made a few undertoned remarks to the 
 master, and then, crossing over to the desk, said : — 
 
 " Mr. Dobbs, may I have the pleasure of a few 
 minutes' conversation with you outside ?" 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDb^ 16*7 
 
 '^C— certainly, sir," replied Dobbs, rising with a 
 redder face than ever, and putting on his hat. 
 
 " Will you be so good as to tell me, Mr, Dobbs," 
 said Twitter, in a quiet but very decided way when 
 outside, " where my son Samuel Twitter spent last 
 night?" 
 
 Twitter looked steadily in the clerk's eyes as he 
 put this question. He was making a bold stroke for 
 success as an amateur detective, and, as is frequently 
 the result of bold strokes, he succeeded. 
 
 " Eh ! you — your — y — son S — Samuel," stam- 
 mered Dobbs, looking at Twitter's breast-pin, and 
 then at the ground, while varying expressions of 
 guilty shame and defiance flitted across his face. 
 
 He had a heavy, somewhat sulky face, with in- 
 decision of character stamped on it. Mr. Twitter 
 saw that and took advantage of the latter quality. 
 
 " My poor boy," he said, " don't attempt to deceive 
 me. You are guilty, and you know it. Stay, don't 
 speak yet. I have no wish to injure you. On the 
 contrary, I pray God to bless and save you; but 
 what I want with you at this moment is to learn 
 where my dear boy is. If you tell me, no further 
 notice shall be taken of this matter, I assure you." 
 
 "Does — does — he know anything about this?' 
 asked Dobbs, glancing in the direction of the ware- 
 house of the hardware man. 
 
 " No, nothing of your having led Sammy astray. 
 
168 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 if that 's what you mean, — at least, not from me, and 
 you may depend on it he shall hear nothing, if you 
 only confide in me. Of course he may have his 
 suspicions." 
 
 " Well, sir," said Dobbs, with a sigh of relief, " he 's 
 in my lodgings." 
 
 Having ascertained the address of the lodgings, 
 the poor father called a cab and soon stood by the 
 side of a bed on which his son Sammy lay sprawling 
 in the helpless attitude in which he had fallen 
 down the night before, after a season of drunken 
 riot. He was in a heavy sleep, with his still inno- 
 cent-looking features tinged with the first blight of 
 dissipation. 
 
 " Sammy," said the father, in a husky voice, as 
 he shook him gently by the arm ; but the poor boy 
 made no answer — even a roughish shake failed to 
 draw from him more than the grumbled desire, " let 
 me alone." 
 
 " Oh ! God spare and save him ! " murmured the 
 father, in a still husky voice, as he fell on his knees 
 by the bedside and prayed — prayed as though his 
 heart were breaking, while the object of his prayer 
 lay apparently unconscious through it all. 
 
 He rose, and was standing by the bedside, uncer- 
 tain how to act, when a heavy tread was heard on 
 the landing, the door was thrown open, and the 
 landlady, announcing "a gentleman, sir," ushered 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 169 
 
 in the superintendent of police, who looked at Mr. 
 Twitter with a slight expression of surprise. 
 
 " You are here before me, I see, sir," he said. 
 
 " Yes, but how did you come to find out that he 
 was here ? " 
 
 " Well, I had not much difficulty. You see it is 
 part of our duty to keep our eyes open," replied 
 the superintendent, with a peculiar smile, " and I 
 have on several occasions observed your son entering 
 this house with a companion in a condition which 
 did not quite harmonise with his blue ribbon, so, 
 after your good lady explained the matter to me 
 this morning I came straight here." 
 
 " Thank you — thank you. It is very kind. I — 
 you — it could not have been better managed." 
 
 Mr. Twitter stopped and looked helplessly at the 
 figure on the bed. 
 
 " Perhaps," said the superintendent, with much 
 delicacy of feeling, " you would prefer to be alone 
 with your boy when he awakes. If I can be of 
 any further use to you, you know where to find me. 
 Good-day, sir." 
 
 Without waiting for a reply the considerate 
 superintendent left the room. 
 
 " Oh I Sammy, Sammy, speak to me, my dear 
 boy — speak to your old father 1 " he cried, turning 
 again to the bed and kneeling beside it; but the 
 drunken sleeper did not move. 
 
170 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Eising hastily he went to the door and called the 
 landlady. 
 
 " I '11 go home, missis," he said, " and send the 
 poor lad's mother to him." 
 
 " Very well, sir, 1 11 look well after Im till she 
 comes." 
 
 Twitter was gone in a moment, and the old land- 
 lady returned to her lodger's room. There, to her 
 surprise, she found Sammy up and hastily pulling 
 on his boots. 
 
 In truth he had been only shamming sleep, and, 
 although still very drunk, was quite capable of 
 looking after himself. He had indeed been asleep 
 when his father's entrance awoke him, but a feeling 
 of intense shame had induced him to remain quite 
 still, and then, having commenced with this un- 
 spoken lie, he felt constrained to carry it out. But 
 the thought of facing his mother he could not bear, 
 for the boy had a sensitive spirit and was keenly 
 alive to the terrible fall he had made. At the same 
 time he was too cowardly to face the consequences. 
 Dressing himself as well as he could, he rushed from 
 the house in spite of the earnest entreaties of the 
 old landlady, so that when the distracted mother 
 came to embrace and forgive her erring child she 
 found that he had fled. 
 
 Plunging into the crowded thoroughfares of the 
 great city, and walking swiftly along without aim or 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 171 
 
 desire, eaten up with shame, and rendered despe- 
 rate by remorse, the now reckless youth sought 
 refuge in a low grog-shop, and called for a glass 
 of beer. 
 
 "Well, I say, you're com — comin' it raither 
 strong, ain't you, young feller ? " said a voice at his 
 elbow. 
 
 He looked up hastily, and saw a blear-eyed youth 
 in a state of drivelling intoxication, staring at him 
 with the expression of an idiot. 
 
 " That's no business of yours," replied Sam Twit- 
 ter, sharply. 
 
 " Well, thash true, 'tain't no b — busnish o' mine. 
 I — I 'm pretty far gone m'self, I allow ; but I ain't 
 quite got the 1 — length o' drinkin' in a p — pub, 
 k 'ouse wi' th' bl — blue ribb'n on." 
 
 The fallen lad glanced at his breast. There it 
 was, — forgotten, desecrated ! He tore it fiercely 
 from his button-hole, amid the laughter of the by- 
 standers — most of whom were women of the lowest 
 grade — and dashed it on the floor. 
 
 " Thash right — you 're a berrer feller than I took 
 you for," said the sot at his elbow. 
 
 To avoid further attention Sammy took his beer 
 into a dark corner and was quickly forgotten. 
 
 He had not been seated more than a few minutes 
 when the door opened, and a man with a mild, gentle, 
 yet manly face entered. 
 
 t3 
 
172 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Have a glass, or feller V said the sot, the instant 
 he caught sight of him. 
 
 " Thank you, no — not to-day," replied John Sea- 
 ward, for it was our city missionary on what he 
 sometimes called a fishing excursion — fishing for 
 men! "I have come to give you a glass to-day, 
 friends." 
 
 "Well, that's friendly," said a gruff voice in a 
 secluded box, out of which next minute staggered 
 !N'ed Frog. " Come, what is 't to be, old man ? " 
 
 " A looking-glass," replied the missionary, picking 
 out a tract from the bundle he held in his hand and 
 offering it to the ex-prize-fighter. " But the tract 
 is not the glass I speak of, friend : here it is, in the 
 Word of that God who made us all — made the 
 throats that swallow the drink, and the brains that 
 reel under it." 
 
 Here he read from a small Bible, " ' But they also 
 have erred through wine, and through strong drink 
 are out of the way.' " 
 
 "Bah!" said Ned, flinging the tract on the floor, 
 and exclaiming as he left the place with a swing ; 
 " I don't drink wine, old man ; can't afford anything 
 better than beer, though sometimes, when I'm in 
 luck, I have a drop of Old Tom." 
 
 There was a great burst of ribald laughter at 
 this, and numerous were the witticisms perpetrated 
 at the expense of the missionary, but he took no 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 173 
 
 notice of these for a time, occupying himself merely 
 in turning over the leaves of his Bible. When 
 there was a lull he said : — 
 
 " Now, desfr sisters " (turning to the women who, 
 with a more or less drunken aspect and slatternly 
 air, were staring at him), " for sisters of mine you 
 are, having been made by the same Heavenly Father ; 
 I won't offer you another glass, — not even a look- 
 ing-glass, — for the one I have already held up to 
 you will do, if God's Holy Spirit opens your eyes 
 to see yourselves in it ; but I '11 give you a better 
 object to look at. It is a Saviour — one who is able 
 to save you from the drink, and from sin in every 
 form. You know His name well, most of you ; it 
 is Jesus, and that name means Saviour, for He came 
 to save His people from their sins." 
 
 At this point he was interrupted by one of the 
 women, who seemed bent on keeping up the spirit 
 of banter with which they had begun. She asked 
 him with a leer if he had got a wife. 
 
 " No," he said, " but I have got a great respect 
 and love for women, because I 've got a mother, and 
 if ever there was a woman on the face of this earth 
 that deserves the love of a son, that woman is my 
 mother. Sister," he added, turning to one of those 
 who sat on a bench near him with a thin, puny, 
 curly-haired boy wrapped up in her ragged shawl, 
 " the best prayer that I could offer up for you — and 
 
174 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 I do offer it — is, that the little chap in your arms 
 may grow up to bless his mother as heartily as I 
 bless mine, but that can never be so long as you 
 love the strong drink and refuse the Saviour." 
 
 At that moment a loud cry was heard outside. 
 They all rose and ran to the door, where a Avoman, 
 in the lowest depths of depravity, with her eyes 
 bloodshot, her hair tumbling about her half-naked 
 shoulders, and her ragged garments draggled and 
 wet, had fallen in her efforts to enter the public- 
 house to obtain more of the poison which had 
 already almost destroyed her. She had cut her 
 forehead, and the blood flowed freely over her face 
 as the missionary lifted her. He was a powerful 
 man, and could take her up tenderly and with ease. 
 She was not much hurt, however. After Seaward 
 had bandaged the cut with his own handkerchief 
 she professed to be much better. 
 
 This little incident completed the good influence 
 which the missionary's words and manner had pre- 
 viously commenced. Most of the women began to 
 weep as they listened to the words of love, encour- 
 agement, and hope addressed to them. A few of 
 course remained obdurate, though not unimpressed. 
 
 All this time young Sam Twitter remained in his 
 dark corner, with his head resting on his arms 
 to prevent his being recognised. Well did he know 
 John Seaward, and well did Seaward know him. 
 
DQSTY DIAMONDS. 175 
 
 for the missionary had long been a fellow-worker 
 with Mrs. Twitter in George Yard and at the Home 
 of Industry. The boy was very anxious to escape 
 Seaward's observation. This was not a difficult 
 matter. When the missionary left, after distribut- 
 ing his tracts, Sammy rose up and sought to hide 
 himself — from himself, had that been possible — in 
 the lowest slums of London. 
 
17C DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 TELLS OF SOME CURIOUS AND VIGOROUS PECULIARITIES OP 
 THE LOWER ORDERS. 
 
 Now it must not be supposed that Mrs. Frog, 
 having provided for her baby and got rid of it, 
 remained thereafter quite indifferent to it. On the 
 contrary, she felt the blank more than she had 
 expected, and her motherly heart began to yearn 
 for it powerfully. 
 
 To gratify this yearning to some extent, she got 
 into the habit of paying frequent visits, sometimes 
 by night and sometimes by day, to the street in 
 which Samuel Twitter lived, and tried to see her 
 baby through the stone walls of the house ! Her 
 eyes being weak, as well as her imagination, she 
 failed in this effort, but the mere sight of the house 
 where little Matty was, sufficed to calm her mater- 
 nal yearnings in some slight degree. 
 
 By the way, that name reminds us of our having 
 omitted to mention that baby Frog's real name was 
 Matilda, and her pet name Matty, so that the name 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 177 
 
 of Mita, fixed on by the Twitters, was not so wide 
 of the mark as it might have been. 
 
 One night Mrs. Frog, feeling the yearning strong 
 upon her, put on her bonnet and shawl — that is to 
 say, the bundle of dirty silk, pasteboard, and flowers 
 which represented the one, and the soiled tartan rag 
 that did duty for the other. 
 
 "Where are ye off to, old woman?" asked Ned, 
 who, having been recently successful in some little 
 "job," was in high good humour. 
 
 " I 'm goin' round to see Mrs. Tibbs, Ned. D' you 
 want me?" 
 
 " No, on'y I 'm goin' that way too, so we 11 walk 
 together." 
 
 Mrs. Frog, we regret to say, was not particular as 
 to the matter of truth. She had no intention of 
 going near Mrs. Tibbs, but, having committed her- 
 self, made a virtue of necessity, and resolved to pay 
 that lady a visit. 
 
 The conversation by the way was not sufficiently 
 interesting to be worthy of record. Arrived at 
 Twdtter's street an idea struck Mrs. Frog. 
 
 " Ned," said she, " I *m tired." 
 
 "Well, old girl, you'd better cut home." 
 
 " I think I will, Ned, but first 1 11 sit down on 
 this step to rest a bit." 
 
 " All right, old girl," said Ned, who would have 
 said the same words if she had proposed to stand 
 
 M 
 
178 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 on her head on the step — so easy was he in his 
 mind as to how his wife spent her time ; " if you sit 
 for half-an-hour or so 1 11 be back to see you 'ome 
 again. I 'm on'y goin' to Bundle's shop for a bit 
 o' baccy. Ain't I purlite now ? Don't it mind you 
 of the courtin* days ?" 
 
 " Ah ! Ned," exclaimed the wife, while a sudden 
 gush of memory brought back the days when he 
 was handsome and kind, — but !N"ed was gone, and 
 th'e slightly thawed spring froze up again. 
 
 She sat down on the cold step of a door which 
 happened to be somewhat in the shade, and gazed at 
 the opposite windows. There was a light in one of 
 them. She knew it well. She had often watched 
 the shadows that crossed the blind after the gas 
 was lighted, and once she had seen some one carry- 
 ing something which looked like a baby ! It might 
 have been a bundle of soiled linen, or undarned 
 socks, but it might have been Matty, and the thought 
 sent a thrill to the forlorn creature's heart. 
 
 On the present occasion she was highly favoured, 
 for, soon after Ned had left, the shadows came again 
 on the blind, and came so near it as to be distinctly 
 visible. Yes, there could be no doubt now, it wets 
 a baby, and as there was only one baby in that 
 house it followed that the baby was her baby — little 
 Matty ! Here was something to carry home with her, 
 and think over and dream about. But there was 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 179 
 
 more in store for her. The baby, to judge from the 
 shadowy action of its fat limbs on the blind, became 
 what she called obstropolous. More than that, it 
 yelled, and its mother heard the yell — faintly, it is 
 true, but sufficiently to send a thrill of joy to her 
 longing heart. 
 
 Then a sudden fear came over her. "What if it 
 was ill, and they were trying to soothe it to rest ! 
 How much better she could do that if she only had 
 the baby ! 
 
 "Oh! fool that. I was to part with her!" she 
 murmured, "but no. It was best. She would 
 surely have bin dead by this time." 
 
 The sound of the little voice, however, had roused 
 such a tempest of longing in Mrs. Frog's heart, that, 
 under an irresistible impulse, she ran across the 
 road and rang the bell. The door was promptly 
 opened by Mrs. Twitter's domestic. 
 
 "Is — is the baby well?" stammered Mrs. Frog, 
 scarce knowing what she said. 
 
 " You 've nothink to do wi' the baby that I knows 
 on," returned Mrs. Twitter's domestic, who was not 
 quite so polite as her mistress. 
 
 " No, honey," said Mrs. Frog in a wheedling tone, 
 rendered almost desperate by the sudden necessity 
 for instant invention, " but the doctor said I was to 
 ask if baby had got over it, or if 'e was to send 
 round the — the — I forget its name — at once." 
 
180 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 "What doctor sent you?" asked Mrs. Twitter, 
 who had come out of the parlour on hearing the 
 voices through the doorway, and with her came a 
 clear and distinct yell which Mrs. Frog treasured 
 up in her thinly clad but warm bosom, as though 
 it had been a strain from Paradise. " There must 
 surely be some mistake, my good woman, for my 
 baby is quite well." 
 
 "Oh! thank you, thank you — yes, there must 
 have been some mistake," said Mrs. Frog, scarce 
 able to restrain a laugh of joy at the success of her 
 scheme, as she retired precipitately from the door 
 and hurried away. 
 
 She did not go far, however, but, on hearing the 
 door shut, turned back and took up her position 
 again on the doorstep. 
 
 Poor Mrs. Prog had been hardened and saddened 
 by sorrow, and suffering, and poverty, and bad 
 treatment; nevertheless she was probably one of 
 the happiest women in London just then. 
 
 '''My baby,'" she said, quoting part of Mrs. 
 Twitter's remarks with a sarcastic laugh, "no, madam, 
 she's not your baby yet !" 
 
 As she sat reflecting on this agreeable fact, a 
 heavy step was heard approaching. It was too 
 slow for that of Ned. She knew it well — a 
 policeman ! 
 
 There are hard-hearted policemen in the force — ■ 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 181 
 
 not many, indeed, but nothing is perfect in this 
 world, and there are ^few hard-hearted policemen. 
 He who approached was one of these. 
 
 " Move on," he said in a stern voice. 
 
 " Please, sir, I 'm tired. On'y restin' a bit while 
 I wait for my 'usband," pleaded Mrs. Frog. 
 
 " Come, move on," repeated the unyielding con- 
 stable in a tone that there was no disputing. In- 
 deed it was so strong that it reached the ears of 
 Ned Frog himself, who chanced to come round the 
 corner at the moment and saw the policeman, as he 
 imagined, maltreating his wife. 
 
 Ned was a man who, while he claimed and 
 exercised the right to treat his own wife as he 
 pleased, was exceedingly jealous of the interference 
 of others with his privileges. He advanced, there- 
 fore, at once, and planted his practised knuckles on 
 the policeman's forehead with such power that the 
 unfortunate limb of the law rolled over in one 
 direction and his helmet in another. 
 
 As every one knows, the police sometimes suffer 
 severely at the hands of roughs, and on this 
 occasion that truth was verified, but the policeman 
 who had been knocked down by this prize-fighter 
 was by no means a feeble member of the force. 
 Eecovering from his astonishment in a moment, he 
 sprang up and grappled with Ned Frog in such a 
 manner as to convince that worthy he had ''his 
 
182 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 work cut out for him." The tussle that ensued was 
 tremendous, and Mrs. Frog retired into a doorway to 
 enjoy it in safety. But it was brief. Before either 
 wrestler could claim the victory, a brother constable 
 came up, and Ned was secured and borne away to 
 a not unfamiliar cell before he could enjoy even one 
 pipe of the " baccy " which he had purchased. 
 
 Thus it came to pass, that when a certain comrade 
 expected to find "Ned Frog at a certain mansion in 
 the West-end, prepared with a set of peculiar tools 
 for a certain purpose, Ned was in the enjoyment of 
 board and lodging at Her Majesty's expense. 
 
 The comrade, however, not being aware of Ned's 
 incarceration, and believing, no doubt, that there was 
 honour among thieves, was true to his day and 
 hour. He had been engaged down somewhere in the 
 country on business, and came up by express train 
 for this particular job; hence his ignorance as to 
 his partner's fate. 
 
 But this burglar was not a man to be easily 
 balked in his purpose. 
 
 " Ned must be ill, or got a haccident o' some sort," 
 he said to a very little but sharp boy who was to 
 assist in the job. " Howsever, you an' me '11 go at 
 it alone. Sniveller." 
 
 " Wery good, Bunky," replied Sniveller, " 'ow is 
 it to be ? By the winder, through the door, down 
 the chimbly, up the spout — or wot?" 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 183 
 
 " The larder windy, my boy/' 
 
 " Sorry for that/' said Sniveller. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " 'Cause it is so 'ard to go past the nice things an* 
 smell 'em all without darin' to touch 'em till I lets 
 you in. Couldn't you let me 'ave a feed first ?" 
 
 " Unpossible," said the burglar. 
 
 "Wery good," returned the boy, with a sigh of 
 resignation. 
 
 Now, while these two were whispering to each 
 other in a box of an adjoining tavern, three police 
 constables were making themselves at home in the 
 premises of Sir Eichard Brandon. One of these was 
 No. 666. 
 
 It is not quite certain, even to this day, how and 
 where these men were stationed, for their proceedings 
 — though not deeds of evil — were done in the dark, at 
 least in darkness which was rendered visible only 
 now and then by bull's-eye lanterns. The only 
 thing that was absolutely clear to the butler, Mr. 
 Thomas Balls, was, that the mansion was given over 
 entirely to the triumvirate to be dealt with as they 
 thought fit. 
 
 Of course they did not know when the burglars 
 would come, nor the particular point of the mansion 
 where the assault would be delivered; therefore 
 No. 666 laid his plans like a wise general, posted 
 his troops where there was most likelihood of their 
 
184 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 being required, and kept himself in reserve for 
 contingencies. 
 
 About that " wee short hour " of which the poet 
 Burns writes, a small boy was lifted by a large man 
 to the sill of the small window which lighted Sir 
 Kichard Brandon's pantry. To the surprise of the 
 small boy, he found the window unfastened. 
 
 " They've bin an' forgot it !" he whispered. 
 
 " Git in," was the curt reply. 
 
 Sniveller got in, dropped to his extreme length 
 from the sill, let go his hold, and came down lightly 
 on the floor — not so lightly, however, but that a 
 wooden stool placed there was overturned, and, 
 falling against a blue plate, broke it with a crash. 
 
 Sniveller became as one petrified, and remained so 
 for a considerable time, till he imagined all danger 
 from sleepers having been awakened was over. He 
 also thought of thieving cats, and thanked them 
 mentally. He likewise became aware of the near 
 presence of pastry. The smell was delicious, but 
 a sense of duty restrained him. 
 
 No. 666 smiled to himself to think how well 
 his trap had acted, but the smile was lost in 
 darkness. 
 
 Meanwhile, the chief operator, Bunky, went round 
 to the back door. Sniveller, who had been taught 
 the geography of the mansion from a well-executed 
 plan, proceeded to the same door inside. Giles could 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 185 
 
 have patted his little head as he carefully drew back 
 the bolts and turned the key. Another moment, 
 and Bunky, on his stocking soles, stood within the 
 mansion. 
 
 Yet another moment, and Bunky was enjoying an 
 embrace that squeezed most of the wind out of his 
 body, strong though he was, for No. 666 was apt to 
 forget his excessive power when duty constrained 
 him to act with promptitude. 
 
 " Now, then, show a light," said Giles, quietly. 
 
 Two bull's-eyes flashed out their rich beams at 
 the word, and lit up a tableau of three, in attitudes 
 faintly resembling those of the Laocoon, without the 
 serpents. 
 
 " Fetch the bracelets," said Giles. 
 
 At these words the buirs-eyes converged, and 
 Sniveller, bolting through the open door, vanished — 
 he was never heard of more ! 
 
 Then followed two sharp clicks, succeeded by a 
 sigh of relief as No. 666 relaxed his arms. 
 
 " You needn't rouse the household unless you feel 
 inclined, my man," said Giles to Bunky in a low 
 voice. 
 
 Bunky did not feel inclined. He thought it 
 better, on the whole, to let the sleeping dogs lie, and 
 wisely submitted to inevitable fate. He was 
 marched off to jail, while one of the constables 
 remained behind to see the house made safe, and 
 
186 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 acquaint Sir Eichard of his deliverance from the 
 threatened danger. 
 
 Eeferring to this matter on the following day in 
 the servants* hall, Thomas Balls filled a foaming 
 tankard of ginger-beer — for, strange to say, he was 
 an abstainer, though a butler — and proposed, in a 
 highly eulogistic speech, the health and prosperity 
 of that admirable body of men, the Metropolitan 
 Police, with which toast he begged to couple the 
 name of No. 666 1 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 187 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 NO. 666 OFF DUTY. 
 
 Some time after the attempt made upon Sir 
 Eichard Brandon's house, Giles Scott was seated at 
 his own fireside, helmet and truncheon laid aside, 
 uniform taken off, and a free and easy suit of plain 
 clothes put on. 
 
 His pretty wife sat beside him darning a pair of 
 very large socks. The juvenile policeman, and the 
 incorrigible criminal were sound asleep in their re- 
 spective cribs, the one under the print of the Queen, 
 the other under that of Sir Eobert Peel. Giles was 
 studying a small book of instructions as to the 
 duties of police constables, and pretty Molly was 
 commenting on the same, for she possessed that 
 charming quality of mind and heart which induces 
 the possessor to take a sympathetic and lively 
 interest in whatever may happen to be going on. 
 
 "They expect pretty hard work of you, Giles," 
 remarked Molly with a sigh, as she thought of the 
 prolonged hours of absence from home^ and the 
 frequent night duty. 
 
188 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Why, Moll, you wouldn't have me wish for easy 
 work at my time of life, would you?" replied the 
 policeman, looking up from his little book with an 
 amused smile. " Somebody must always be taking 
 a heavy lift of the hard work of this world, and If a 
 big hulking fellow like me in the prime o' life don't 
 do it, who will ? " 
 
 " True, Giles, but surely you won't deny me the 
 small privilege of wishing that you had a little less to 
 do, and a little more time with your family. You men, 
 — especially you Scotchmen — are such an argu- 
 mentative set, that a poor woman can't open her 
 lips to say a word, but you pounce upon it and 
 make an argument of it." 
 
 " ^N'ow Molly, there you go again, assuming my 
 duties ! Why do you take me up so sharp ? Isn't 
 taking-up the special privilege of the police ? " 
 
 "Am I not entitled," said Molly, ignoring her 
 husband's question, "to express regret that your 
 work should include coming home now and then 
 with scratched cheeks, and swelled noses, and black 
 eyes ? " 
 
 "Come now," returned Giles, "you must admit 
 that I have fewer of these discomforts than most 
 men of the force, owing, no doubt, to little men 
 being unable to reach so high — and, d' you know, it 
 is the little men who do most damage in life ; they 're 
 such a pugnacious and perverse generation ! As to 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 189 
 
 swelled noses, these are the fortune of war, at least 
 of civil war like ours — and black eyes, why, my eyes 
 are black by nature. If they were of a heavenly 
 blue like yours, Molly, you might have some ground 
 for complaint when they are blackened." 
 
 " And then there is such dreadful tear and wear 
 of clothes," continued Molly; "just look at that, 
 now ! " She held up to view a sock with a hole in 
 its heel large enough to let an orange through. 
 
 " Why, Molly, do you expect that I can walk the 
 streets of London from early morning till late at 
 night, protect life and property, and preserve public 
 tranquillity, as this little book puts it, besides en- 
 gaging in numerous scufSes and street rows without 
 making a hole or two in my socks ?" 
 
 " Ah ! Giles, if you had only brain enough to take 
 in a simple idea ! it 's not the making of holes that 
 I complain of. It is the making of such awfully 
 big ones before changing your socks ! There now, 
 don't let us get on domestic matters. You have no 
 head for these, but tell me something about your 
 little book. I am specially interested in it, you see, 
 because the small policeman in the crib over there 
 puts endless questions about his duties which I am 
 quite unable to answer, and, you know, it is a good 
 thing for a child to grow up with the idea that 
 father and mother know everything." 
 
 "Just so, Molly. I hope you'll tell your little 
 
190 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 recruit that the first and foremost duty of a good 
 policeman is to obey orders. Let me see, then, if I 
 can enlighten you a bit." 
 
 "But tell me first, Giles — for I really want to 
 know — how many are there of you altogether, and 
 when was the force established on its present foot- 
 ing, and who began it, and — in short, all about it. 
 It 's so nice to have you for once in a way for a quiet 
 chat like this." 
 
 " You have laid down enough of heads, Molly, to 
 serve for the foundation of a small volume. How- 
 ever, 1 11 give it you hot, since you wish it, and 1 11 
 begin at the end instead of the beginning. Whatwould 
 you say, now, to an army of eleven thousand men ? " 
 
 " I would say it was a very large one, though I 
 don't pretend to much knowledge about the size of 
 armies," said Molly, commencing to another hole 
 about the size of a turnip. 
 
 " Well, that, in round numbers, is the strength of 
 the Metropolitan Police force at the present time — 
 and not a man too much, let me tell you, for what 
 with occasional illnesses and accidents, men employed 
 on special duty, and men off duty — as I am just 
 now — the actual available strength of the force at 
 any moment is considerably below that number. 
 Yes, it is a goodly army of picked and stalwart men 
 (no self-praise intended), but, then, consider what we 
 have to do." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 191 
 
 " We have to guard and keep in order the popu- 
 lation of the biggest city in the world ; a population 
 greater than that of the whole of Scotland." 
 
 " Oh ! of course, you are sure to go to Scotland for 
 your illustrations, as if there was no such place as 
 England in the world," quietly remarked Molly, with 
 a curl of her pretty lip. 
 
 " Ah ! Molly, dear, you are unjust. It is true 
 I go to Scotland for an illustration, but didn't 
 I come to England for a wife ? Now, don't go 
 frowning at that hole as if it couldn't be bridged 
 over." 
 
 " It is the worst hole you ever made," said the 
 despairing wife, holding it up to view. 
 
 " You make a worsted hole of it then, Moll, and 
 it '11 be all right. Besides, you don't speak truth, for 
 I once made a worse hole in your heart." 
 
 "You never did, sir. Go on with your stupid 
 illustrations," said Molly. 
 
 " Well, then, let me see — where was I ? " 
 
 " In Scotland, of course !" 
 
 "Ah, yes. The population of aU Scotland is 
 under four millions, and that of London — that is, of 
 the area embraced in the Metropolitan Police Dis- 
 trict, is estimated at above four million seven 
 hundred thousand — in round numbers. Of course 
 I give it you all in round numbers." 
 
 " I don't mind how round the numbers are, Giles, 
 
192 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 SO long as they 're all square," remarked the little 
 wife with much simplicity, 
 
 " Well, just think of that number for our army 
 to watch over ; and that population — not all of it, 
 you know, but part of it — succeeds in spite of us 
 in committing, during one year, no fewer than 
 25,000 ' Principal' offences such as murders, bur- 
 glaries, robberies, thefts, and such-like. What 
 they would accomplish if we were not ever on the 
 watch I leave you to guess. 
 
 " Last year, for instance, 470 burglaries, as we 
 style house-breaking by night, were committed in 
 London. The wonder is that there are not more, 
 when you consider the fact that the number of doors 
 and windows found open by us at night during the 
 twelve months was nearly 26,000. The total loss of 
 property by theft during the year is estimated at 
 about £100,000. Besides endeavouring to check 
 crime of such magnitude, we had to search after above 
 15,000 persons who were reported lost and missing 
 during the year, about 1 2,000 of whom were children." 
 
 " Oh ! the ;poor darlings," said Molly, twisting her 
 sympathetic eyebrows. 
 
 "Ay, and we found 7523 of these darlings," con- 
 tinued the practical Giles, and 720 of the adults. 
 Of the rest some returned home or were found by 
 their friends, but 154 adults and 23 children have 
 been lost altogether. Then, we found within the 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 193 
 
 twelve months 54 dead bodies which we had to take 
 care of and have photographed for identification. 
 During the same period (and remember that the 
 record of every twelve months is much the same) 
 we seized over 17,000 stray dogs and returned 
 them to their owners or sent them to the Dogs' 
 Home. We arrested over 18,000 persons for being 
 drunk and disorderly. We inspected all the pub- 
 lic vehicles and horses in London. We attended 
 to 3527 accidents which occurred in the streets, 127 
 of which were fatal. We looked after more than 
 17,000 articles varying in value from 6d. to £1500, 
 which were lost by a heedless public during the year, 
 about 10,000 of which articles were restored to the 
 owners. We had to regulate the street traffic ; in- 
 spect common lodging-houses ; attend the police and 
 other courts to give evidence, and many other things 
 which it would take me much too long to enumerate, 
 and puzzle your pretty little head to take in." 
 
 " JSTo, it wouldn't," said Molly, looking up with a 
 bright expression ; " I have a wonderful head for 
 figures — especially for handsome manly figures! 
 Go on, Giles." 
 
 " Then, look at what is expected of us," continued 
 IN^o. 6Q6y not noticing the last remark. "We are 
 told to exercise the greatest civility and affability 
 towards every one — high and low, rich and poor. 
 We are expected to show the utmost forbearance 
 
194 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 under all circumstances ; to take as much abuse and 
 as many blows as we can stand without inflicting 
 any in return; to be capable of answering almost 
 every question that an ignorant — not to say 
 arrogant — public may choose to put to us; to be 
 ready, single-handed and armed only with our 
 truncheons and the majesty of the law, to encoun- 
 ter burglars furnished with knives and revolvers; 
 to plunge into the midst of drunken maddened 
 crowds and make arrests in the teeth of tremendous 
 odds ; to keep an eye upon strangers whose presence 
 may seem to be less desirable than their absence ; 
 to stand any amount of unjust and ungenerous 
 criticism without a word of reply ; to submit quietly 
 to the abhorrence and chaff of boys, labourers, cab- 
 men, omnibus drivers, tramps, and fast young men ; 
 to have a fair knowledge of the ' three E's ' and a 
 smattering of law, so as to conduct ourselves with 
 propriety at fires, fairs, fights, and races, besides act- 
 ing wisely as to mad dogs, German bands (which 
 are apt to produce mad men), organ-grinders, furious 
 drivers, and all other nuisances. In addition to all 
 which we must be men of good character, good 
 standing — as to inches — ^good proportions, physically, 
 and good sense. In short, we are expected to be — 
 and blamed if we are not — as near to a state of per- 
 fection as it is possible for mortal man to attain on 
 this side the grave, and all for the modest sum which 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 195 
 
 you are but too well aware is the extent of our 
 income." 
 
 "Is one of the things expected of you," asked 
 Molly, "to have an exceedingly high estimate of 
 yourselves ?" 
 
 "Kay, Molly, don't you join the ranks of those 
 who are against us. ' It will be more than criminal 
 if you do. You are aware that I am giving the 
 opinion expressed by men of position who ought to 
 know everything about the force. That we fulfil 
 the conditions required of us not so badly is proved 
 by the fact that last year, out of the whole 12,000 
 there were 215 officers and 1225 men who obtained 
 rewards for zeal and activity, while only one man was 
 discharged, and four men were fined or imprisoned. 
 I speak not of number one— or, I should say No. 666. 
 For myself I am ready to admit that I am the most 
 insignificant of the force." 
 
 " Giles ! what a barefaced display of mock 
 modesty !" 
 
 " Nay, Molly, I can prove it. Everything in this 
 world goes by contrast, doesn't it ? Well, then, is 
 there a man in the whole force except myself, I ask, 
 whose wife is so bright and beautiful and good and 
 sweet that she reduces him to mere insignificance 
 by contrast?" 
 
 "There's something in that, Giles," replied Molly 
 with gravity, " but go on with your lecture." 
 
196 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 "IVe nothing more to say about the force," 
 returned Giles ; " if I have not said enough to con- 
 vince you of our importance, and of the debt of 
 gratitude that you and the public of London owe to 
 us, you are past conviction, and — " 
 
 " You are wrong, Giles, as usual ; I am never past 
 conviction; you have only to take me before the 
 police court in the morning, and any magistrate will 
 at once convict me of stupidity for having married 
 a Scotchman and a policeman !" 
 
 " I think it must be time to go on my beat, for 
 you beat me hollow," said No. 666, consulting his 
 watch. 
 
 " No, no, Giles, please sit still. It is not every 
 day that I have such a chance of a chat with 
 you." 
 
 " Such a chance of pitching into me, you mean," 
 returned Giles. " However, before I go I would like 
 to tell you just one or two facts regarding this 
 great London itself, which needs so much guarding 
 and such an army of guardians. You know that 
 the Metropolitan District comprises all the parishes 
 any portion of which are within 1 5 miles of Charing 
 Cross — this area being 688 square miles. The 
 rateable value of it is over twenty-six million 
 eight hundred thousand pounds sterling. See, as 
 you say you Ve a good head for figures, there 's the 
 sum on a bit of paper for you — £26,800,000. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 197 
 
 During last year 26,170 new houses were built, 
 forming 556 new streets and four new squares — the 
 whole covering a length of 86 miles. The total 
 number of new houses built during the last ten 
 years within this area has been 162,525, extending 
 over 500 miles of streets and squares ! 
 
 " Stay, I can't stand it ! " cried Molly, dropping 
 her sock and putting her fingers in her ears. 
 
 "Why not, old girl?" 
 
 "Because it is too much for me; why, even your 
 figure is a mere nothing to such sums ! " 
 
 " Then," returned Giles, " you Ve only got to stick 
 me on to the end of them to make my information 
 ten times more valuable." 
 
 " But are you quite sure that what you tell me 
 is true, Giles ? " 
 
 " Quite sure, my girl — at least as sure as I am of 
 the veracity of Colonel Henderson, who wrote the 
 last Police Eeport." 
 
 At this point the chat was interrupted by the 
 juvenile policeman in the crib under Sir Eobert 
 Peel. Whether it was the astounding information 
 uttered in his sleepy presence, or the arduous 
 nature of the duty required of him in dreams, we 
 cannot tell, but certain it is that when No. 666 
 uttered the word "Eeport" there came a crash 
 like the report of a great gun, and No. 2 of the 
 A Division, having fallen overboard, was seen on 
 
198 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 the floor pommelling some imaginary criminal who 
 stoutly refused to be captured. 
 
 Giles ran forward to the assistance of No. 2, as 
 was his duty, and took him up in his arms. But 
 No. 2 had awakened to the fact that he had hurt 
 himself, and, notwithstanding the blandishments of 
 his father, who swayed him about and put him on 
 his broad shoulders, and raised his curly head to 
 the ceiling, he refused for a long time to be com- 
 forted. At last he was subdued, and returned to 
 the crib and the land of dreams. 
 
 "Now, Molly, I must really go," said Giles, putting 
 on his uniform. " I hope No. 2 won't disturb you 
 again. Good-bye, lass, for a few hours," he added, 
 buckling his belt. "Here, look, do you see that 
 little spot on the ceiling ? " 
 
 " Yes, — well ? " said Molly, looking up. 
 
 Giles took unfair advantage of her, stooped, and 
 kissed the pretty little face, received a sounding slap 
 on the back, and went out, to attend to his profes- 
 sional duties, with the profound gravity of an in- 
 capable magistrate. 
 
 There was a bright intelligent little street Arab on 
 the opposite side of the way, who observed Giles with 
 mingled feelings of admiration, envy, and hatred, as 
 he strode sedately along the street like an imper- 
 turbable pillar. He knew No. QQQ personally; had 
 seen him under many and varied circumstances, and 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 199 
 
 had imagined him under many others — not nnfre- 
 quently as hanging by the neck from a lamp -post — 
 but never, even in the most daring flights of his 
 juvenile fancy, had he seen him as he has been 
 seen by the reader in the bosom of his poor but 
 happy home. 
 
200 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 MRS FROG SINKS DEEPER AND DEEPER 
 
 "Nobody cares," said poor Mrs. Frog, one raw 
 afternoon in November, as she entered her miserable 
 dwelling, where the main pieces of furniture were 
 a rickety table, a broken chair, and a heap of straw, 
 while the minor pieces were so insignificant as to 
 be unworthy of mention. There was no fire in the 
 grate, no bread in the cupboard, little fresh air in 
 the room and less light, though there was a broken 
 unlighted candle stuck in the mouth of a quart 
 bottle which gave promise of light in the future — 
 light enough at least to penetrate the November 
 fog which had filled the room as if it had been en- 
 dued with a pitying desire to throw a veil over such 
 degradation and misery. 
 
 We say degradation, for Mrs. Frog had of late 
 taken to " the bottle " as a last solace in her ex- 
 treme misery, and the expression of her face, as she 
 cowered on a low stool beside the empty grate and 
 drew the shred of tartan shawl round her shivering 
 form, showed all too clearly that she was at that 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 201 
 
 time under its influence. She had been down to 
 the river again, more than once, and had gazed into 
 its dark waters until she had very nearly made up 
 her mind to take the desperate leap, but God in 
 mercy had hitherto interposed. At one time a 
 policeman had passed with his weary " move on " 
 — though sometimes he had not the heart to enforce 
 his order. More frequently a little baby-face had 
 looked up from the river with a smile, and sent her 
 away to the well-known street where she would sit 
 on the familiar door-step watching the shadows on 
 the window-blind until cold and sorrow drove her 
 to the gin-palace to seek for the miserable comfort 
 to be found there. 
 
 Whatever that comfort might amount to, it did 
 not last long, for, on the night of which we write, 
 she had been to the palace, had got all the comfort 
 that was to be had out of it, and returned to her 
 desolate home more wretched than ever, to sit down, 
 as we have seen, and murmur, almost fiercely, 
 "Nobody cares!" 
 
 For a time she sat silent and motionless, while the 
 deepening shadows gathered round her, as if they 
 had united with all the rest to intensify the poor 
 creature's woe. 
 
 Presently she began to mutter to herself aloud — 
 
 " What 's the use o' your religion when it comes 
 to this ? What sort of religion is in the hearts of 
 
202 DUSTY DIAMONDS 
 
 these (she pursed her lips, and paused for an ex- 
 pressive word, but found none), these rich folk in 
 their silks and satins and broadcloth, with more 
 than they can use, an' feedin' their pampered cats 
 and dogs on what would be wealth to the likes o' 
 me ! Eeligion ! bah !** 
 
 She stopped, for a Voice within her said as plainly 
 as if it had spoken out : " Who gave you the six- 
 pence the other day, and looked after you with a 
 tender, pitying glance as you hurried away to the 
 gin-shop without so much as stopping to say ' Thank 
 you'? She wore silks, didn't she ?" 
 
 " Ah, but there 's not many like that," replied the 
 poor woman, mentally, for the powers of good and 
 evil were fighting fiercely within her just then. 
 
 "How do you know there are not many like 
 that?" demanded the Voice. 
 
 " Well, but all the rich are not like that," said 
 Mrs. Frog. 
 
 The Voice made no reply to that ! 
 
 Again she sat silent for some time, save that a low 
 moan escaped her occasionally, for she was very 
 cold and very hungry, having spent the last few 
 pence, which might have given her a meal, in drink, 
 and the re-action of the poison helped to depress 
 her. The evil spirit seemed to gain the mastery at 
 this point, to judge from her muttered words. 
 
 " Nothing to eat, nothing to drink, no work to be 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 203 
 
 got, Hetty laid up in hospital, Ned in prison, Bobby 
 gone to he bad again instead of goin' to Canada, 
 and — nobody cares !" 
 
 " What about baby ?" asked the Voice. 
 
 This time it was Mrs. Frog's turn to make no 
 reply ! 
 
 In a few minutes she seemed to become desperate, 
 for, rising hastily, she went out, shut the door with 
 a bang, locked it, and set out on the familiar 
 journey to the gin-shop. 
 
 She had not far to go. It was at the corner. If 
 it had not been at that corner, there was one to be 
 found at the next — and the next — and the next 
 again, and so on all round ; so that, rushing past — 
 as people sometimes do when endeavouring to avoid 
 a danger — would have been of little or no avail in 
 this case. But there was a very potent influence of 
 a negative kind in her favour. She had no money I 
 Eecollecting this when she had nearly reached the 
 door, she turned aside, and ran swiftly to the old 
 door-step, where she sat down and hid her face in 
 her hands. 
 
 A heavy footstep sounded at her side the next 
 moment. She looked quickly up. It was a police- 
 man. He did not apply the expected words, " move 
 on." He was a man under whose blue uniform beat 
 a tender and sympathetic heart. In fact, he was 
 No. 666 — changed from some cause that we cannot 
 
204 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 explain, and do not understand — from the Metro- 
 politan to the City Police Force. His number also 
 had been changed, but we refuse to be trammelled by 
 police regulations. No. 666 he was and shall remain 
 in this tale to the end of the chapter ! 
 
 Instead of ordering the poor woman to go away, 
 Giles was searching his pockets for a penny, when 
 to his intense surprise he received a blow on the 
 chest, and then a slap on the face ! 
 
 Poor Mrs. Frog, misjudging his intentions, and 
 roused to a fit of temporary insanity by her wrongs 
 and sorrows, sprang at her supposed foe like a wild- 
 cat. She was naturally a strong woman, and violent 
 passion lent her unusual strength. 
 
 Oh! it was pitiful to witness the struggle that 
 ensued ! — to see a woman, forgetful of sex and every- 
 thing else, striving with all her might to bite, scratch, 
 and kick, while her hair tumbled down, and her 
 bonnet and shawl falling off made more apparent the 
 insufficiency of the rags with which she was covered. 
 
 Strong as he was, Giles received several ugly 
 scratches and bites before he could effectually restrain 
 her. Fortunately, there were no passers-by in the 
 quiet street, and, therefore, no crowd assembled. 
 
 " My poor woman," said Giles, when he had her 
 fast, " do keep quiet. I 'm going to do you no harm. 
 God help you, I was goin' to give you a copper when 
 you flew at me so. Come, you 'd better go with me 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 205 
 
 to the station, for you're not fit to take care of 
 yourself." 
 
 Whether it was the tender tone of Giles's voice, or 
 the words that he uttered, or the strength of his 
 grasp that subdued Mrs. Frog, we cannot tell, but 
 she gave in suddenly, hung down her head, and 
 allowed her captor to do as he pleased. Seeing this, 
 he carefully replaced her bonnet on her head, drew 
 the old shawl quite tenderly over her shoulders, and 
 led her gently away. 
 
 Before they had got the length of the main 
 thoroughfare, however, a female of a quiet, re- 
 spectable appearance met them. 
 
 "Mrs. Frog!" she exclaimed, in amazement, 
 stopping suddenly before them. 
 
 "If you know her, ma'am, perhaps you may 
 direct me to her home." 
 
 " I know her well," said the female, who was none 
 other than the Bible-nurse who visited the sick of that 
 district ; " if you have not arrested her for — for — " 
 
 " Oh no, madam," interrupted Giles, " I have not 
 arrested her at all, but she seems to be unwell, and 
 I was merely assisting her." 
 
 " Oh ! then give her over to me, please. I know 
 where she lives, and will take care of her." 
 
 Giles politely handed his charge over, and went 
 on his way, sincerely hoping that the next to 
 demand his care would be a man. 
 
206 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 The Bible-woman drew the arm of poor Mrs. 
 Frog through her own, and in a few minutes stood 
 beside her in the desolate home. 
 
 " Nobody cares," muttered the wretched woman 
 as she sank in apathy on her stool and leaned her 
 head against the wall. 
 
 " You are ^vrong, dear Mrs. Frog. / care, for one, 
 else I should not be here. Many other Christian 
 people would care, too, if they knew of your suffer- 
 ings ; but, above all, God cares. Have you carried 
 your troubles to Him ?" 
 
 " Why should I ? He has long ago forsaken me." 
 
 " Is it not, dear friend, that you have forsaken 
 Him? Jesus says, as plain as words can put it, 
 ' Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy 
 laden, and I will give you rest.' You tell me it is 
 of no use to go to Him, and you don't go, and then 
 you complain that He has forsaken you ! Where is 
 my friend Hetty?" 
 
 " In hospital." 
 
 " Indeed ! I have been here several times lately 
 to inquire, but have always found your door locked. 
 Your husband — " 
 
 "He's in prison, and Bobby's gone to the 
 bad," said Mrs. Frog, still in a tone of sulky 
 defiance. 
 
 "I see no sign of food," said the Bible-nurse, 
 glancing quickly round ; " are you hungry ?" 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 207 
 
 " Hungry ! " exclaimed the woman fiercely, " I Ve 
 tasted nothin' at all since yesterday." 
 
 "Poor thing!" said the Bible-nurse in a low 
 tone; "come — come with me. Don't say more. 
 You cannot speak while you are famishing. Stay, 
 first one word — " 
 
 She paused and looked up. She did not kneel ; 
 she did not clasp her hands or shut her eyes, but, 
 with one hand on the door-latch, and the other 
 grasping the poor woman's wrist, she prayed — 
 " God bless and comfort poor Mrs. Frog, for Jesus' 
 sake." 
 
 Then she hurried, without uttering a word, to the 
 Institution in George Yard. The door happened to 
 be open, and the figure of a man with white hair 
 and a kind face was seen within. 
 
 Entering, the Bible-nurse whispered to this man. 
 Another moment and Mrs. Frog was seated at a 
 long deal table with a comfortable fire at her back, 
 a basin of warm soup, and a lump of loaf bread 
 before her. The Bible-nurse sat by and looked on. 
 
 " Somebody cares a little, don't you think ?" she 
 whispered, when the starving woman made a brief 
 pause for breath. 
 
 " Yes, thank God," answered Mrs. Frog, returning 
 to the meal as though she feared that some one 
 might still snatch it from her thin lips before she 
 got it all down. 
 
208 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 When it was finished the Bible-nurse led Mrs. 
 Frog into another room. 
 
 "You feel better — stronger?" she asked. 
 
 " Yes, much better — thank you, and quite able to 
 go home." 
 
 "There is no occasion for you to go home to- 
 night ; you may sleep there (pointing to a corner), 
 but I would like to pray with you now, and read a 
 verse or two." 
 
 Mrs. Frog submitted, while her friend read to her 
 words of comfort ; pleaded that pardon and deliver- 
 ance might be extended, and gave her loving words 
 of counsel. Then the poor creature lay down in 
 her corner, drew a warm blanket over her, and slept 
 with a degree of comfort that she had not enjoyed 
 for many a day. 
 
 When it was said by Mrs. Frog that her son 
 Bobby had gone to the bad, it must not be supposed 
 that any very serious change had come over him. 
 As that little waif had once said of himself, when 
 in a penitent mood, he was about as bad as he 
 could be, so couldn't grow much badder. But when 
 his sister lost her situation in the firm that paid 
 her such splendid wages, and fell ill, and went into 
 hospital in consequence, he lost heart, and had a 
 relapse of wickedness. He grew savage with regard 
 to life in general, and committed a petty theft, 
 which, although not discovered, necessitated his 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 209 
 
 absence from home for a time. It was while he 
 was away that the scene which we have just de- 
 scribed took place. 
 
 On the very next day he returned, and it so hap- 
 pened that on the same day Hetty was discharged 
 from hospital " cured." That is to say, she left the 
 place a thin, tottering, pallid shadow, but with no 
 particular form of organic disease about her. 
 
 She and her mother had received some food from 
 one who cared for them, through the Bible-nurse. 
 
 " Mother, you Ve been drinkin' again," said 
 Hetty, looking earnestly at her parent's eyes. 
 
 " Well, dear,*' pleaded Mrs. Frog, " what could I 
 do ? You had all forsaken me, and I had nothin' 
 else to comfort me.'* 
 
 " Oh ! mother, darling mother," cried Hetty, " do 
 promise me that you will give it up. I won't get 
 ill or leave you again — God helping me ; but it will 
 kill me if you go on. Do promise." 
 
 " It 's of no use, Hetty. Of course I can easily 
 promise, but I can't keep my promise. I know I 
 can't." 
 
 Hetty knew this to be too true. Without the 
 grace of God in the heart, she was well aware that 
 human efforts must fail, sooner or later. She was 
 thinking what to reply, and praying in her heart 
 for guidance, when the door opened and her brother 
 Bobby swaggered in with an air that did not quite 
 
 o 
 
210 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 accord with his filthy fluttering rags, unwashed face 
 and hands, bare feet and unkempt hair. 
 
 " Veil, mother, 'ow are ye ? Hallo ! Hetty ! w'y, 
 wot a shadder you Ve become ! Oh ! I say, them 
 nusses at the hospital must 'ave stole all your flesh 
 an' blood from you, for they Ve left nothin' but the 
 bones and skin." 
 
 He went up to his sister, put an arm round her 
 neck, and kissed her. This was a very unusual dis- 
 play of affection. It was the first time Bobby had 
 volunteered an embrace, though he had often sub- 
 mitted to one with dignified complacency, and 
 Hetty, being weak, burst into tears. 
 
 " Hallo ! I say, stop that now, yong gal," he said, 
 with a look of alarm, " I 'm always took bad ven I 
 see that sort o' thing, I can't stand it." 
 
 By way of mending matters the poor girl, endea- 
 vouring to be agreeable, gave a hysterical laugh. 
 
 "Come, that's better, though it ain't much to 
 boast of " — and he kissed her again. 
 
 Finding that, although for the present they were 
 supplied with a small amount of food, Hetty had no 
 employment and his mother no money, our city 
 Arab said that he would undertake to sustain the 
 family. 
 
 " But oh ! Bobby, dear, don't steal again." 
 
 " No, Hetty, I von't, I '11 vork. I didn't go for to 
 do it a-purpose, but I was overtook some'ow — I 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 211 
 
 seed the umbrellar stanclin' handy, you know, and 
 — etceterer. But I 'm sorry I did it, an' I von't do it 
 again." 
 
 Swelling with great intentions, Kobert Frog 
 thrust his dirty little hands into his trouser pockets 
 — at least into the holes that once contained them 
 — and went out whistling. 
 
 Soon he came to a large warehouse, where a portly 
 gentleman stood at the door. Planting himself in 
 front of this man, and ceasing to whistle in order 
 that he might speak, he said : — 
 
 " Was you in want of a 'and, sir ? " 
 
 "No, I wasn't," replied the man, with a glance of 
 contempt. 
 
 " Sorry for that," returned Bobby, " 'cause I 'm in 
 want of a sitivation." 
 
 " What can you do ? " asked the man. 
 
 " Oh ! hanythink." 
 
 " Ah, I thought so ; I don't want hands who can 
 do anything, I prefer those who can do some- 
 thing." 
 
 Bobby Frog resumed his whistling, at the exact 
 bar where he had left off, and went on his way. He 
 was used to rebuffs, and didn't mind them. But 
 when he had spent all the forenoon in receiving re- 
 buffs, had made no progress whatever in his efforts, 
 and began to feel hungry, he ceased the whistling 
 and became ^rave. 
 
212 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " This looks serious," he said, pausing in front of 
 a pastry-cook's shop window. " But for that there 
 plate glass wot a blow hout I might 'ave ! Beggin' 
 might be tried with advantage. It 's agin the law, 
 no doubt, but it ain't a sin. Yes, 1 11 try beggin'." 
 
 But our Arab was not a natural beggar, if we may 
 say so. He scorned to whine, and did not even 
 like to ask. His spirit was much more like that of 
 a highwayman than a beggar. 
 
 Proceeding to a quiet neighbourhood which 
 seemed to have been forgotten by the police, he 
 turned down a narrow lane and looked out for a sub- 
 ject, as a privateer might search among " narrows " 
 for a prize. He did not search long. An old lady 
 soon hove in sight. She seemed a suitable old 
 lady, well dressed, little, gentle, white-haired, a tot- 
 tering gait, and a benign aspect. 
 
 Bobby went straight up and planted himself in 
 front of her. 
 
 "Please, ma'am, will you oblige me with a 
 copper ? " 
 
 The poor old lady grew pale. Without a word 
 she tremblingly, yet quickly, pulled out her purse, 
 took therefrom a shilling, and offered it to the boy. 
 
 " Oh ! marm," said Bobby, who was alarmed and 
 conscience-smitten at the result of his scheme, "I 
 didn't mean for to frighten you. Indeed I didn't, 
 an' I von't 'ave your money at no price." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 21 3 
 
 Saying which he turned abruptly round and 
 walked away. 
 
 " Boy, boy, loy! " called the old lady in a voice 
 so entreating, though tremulous, that Bobby felt 
 constrained to return. 
 
 " You 're a most remarkable boy," she said, put- 
 ting the shilling back into her purse. 
 
 " I 'm sorry to say, marm, that you 're not the 
 on'y indiwidooal as 'olds that opinion." 
 
 " What do you mean by your conduct, boy ? " 
 
 " I mean, marm, that I 'm wery 'ard up. Uncom- 
 mon 'ard up ; that I Ve tried to git vork an' can't 
 git it, so that I 'm redooced to beggary. But, I ain't 
 a 'ighway robber, marm, by no means, an' don't 
 want to frighten you hout o' your money if you 
 ain't willin' to give it." 
 
 The little tremulous old lady was so pleased with 
 this reply that she took half-a-crown out of her 
 purse and put it into the boy's hand. He looked at 
 her in silent surprise. 
 
 " It ain't a cojp'per^ marm ! " 
 
 " I know that. It is half-a-crown, and I willingly 
 give it you because you are an honest boy." 
 
 "But, marm," said Bobby, still holding out the 
 piece of silver on his palm, " I ainH a honest boy. 
 I 'ma thief!" 
 
 "Tut, tut, don't talk nonsense; I don't believe 
 you." 
 
214 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 "Vel now, this beats all that I ever did come 
 across. 'Ere's a old 'ooman as I tells as plain as 
 mud that I 'm a thief, an' nobody 's better able to 
 give a opinion on that pint than myself, yet she vont 
 believe it ! '' 
 
 " N"o, I won't," said the old lady with a little nod 
 and a smile, " so, put the money in your pocket, for 
 you 're an honest boy." 
 
 " Veil, it 's pleasant to 'ear that, any'ow," returned 
 Bobby, placing the silver coin in a vest pocket 
 which was always kept in repair for coins of smaller 
 value. 
 
 " Where do you live, boy ? I should like to come 
 and see you." 
 
 " My residence, marm, ain't a mansion in the vest- 
 end. No, nor yet a willa in the subarbs. I'm 
 afear'd, marm, that I live in a district that ain't 
 quite suitable for the likes of you to wisit. But — " 
 
 Here Bobby paused, for at the moment his little 
 friend Tim Lumpy recurred to his memory, and a 
 bright thought struck him. 
 
 "Well, boy, why do you pause ?" 
 
 " I was on'y thinkin', marm, that if you wants to 
 befriend us poor boys — they calls us waifs an' 
 strays an' all sorts of unpurlite names — you've on'y 
 got to send a sov. or two to Miss Annie Macpherson, 
 'Ome of Hindustry, Commercial Street, Spitalfields, 
 an' you '11 be the means o' doin' a world o' good — 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 215 
 
 as I 'eard a old genTm with a white choker on say 
 the wery last time I was down there 'avin' a blow 
 out o' bread an' soup." 
 
 " I know the lady and the Institution well, my 
 boy," said the old lady, " and will act on your advice, 
 but—" 
 
 Ere she finished the sentence Bobby Frog had 
 turned and fled at the very top of his speed. 
 
 "Stop ! stop ! stop !" exclaimed the old lady in a 
 weakly shout. 
 
 But the "remarkable boy" would neither stop 
 nor stay. He had suddenly caught sight of a 
 policeman turning into the lane, and forthwith took 
 to his heels, under a vague and not unnatural 
 impression that if that limb of the law found him 
 in possession of a half-crown he would refuse to 
 believe his innocence with as much obstinacy as 
 the little old lady had refused to believe his guilt. 
 
 On reaching home he found his mother alone in 
 a state of amused agitation which suggested to his 
 mind the idea of Old Tom. 
 
 " Wot, bin at it again, mother ?" 
 
 " No, no, Bobby, but somethin* 's happened which 
 amuses me much, an' I can't keep it to my&elf no 
 longer, so I '11 tell it to you, Bobby." 
 
 " Fire avay, then, mother, an' remember that the 
 law don't compel no one to criminate hisself." 
 
 "You know. Bob, that a good while ago our 
 
216 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Matty disappeared. I saw that the dear child was 
 dyin' for want o* food an' warmth an' fresh air, so 
 I thinks to myself, ' why shouldn't I put 'er out to 
 board wi' rich people for nothink ?'" 
 
 " A wery correct notion, an' cleverer than I gave 
 you credit for. I'm glad to 'ear it too, for I feared 
 sometimes that you'd bin an' done it." 
 
 " Oh ! Bobby, how could you ever think that ! 
 Well, I put the baby out to board with a family of 
 the name of Twitter. Now it seems, all unbeknown 
 to me, Mrs. Twitter is a great helper at the George 
 Yard Eagged Schools, where our Hetty has often 
 seen her; but as we've bin used never to speak 
 about the work there, as your father didn't like it, 
 of course I know'd nothin' about Mrs. Twitter bein' 
 given to goin' there. Well, it seems she 's very free 
 with her money and gives a good deal away to poor 
 people." (She 's not the only one, thought the boy.) 
 " So what does the Bible-nurse do when she hears 
 about poor Hetty's illness but goes off and asks 
 Mrs. Twitter to try an' git her a situation." 
 
 " ' Oh ! I know Hetty,' says Mrs. Twitter at once, 
 'That nice girl that teaches one o' the Sunday 
 school classes. Send her to me. I want a nurse 
 for our baby,' that 's for Matty, Bob—" 
 
 "What! our baby!" exclaimed the boy with a 
 sudden blaze of excitement. 
 
 « Yes — our baby. She calls it hers 1 " 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 2 1 7 
 
 "Well, now," said Bobby, after recovering from 
 the fit of laughter and thigh-slapping into which 
 this news had thrown him, " if this don't beat cock- 
 fightin' all to nuf&n' ! why, mother, Hetty 11 know 
 baby the moment she claps eyes on it." 
 
 " Of course she will," said Mrs. Frog ; " it is really 
 very awkward, an' I can't think what to do. I 'm 
 half afraid to tell Hetty." 
 
 " Oh ! don't tell hev— don't tell her," cried the boy, 
 whose eyes sparkled with mischievous glee. " It'll be 
 sich fun ! If I 'ad on'y the chance to stand be'ind 
 a door an' see the meetin' I wouldn't exchange it — 
 no not for a feed of pork sassengers an' suet pud'n. 
 I must go an' tell this to Tim Lumpy. It '11 bust 
 'im — that 's my on'y fear, but I must tell 'im wotever 
 be the consikences." 
 
 With this stern resolve, to act regardless of 
 results, Bob Frog went off in search of his little 
 friend, whose departure for Canada had been delayed, 
 from some unknown cause, much to Bob's satisfac- 
 tion.' He found Tim on his way to the Beehive, 
 and was induced not only to go with him, but to 
 decide, finally, to enter the Institution as a candidate 
 for Canada. Being well known, both as to person 
 and circumstances, he was accepted at once ; taken 
 in, washed, cropped, and transformed as if by magic. 
 
218 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SIR RICHARD VISITS THE BEEHIVE, AND SEES MANY 
 SURPRISING THINGS. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Loper," said Mrs. Twitter over a 
 cup of tea, " it is very kind of you to say so, and I 
 really do think you are right, we have done full 
 justice to our dear wee Mita. Who would ever have 
 thought, remembering the thin starved sickly child 
 she was the night that Sam brought her in, that she 
 would come to be such a plump, rosy, lovely child ? 
 I declare to you that I feel as if she were one of 
 my own." 
 
 "She is indeed a very lovely infant," returned 
 Mrs. Loper. "Don't you think so, Mrs. Larrabel?" 
 
 The smiling lady expanded her mouth, and said, 
 " very." 
 
 " But," continued Mrs. Twitter, " I really find that 
 the entire care of her is too much for me, for, although 
 dear Mary assists me, her studies require to be 
 attended to, and, do you know, babies interfere with 
 studies dreadfully. Not that I have time to do 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 219 
 
 much in that way at present. I think the Bible is 
 the only book I really study now, so, you see, I Ve 
 been thinking of adding to our establishment by 
 getting a new servant ; — a sort of nursery governess, 
 you know, — a cheap one, of course. Sam quite 
 agrees with me, and, as it happens, I know a very 
 nice little girl just now — a very very poor girl — who 
 helps us so nicely on Sundays in George Yard, and 
 has been recommended to me as a most deserving 
 creature. I expect her to call to-night." 
 
 "Be cautious, Mrs. Twitter," said Mrs. Lopei*. 
 "These very poor girls from the slums of White- 
 chapel are sometimes dangerous, and, excuse me, 
 rather dirty. Of course, if you know her, that is 
 some security, but I would advise you to be very 
 cautious." 
 
 "Thank you, my dear," said Mrs. Twitter, "I 
 usually am very cautious, and will try to be so on 
 this occasion. I mean her to be rather a sort of 
 nursery governess than a servant. — That is probably 
 the girl." 
 
 She referred to a rather timid knock at the front 
 door. In another second tlie domestic announced 
 Hetty Frog, who entered with a somewhat shy air, 
 and seemed fluttered at meeting with unexpected 
 company. 
 
 " Come in, Hetty, my dear ; I 'm glad to see you. 
 My friends here know that you are a helper in our 
 
220 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Sunday-schools. Sit down, and have a cup of tea. 
 You know why I have sent for you ?" 
 
 "Yes, Mrs. Twitter. It — it is very kind. Our 
 Bible-nurse told me, and I shall be so happy to 
 come, because — but I fear I have interrupted you. 
 I — I can easily come back — " 
 
 " No interruption at all, my dear. Here, take this 
 cup of tea — " 
 
 " And a crumpet," added Mrs. Larrabel, who sym- 
 pathised with the spirit of hospitality. 
 
 " Yes, take a crumpet, and let me hear about your 
 last place." 
 
 Poor Hetty, who was still very weak from her 
 recent illness, and would gladly have been excused 
 sitting down with two strangers, felt constrained to 
 comply, and was soon put at her ease by the kindly 
 tone and manner of the hostess. She ran quickly 
 over the chief points of her late engagements, and 
 roused, without meaning to do so, the indignation of 
 the ladies by the bare mention of the wages she had 
 received for the amount of work done. 
 
 " Well, my dear," said the homely Mrs. Twitter, 
 " we won't be so hard on you here. I want you to 
 assist me with my sewing and darning — of which I 
 have a very great deal — and help to take care of 
 baby." 
 
 " Very well, ma'am," said Hetty, " when do you 
 wish me to begin my duties ?" 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 221 
 
 " Oh ! to-morrow — after breakfast will do. It is 
 too late to-night. But before you go, I may as well 
 let you see the little one you are to have charge of. 
 I hear she is awake." 
 
 There could be no doubt upon that point, for the 
 very rafters of the house were ringing at the moment 
 with the yells which issued from an adjoining room. 
 
 " Come this way, Hetty." 
 
 Mrs. Loper and Mrs. Larrabel, having formed a 
 good opinion of the girl, looked on with approving 
 smiles. The smiles changed to glances of surprise, 
 however, when Hetty, having looked on the baby, 
 uttered a most startling scream, while her eyes 
 glared as though she saw a ghostly apparition. 
 
 Seizing the baby with unceremonious familiarity, 
 Hetty struck Mrs. Twitter dumb by turning it on 
 its face, pulling open its dress, glancing at a bright 
 red spot on its back, and uttering a shriek of delight 
 as she turned it round again, and hugged it with 
 violent affection, exclaiming, " Oh ! my blessed 
 Matty 1" 
 
 " The child's name is not Matty ; it is Mita," said 
 Mrs. Twitter, on recovering her breath. " "What do 
 you mean, girl ?" 
 
 "Her name is not Mita, it is Matty," returned 
 Hetty, with a flatness of contradiction that seemed 
 impossible in one so naturally gentle. 
 
 Mrs. Twitter stood aghast — bereft of the powei 
 
222 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 of speech or motion. Mrs. Loper and Mrs. Larrabel 
 were similarly affected. They soon recovered, how- 
 ever, and exclaimed in chorus, "What can she 
 mean ?" 
 
 " Forgive me, ma'am,'' said Hetty, still holding on 
 to baby, who seemed to have an idea that she was 
 creating a sensation of some sort, without requiring 
 to yell, " forgive my rudeness, ma'am, but I really 
 couldn't help it, for this is my long-lost sister 
 Matilda." 
 
 "Sister Matilda!" echoed Mrs. Loper. 
 
 "Long-lost sister Matilda!" repeated Mrs. Larra- 
 bel. "This — is — your — long — lost sister Matilda," 
 rehearsed Mrs. Twitter, like one in a dream. 
 
 The situation was rendered still more complex 
 by the sudden entrance of Mr. Twitter and his 
 friend Crackaby. 
 
 " What — what — what 's to do now, Mariar ? " 
 
 " Sister Matilda !" shouted all three with a gasp. 
 
 " Lunatics, every one of 'em," murmured Crackaby. 
 
 It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to add that a full 
 explanation ensued when the party became calmer; 
 that Mrs. Twitter could not doubt the veracity of 
 Hetty Frog, but suspected her sanity; that Mrs. 
 Frog was sent for, and was recognised at once by Mr. 
 Twitter as the poor woman who had asked him such 
 wild and unmeaning questions the night on which 
 he had found the baby; and that Mr. and Mrs. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 223 
 
 Twitter, Mrs. Loper, Mrs. Larrabel, and Crackaby 
 came to the unanimous conclusion that they had 
 never heard of such a thing before in the whole 
 course of their united lives — which lives, when 
 united, as some statisticians would take a mide in 
 recording, formed two hundred and forty-three years! 
 Poor Mrs. Twitter was as inconsolable at the loss of 
 her baby as Mrs. Frog was overjoyed at the recovery 
 of hers. She therefore besought the latter to leave 
 little Mita, alias Matty, with her just for one night 
 longer — only one night — and then she might come 
 for her in the morning, for, you know, it would have 
 been cruel to remove the child from her warm crib 
 at that hour to a cold and comfortless lodging. 
 
 Of course Mrs. Frog readily consented. If Mrs. 
 Frog had known the events that lay in the womb of 
 the next few hours, she would sooner have con- 
 sented to have had her right hand cut off than have 
 agreed to that most reasonable request. 
 
 But we must not anticipate. A few of our 
 dramatis 'personoe took both an active and an 
 inactive part in the events of these hours. It is 
 therefore imperative that we should indicate how 
 some of them came to be in that region. 
 
 About five of the clock in the afternoon of the 
 day in question, Sir Eichard Brandon, his daughter 
 and idol Diana, and his young friend Stephen 
 Welland, sat in the dining-room of the West-end 
 
224 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 mansion concluding an early and rather hasty 
 dinner. That something was pending was indicated 
 by the fact that little Di sat accoutred in her hat 
 and cloak. 
 
 " We shall have to make haste," said Sir Eichard, 
 rising, " for I should not like to be late, and it is a 
 long drive to Whitechapel." 
 
 "When do they begin?" asked Welland. 
 
 " They have tea at six, I believe, and then the 
 meeting commences at seven, but I wish to be early 
 that I may have a short conversation with one of 
 the ladies of the Home." 
 
 " Oh ! it will be so nice, and such fun to see the 
 dear little boys. How many are going to start for 
 Canada, to-night, papa ? " 
 
 "About fifty or sixty, I believe, but I'm not 
 sure. They are sent off in batches of varying size 
 from time to time." 
 
 " Is the demand for them so great?" asked Wel- 
 land, " I should have thought that Canadian farmers 
 and others would be afraid to receive into their 
 dwellings what is often described as the scum of 
 the London streets." 
 
 ." They were afraid at first, I am told, but soon 
 discovered that the little fellows who came from 
 Miss Macpher son's Home had been subjected to 
 such good training and influences before leaving 
 that they almost invariably turned out valuable 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 225 
 
 and trustworthy workmen. No doubt there are 
 exceptions in this as in every other case, but the 
 demand is, it seems, greater than the supply. It is, 
 however, a false idea that little waifs and strays, 
 however dirty or neglected, are in any sense the 
 scum of London. Youth, in all circumstances, is 
 cream, and only turns into scum when allowed to 
 stagnate or run to waste. Come, now, let us be off. 
 Mr. Seaward, the city missionary, is to meet us after 
 the meeting, and show you and me something of 
 those who have fallen very low in the social scale. 
 Brisbane, who is also to be at the meeting, will 
 bring Di home. By the way, have you heard any- 
 thing yet about that poor comrade and fellow-clerk 
 of yours — Twitter, I think, was his name — who 
 disappeared so suddenly ? " 
 
 " Nothing whatever. I have made inquiries in 
 all directions — for I had a great liking for the poor 
 fellow. I went also to ^ see his parents, but they 
 seemed too much cut up to talk on the subject at 
 all, and knew nothing of his whereabouts." 
 
 "Ah! it is a very sad case — very," said Sir 
 Eichard, as they all descended to the street. " We 
 might, perhaps, call at their house to-night in 
 passing." Entering a cab, they drove away. 
 
 From the foregoing conversation the reader will 
 have gathered that the party were about to visit 
 the Beehive, or Home of Industry, and that Sir 
 
226 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Eichard, tlirougli the instrumentality of little Di 
 and the city missionary, had actually begun to 
 think about the poor ! 
 
 It was a special night at the Beehive. A number 
 of diamonds with some of their dust rubbed off — 
 namely, a band of little boys, rescued from the 
 streets and from a probable life of crime, were to be 
 assembled there to say farewell to such friends as 
 took an interest in them. 
 
 The Hive had been a huge warehouse. It was 
 now converted, with but slight structural alteration, 
 into a great centre of Light in that morally dark 
 region, from which emanated gospel truth and 
 Christian influence, and in which was a refuge for 
 the poor, the destitute, the sin-smitten, and the 
 sorrowful. ISTot only poverty, but sin-in-rags, was 
 sure of help in the Beehive. It had been set agoing 
 to bring, iiot the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. 
 
 When Sir Eichard arrived he found a large 
 though low-roofed room crowded with people, many 
 of whom, to judge from their appearance, were, like 
 himself, diamond-seekers from the ''west-end," 
 while others were obviously from the "east-end," 
 and had the appearance of men and women who 
 had been but recently unearthed. There were also 
 city missionaries and other workers for God in that 
 humble-looking hall. Among them sat Mr. John 
 Seaward and George Brisbane, Esquire. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 227 
 
 Placing Di and Welland near the latter, Sir 
 Eichard retired to a corner where one of the ladies of 
 the establishment was distributing tea to all comers. 
 
 ''Where are your boys, may I ask?" said the 
 knight, accepting a cup of tea. 
 
 "Over in the left corner," answered the lady. 
 " You can hardly see them for the crowd, but they 
 will stand presently." 
 
 At that moment, as if to justify her words, a large 
 body of boys rose up, at a sign from the superin- 
 tending genius of the place, and began to sing a 
 beautiful hymn in soft, tuneful voices. It was a 
 goodly array of dusty diamonds, and a few of them 
 had already begun to shine. 
 
 " Surely," said Sir Eichard, in a low voice, " these 
 cannot be the ragged, dirty little fellows you pick 
 up in the streets ? " 
 
 " Indeed they are," returned the lady. 
 
 " But — but they seem to me quite respectable 
 and cleanly fellows, not at all like — why, how has 
 the change been accomplished ? " 
 
 " By the united action, sir, of soap and water, 
 needles and thread, scissors, cast-off garments, and 
 Love." 
 
 Sir Eichard smiled. Perchance the reader may 
 also smile; nevertheless, this statement embodied 
 probably the whole truth. 
 
 When an unkempt, dirty, ragged little savage 
 
228 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 presents himself, or is presented, at the Eefuge, or 
 is " picked up " in the streets, his case is promptly 
 and carefully inquired into. If he seems a suitable 
 character — that is, one who is utterly friendless and 
 parentless, or whose parents are worse than dead to 
 him — he is received into the Home, and the work of 
 transformation — both of body and soul — commences. 
 First he is taken to the lavatory and scrubbed out- 
 wardly clean. His elfin locks are cropped close 
 and cleansed. His rags are burned, and a new suit, 
 made by the old women workers, is put upon him, 
 after which, perhaps, he is fed. Then he is sent to 
 a doctor to see that he is internally sound in wind 
 and limb. If passed by the doctor, he receives a 
 brief but important training in the rudiments of 
 knowledge. In all of these various processes Love 
 is the guiding principle of the operator — love to 
 God and love to the boy. He is made to under- 
 stand, and to feel, that it is in the name of Jesus, 
 for the love of Jesus, and in the spirit of Jesus 
 — not of mere philanthropy — that all this is done, 
 and that his body is cared for chiefly in order that 
 the soul may be won. 
 
 Little wonder, then, that a boy or girl, whose past 
 experience has been the tender mercies of the world 
 — and that the roughest part of the world — should 
 become somewhat " respectable," as Sir Eichard put 
 it, under such new and blessed influences. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 229 
 
 Suddenly a tiny shriek was heard in the midst of 
 the crowd, and a sweet little voice exclaimed, as if 
 its owner were in great surprise — 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! there is my boy !" 
 
 A hearty laugh from the audience greeted this 
 outburst, and poor Di, shrinking down, tried to hide 
 her pretty face on Welland's ready arm. Her 
 remark was quickly forgotten in the proceedings 
 that followed — but it was true 
 
 There stood, in the midst of the group of boys, 
 little Bobby Frog, with his face washed, his hair 
 cropped and shining, his garments untattered, and 
 himself looking as meek and " respectable " as the 
 best of them. Beside him stood his fast friend Tim 
 Lumpy. Bobby was not, however, one of the emi- 
 grant band. Having joined only that very evening, 
 and been cropped, washed, and clothed for the first 
 time, he was there merely as a privileged guest. Tim, 
 also, was only a guest, not having quite attained to 
 the dignity of a full-fledged emigrant at that time. 
 
 At the sound of the sweet little voice, Bobby 
 Frog's meek look was replaced by one of bright 
 intelligence, not unmingled with anxiety, as he tried 
 unavailingly to see the child who had spoken. 
 
 We do not propose to give the proceedings of this 
 meeting in detail, interesting though they were. 
 Other matters of importance claim our attention. 
 It will be sufficient to say that mingled with the 
 
230 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 semi-conversational, pleasantly free-and-easy, inter- 
 course that ensued, there were most interesting short 
 addresses from the lady-superintendents of "The 
 Sailors' Welcome Home" and of the "Strangers' 
 Eest," both of Eatcliff Highway, also from the chief 
 of the Eagged schools in George Yard, and several 
 city missionaries, as well as from city merchants 
 who found time and inclination to traf&c in the 
 good things of the life to come as well as in those 
 of the life that now is. 
 
 Before the proceedings had drawn to a close a 
 voice whispered: — 
 
 " It is time to go, Sir Eichard." It was the voice 
 of John Seaward. 
 
 Following him, Sir Eichard and Welland went 
 out. It had grown dark by that time, and as there 
 were no brilliantly lighted shops near, the place 
 seemed gloomy, but the gloom was nothing to that 
 of the filthy labyrinths into which Seaward quickly 
 conducted his followers. 
 
 "You have no occasion to fear, sir," said the 
 missionary, observing that Sir Eichard hesitated at 
 the mouth of one very dark alley. "It would, 
 indeed, hardly be safe were you to come down here 
 alone, but most of 'em know me. I remember being 
 told by one of the greatest roughs I ever knew that 
 at the very corner where we now stand he had 
 many and many a time knocked down and robbed 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 231 
 
 people. That man is now an earnest Christian, and, 
 like Paul, goes about preaching the Name which he 
 once despised." 
 
 At the moment a dark shadow seemed to pass 
 them, and a gruff voice said, " Good-night, sir." 
 
 "Was that the man you were speaking of?" 
 asked Sir Kichard, quickly. 
 
 " Oh no, sir," replied Seaward with a laugh ; 
 " that 's what he was once like, indeed, but not what 
 he is like now. His voice is no longer gruff. Take 
 care of the step, gentlemen, as you pass here ; so, now 
 we will go into this lodging. It is one of the com- 
 mon lodging-houses of London, which are regulated 
 by law and under the supervision of the police. 
 Each man pays fourpence a night here, for which he 
 is entitled to a bed and the use of the kitchen and 
 its fire to warm himself and cook his food. If he 
 goes to the same lodging every night for a week he 
 becomes entitled to a free night on Sundays." 
 
 The room into which they now entered was a long 
 low chamber, which evidently traversed the whole 
 width of the building, for it turned at a right angle 
 at the inner end, and extended along the back to 
 some extent. It was divided along one side into 
 boxes or squares, after the fashion of some eating- 
 houses, with a small table in the centre of each box, 
 but, the partitions being little higher than those of 
 a church-pew, the view of the whole room was 
 
232 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 unobstructed. At the inner angle of the room blazed 
 a coal-fire so large that a sheep might have been 
 easily roasted whole at it. Gas jets, fixed along the 
 walls at intervals, gave a sufficient light to the place. 
 
 This was the kitchen of the lodging-house, and 
 formed the sitting-room of the place ; and here was 
 assembled perhaps the most degraded and miserable 
 set of men that the world can produce. They were 
 not all of one class, by any means ; nor were they 
 all criminal, though certainly many of them were. 
 The place was the last refuge of the destitute ; the 
 social sink into which all that is improvident, foolish, 
 reckless, thriftless, or criminal finally descends. 
 
 Sir Eichard and Welland had put on their oldest 
 greatcoats and shabbiest wideawakes; they had also 
 put off their gloves and rings and breast-pins in order 
 to attract as little attention as possible, but nothing 
 that they could have done could have reduced 
 their habiliments to anything like the garments of 
 the poor creatures with whom they now mingled. 
 If they had worn the same garments for months 
 or years without washing them, and had often slept 
 in them out of doors in dirty places, they might 
 perhaps have brought them to the same level, but 
 not otherwise. 
 
 Some of the people, however, were noisy enough. 
 Many of them were smoking, and the coarser sort 
 swore and talked loud. Those who had once 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 233 
 
 been in better circumstances sat and moped, or 
 spoke in lower tones, or cooked their victuals with 
 indifference to all else around, or ate them in abs- 
 tracted silence ; while not a few laid their heads 
 and arms on the tables, and apparently slept. For 
 sleeping in earnest there were rooms overhead con- 
 taining many narrow beds with scant and coarse 
 covering, which, however, the law compelled to be 
 clean. One of the rooms contained seventy such beds. 
 
 Little notice was taken of the west-end visitors 
 as they passed up the room, though some dark 
 scowls of hatred were cast after them, and a few 
 glanced at them with indifference. It was other- 
 wise in regard to Seaward. He received many a 
 "good-night, sir," as he passed, and a kindly nod 
 greeted him here and there from men who at first 
 looked as if kindness had been utterly eradicated 
 from their systems. 
 
 One of those whom we have described as resting 
 their headf and arms on the tables, looked hastily 
 up, on hearing the visitors' voices, with an expres- 
 sion of mingled surprise and alarm. It was Sammy 
 Twitter, with hands and visage filthy, hair dis- 
 hevelled, eyes blood-shot, cheeks hollow, and gar- 
 ments beyond description disreputable. He seemed 
 the very embodiment of woe and degradation. On 
 seeing his old friend Welland he quickly laid his 
 head down again and remained motionless. 
 
234 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Welland had not observed him. 
 
 " You would scarcely believe it, sir," said the 
 missionary, in a low tone ; " nearly all classes of 
 society are occasionally represented here. You will 
 sometimes find merchants, lawyers, doctors, military 
 men, and even clergymen, who have fallen step by 
 step, chiefly in consequence of that subtle demon 
 drink, until the common lodging-house is their only 
 home." 
 
 " Heaven help me ! " said Sir Eichard ; " my friend 
 Brisbane has often told me of this, but I liave never 
 quite believed it — certainly never realised it — until 
 to-night. And even now I can hardly believe it. I 
 see no one here who seems as if he ever had be- 
 longed to the classes you name." 
 
 " Do you see the old man in the last box in the 
 room, on the left-hand side, sitting alone ? " asked 
 Seaward, turning his back to the spot indicated. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Well, that is a clergyman. I know him well. 
 You would never guess it from his wretched cloth- 
 ing, but you might readily believe it if you were to 
 speak to him." 
 
 " That I will not do," returned the other firmly. 
 
 " You are right, sir," said Seaward, " I would not 
 advise that you should — at least not here, or now. 
 I have been in the habit of reading a verse or two 
 of the Word and giving? them a short address some- 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 235 
 
 times about this hour. Have you any objection to 
 my doing so now ? It won't detain us long." 
 
 " None in the world ; pray, my good sir, don't let 
 me disarrange your plans." 
 
 " Perhaps," added the missionary, " you would say 
 a few words to — " 
 
 " JSTo, no," interrupted the other, quickly ; " no, they 
 are preaching to me just now, Mr. Seaward, a very 
 powerful sermon, I assure you." 
 
 During the foregoing conversation young Wel- 
 land's thoughts had been very busy ; ay, and his 
 conscience had not been idle, for when mention was 
 made of that great curse strong-drink, he vividly 
 recalled the day when he had laughed at Sam 
 Twitter's blue ribbon, and felt uneasy as to how far 
 his conduct on that occasion had helped Sam in his 
 downward career. 
 
 " My friends," said the missionary aloud, " we will 
 sing a hymn." 
 
 Some of those whom he addressed turned towards 
 the speaker; others paid no attention whatever, 
 but went on with their cooking and smoking. They 
 were used to it, as ordinary church-goers are to the 
 " service." The missionary understood that well, 
 but was not discouraged, because he knew that 
 his " labour in the Lord " should not be in vain. 
 He pulled out two small hymn-books and handed 
 one to Sir Eichard, the other to Welland. 
 
236 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Sir Eichard suddenly found himself in wliat was 
 to him a strange and uncomfortable position, called 
 on to take a somewhat prominent part in a religious 
 service in a low lodging-house ! 
 
 The worst of it was that the poor knight could 
 not sing a note. However, his deficiency in this 
 respect was more than compensated by John Seaward, 
 who possessed a telling tuneful voice, with a grateful 
 heart to work it. Young Welland also could sing 
 well, and joined heartily in that beautiful hymn 
 which tells of " The wonderful words of life." 
 
 After a brief prayer the missionary preached 
 the comforting gospel, and tried, with all the 
 fervour of a sympathetic heart, to impress on his 
 hearers that there really was Hope for the hope- 
 less, and Best for the weary in Jesus Christ. 
 
 When he had finished, Stephen Welland surprised 
 him, as well as his friend Sir Eichard and the 
 audience generally, by suddenly exclaiming, in a 
 subdued but impressive voice, which drew general 
 attention : — 
 
 "Friends, I had no intention of saying a word 
 when I came here, but, God forgive me, I have com- 
 mitted a sin, which seems to force me to speak and 
 warn you against giving way to strong drink. I had 
 — nay, I have — a dear friend who once put on the 
 Blue Eibbon." 
 
 Here he related the episode at the road-side 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 237 
 
 tavern, and his friend's terrible fall, and wound up 
 with the warning : — 
 
 " Fellow-men, fellow-sinners, beware of being 
 laughed out of good resolves — beware of strong drink. 
 I know not where my comrade is now. He may be 
 dead, but I think not, for he has a mother and father 
 who pray for him without ceasing. Still better, as 
 you have just been told, he has an Advocate with 
 God, who is able and willing to save him to the 
 uttermost. Forgive me, Mr. Seaward, for speaking 
 without being asked. I could not help it." 
 
 " No need to ask forgiveness of me, Mr. Welland. 
 You have spoken on the Lord's side, and I have 
 reason to thank you heartily." 
 
 While this was being said, those who sat near the 
 door observed that a young man rose softly, and 
 slunk away like a criminal, with a face ashy pale 
 and his head bowed down. On reaching the door, 
 he rushed out like one who expected to be pursued. 
 It was young Sam Twitter. Few of the inmates 
 of the place observed him, none cared a straw 
 for him, and the incident was, no doubt, quickly 
 forgotten. 
 
 " We must hasten now, if we are to visit another 
 lodging-house," said Seaward, as they emerged into 
 the comparatively fresh air of the street, " for it grows 
 late, and riotous drunken characters are apt to be 
 met with as they stagger home." 
 
238 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Ko ; I have had enough for one night," said Sir 
 Eichard. " I shall not be able to digest it all in a 
 hurry. I'll go home by the Metropolitan, if you 
 will conduct me to the nearest station." 
 
 " Come along, then. This way." 
 
 They had not gone far, and were passing through 
 a quiet side street, when they observed a poor 
 woman sitting on a door-step. It was Mrs. Frog, 
 who had returned to sit on the old familiar spot, and 
 watch the shadows on the blind, either from the 
 mere force of habit, or because this would probably 
 be the last occasion on which she could expect to 
 enjoy that treat. 
 
 A feeling of pity entered Sir Eichard's soul as he 
 looked on the poorly clothed forlorn creature. He 
 little knew what rejoicing there was in her heart just 
 then — so deceptive are appearances at times ! He 
 went towards her with an intention of some sort, 
 when a very tall policeman turned the corner, and 
 approached. 
 
 "Why, Giles Scott!" exclaimed the knight, 
 holding out his hand, which Giles shook respect- 
 fully, "you seem to be very far away from your 
 beat to-night." 
 
 " No, sir, not very far, for this is my beat, now. 
 I have exchanged into the city, for reasons that 
 I need not mention." 
 
 At this point a belated and half tipsy man passed 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 239 
 
 with his donkey-cart full of unsold vegetables and 
 rubbish. 
 
 " Hallo ! you big blue-coat-boy," he cried politely 
 to Giles, " wot d' ye call that r 
 
 Giles had caught sight of " that " at the same 
 moment, and darted across the street. 
 
 "Why, it's fire!" he shouted. ''Eun, young 
 fellow, you know the fire-station !" 
 
 "I know it," shouted the donkey-man, sobered 
 in an instant, as he jumped off his cart, left it 
 standing, dashed round the corner, and disappeared, 
 while No. 66Q beat a thundering tattoo on Samuel 
 Twitter's front door. 
 
240 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 THINGS BECOME TOO HOT FOR THE TWITTER FAMILY. 
 
 Before the thunder of Giles Scott's first rap had 
 ceased, a pane of glass in one of the lower windows 
 burst, and out came dense volumes of smoke, with a 
 red tongue or two piercing them here and there, 
 showing that the fire had been smouldering long, 
 and had got well alight. 
 
 It was followed by an appalling shriek from Mrs. 
 Frog, who rushed forward shouting, " Oh ! baby ! 
 baby !" 
 
 " Hold her, sir," said Giles to young Welland, who 
 sprang forward at the same moment. 
 
 Welland was aware of the immense value of 
 prompt obedience, and saw that Giles was well fitted 
 to command. He seized Mrs. Frog and held her 
 fast, while Giles, knowing that there was no time to 
 stand on ceremony, stepped a few paces back, ran at 
 the door with all his might, and applied his foot 
 with his great weight and momentum to it. As the 
 oak is shattered by the thunderbolt, so was Samuel 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 241 
 
 Twitter's door by the foot of I^o. 666. But the bold 
 constable was met by a volume of black smoke which 
 was too much even for him. It drove him back half 
 suffocated, while, at the same time, it drove the 
 domestic out of the house into his arms. She had 
 rushed from the lower regions just in time to escape 
 death. 
 
 A single minute had not yet elapsed, and only 
 half-a-dozen persons had assembled, with two or 
 three policemen, who instantly sought to obtain an 
 entrance by a back door. 
 
 " Hold her. Sir Eichard," said Welland, handing 
 the struggling Mrs. Frog over. The knight accepted 
 the charge, while Welland ran to the burning house, 
 which seemed to be made of tinder, it blazed up so 
 quickly. 
 
 Giles was making desperate efforts to enter by a 
 window which vomited fire and smoke that defied 
 him. An upper window was thrown open, and 
 Samuel Twitter appeared in his night-dress, shouting 
 frantically. 
 
 Stephen "Welland saw that entrance or egress by 
 lower window or staircase was impossible. He had 
 been a noted athlete at school. There was an iron 
 spout which ran from the street to the roof. He 
 rushed to that, and sprang up moi;Q like a monkey 
 than a man. 
 
 " Pitch over blankets ! " roared Giles, as the 
 Q 
 
242 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 youth gained a, window of the first floor, and 
 dashed it in. 
 
 "The donkey cart!" shouted Welland, in reply, 
 and disappeared. 
 
 Giles was quick to understand. He dragged — 
 almost lifted — the donkey and cart on to the pave- 
 ment under the window where Mr. Twitter stood 
 waving his hands and yelling. The poor man had 
 evidently lost his reason for the time, and was fit for 
 nothing. A hand was seen to grasp his neck behind, 
 and he disappeared. At the same moment a 
 blanket came fluttering down, and Welland stood on 
 the window-sill with Mrs. Twitter in his arms, and 
 a sheet of flame following. The height was about 
 thirty feet. The youth steadied himself for one 
 moment, as if to take aim, and dropped Mrs. 
 Twitter, as he might have dropped a bundle. She 
 not only went into the vegetable cart, with a 
 bursting shriek, but right through it, and reached 
 the pavement unhurt — though terribly shaken ! 
 
 Four minutes had not yet elapsed. The crowd 
 had thickened, and a dull rumbling which had been 
 audible for half a minute increased into a mighty 
 roar as the fiery-red engine with its brass -helmeted 
 heroes dashed round the corner, and pulled up with 
 a crash, seeming to shoot the men off. These 
 swarmed, for a few seconds, about the hose, water 
 plug, and nozzles. At the same instant the great 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 243 
 
 fire-escape came rushing on the scene, like some 
 antediluvian monster, but by that time Giles had 
 swept away the debris of the donkey cart, with Mrs. 
 Twitter imbedded therein, and had stretched the 
 blanket with five powerful volunteers to hold it. 
 "Jump, sir, jump!" he cried. Samuel Twitter 
 jumped — unavoidably, for Welland pushed him — 
 just as the hiss and crackle of the water-spouts began. 
 
 He came down in a heap, rebounded like india- 
 rubber, and was hurled to one side in time to make 
 way for one of his young flock. 
 
 "The children! the children!" screamed Mrs. 
 Twitter, disengaging herself from the vegetables. 
 
 "Where are they ?" asked a brass-helm eted man, 
 quietly, as the head of the Escape went crashing 
 through an upper window. 
 
 " The top floor ! all of *em there ! — top flo-o-o-r !" 
 
 "No — no-o-o! some on the second fl-o-o-or!" 
 yelled Mr. Twitter. 
 
 " I say to^j — floo-o-o-r," repeated the wife. 
 
 "You forget — baby — ba-i-by !" roared the husband. 
 
 A wild shriek was Mrs. Twitter's reply. 
 
 The quiet man with the brass helmet had run up 
 the Escape quite regardless of these explanations. 
 At the same time top windows were thrown up, and 
 little night-dressed figures appeared at them all, 
 apparently making faces, for their cries were drowned 
 in the shouts below. 
 
244 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 From these upper windows smoke was issuing, 
 but not yet in dense, suffocating volumes. The 
 quiet man of the Escape entered a second floor 
 window through smoke and flames as though he 
 were a salamander. 
 
 The crowd below gave him a lusty cheer, for it 
 was a great surging crowd by that time ; neverthe- 
 less it surged within bounds, for a powerful body 
 of police kept it back, leaving free space for the 
 firemen to work. 
 
 A moment or two after the quiet fireman had 
 entered, the night-dressed little ones disappeared 
 from the other windows and congregated, as if by 
 magic, at the window just above the head of the 
 Escape. Almost simultaneously the fly-ladder of 
 the Escape — used for upper windows — was swung 
 out, and when the quiet fireman had got out on the 
 window-sill with little Lucy in his arms and little 
 Alice held by her dress in his teeth, its upper 
 rounds , touched his knees, as if with a kiss of 
 recognition ! 
 
 He descended the fly -ladder, and shoved the two 
 terrified little ones somewhat promptly into the can- 
 vas shoot, where a brother fireman was ready to 
 pilot them safely to the ground. Molly being big 
 had to be taken by herself, but Willie and Ered. 
 went together. 
 
 During all this time poor Mrs. Frog had given 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 2-15 
 
 herself over to the one idea of screaming '' baby 1 
 bai-e-by 1" and struggling to get free from the two 
 policemen, who had come to the relief of Sir 
 Eichard, and who tenderly restrained her. 
 
 In like manner Mr. and Mrs. Twitter, although 
 not absolutely in need of restraint, went about 
 wringing their hands and making such confused 
 and contradictory statements that no one could 
 understand what they meant, and the firemen quietly 
 went on with their work quite regardless of their 
 existence. 
 
 "Policeman!" said Sam Twitter, looking up in 
 the face of No. ^^^y with a piteous expression, and 
 almost weeping with vexation, " nobody will listen 
 to me. I would go up myself, but the firemen'won't 
 let me, and my dear wife has such an idea of stick- 
 ing to truth that when they ask her, 'Is your 
 baby up there?' she yells 'No, not our baby;' and 
 before she can explain she gasps, and then I try to 
 explain, and that so bamboozles — " 
 
 "/s your baby there?" demanded No. QQQ vehe- 
 mently. 
 
 "Yes, it isT cried Twitter, without the slightest 
 twinge of conscience. 
 
 "What room?" 
 
 " That one," pointing to the left side of the house 
 on the first floor. 
 
 Just then part of the roof gave way and fell into 
 
246 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 the furnace of flame below, leaving visible the door 
 of the very room to which Twitter had pointed. 
 
 A despairing groan escaped him as he saw it, for 
 now all communication seemed cut off, and the men 
 w^ere about to pull the Escape away to prevent its 
 being burned, while, more engines having arrived, 
 something like a mountain torrent of water was de- 
 scending on the devoted house. 
 
 " Stop, lads, a moment," said Giles, springing upon 
 the Escape. He might have explained to the fire- 
 men what he had learned, but that would have taken 
 time, and every second just then was of the utmost 
 value. He was up on the window-sill before they 
 well understood what he meant to do. 
 
 The heat was intolerable. A very lake of fire 
 rolled beneath him. The door of the room pointed 
 out by Twitter was opposite — fortunately on the side 
 furthest from the centre of fire, but the floor was 
 gone. Only two great beams remained, and the one 
 Giles had to cross was more than half burned 
 through. It was a fragile bridge on which to pass 
 over an abyss so terrible. But heroes do not pause 
 to calculate. Giles walked straight across it with 
 the steadiness of a rope-dancer, and burst in the 
 charred and splitting door. 
 
 The smoke here was not too dense to prevent his 
 seeing. One glance revealed baby Frog lying calmly 
 in her crib as if asleep. To seize her, wrap her in 
 
GILES RESCUING xMATTW— Pagk 247 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 247 
 
 the blankets, and carry her to the door of the room, 
 was the work of a moment, but the awful abyss 
 now lay before him, and it seemed to have been 
 heated seven times. The beam, too, was by that 
 time re-kindling with the increased heat, and the 
 burden he carried prevented Giles from seeing, and 
 balancing himself so well. He did not hesitate, but 
 he advanced slowly and with caution. 
 
 A dead silence fell on the awe-stricken crowd, 
 whose gaze was concentrated now on the one figure. 
 The throbbing of the engines was heard distinctly 
 when the roar of excitement was thus temporarily 
 checked. 
 
 As Giles moved along, the beam cracked under 
 his great weight. The heat became almost in- 
 supportable. His boots seemed to shrivel up and 
 ticjhten round his feet. 
 
 " He 's gone ! No, he 's not ! " gasped some of the 
 crowd, as the tall smoke and flame encompassed 
 him, and he was seen for a moment to waver. 
 
 It was a touch of giddiness, but by a violent 
 impulse of the will he threw it off, and at the same 
 time bounded to the window, sending the beam, 
 which was broken off by the shock, hissing down 
 into the lake of fire. 
 
 The danger was past, and a loud, continuous, 
 enthusiastic cheer greeted gallant No. 666 as he 
 descended the shoot with the baby in his arms, and 
 
248 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 delivered it alive and well, and more solemn than 
 ever, to its mother — its own mother ! 
 
 When Sir Eichard Brandon returned home that 
 night, he found it uncommonly difficult to sleep. 
 When, after many unsuccessful efforts, he did 
 manage to slumber, his dreams re-produced the 
 visions of his waking hours, with many surprising 
 distortions and mixings — one of which distortions 
 was, that all the paupers in the common lodging- 
 houses had suddenly become rich, while he, Sir 
 Eichard, had as suddenly become poor, and a beggar 
 in filthy rags, with nobody to care for him, and that 
 these enriched beggars came round him and asked 
 him, in quite a facetious way, " how he liked it ! " 
 
 Next morning, when the worthy knight arose, he 
 found his unrested brain still busy with the same 
 theme. He also found that he had got food for 
 meditation, and for discussion with little Di, not 
 only for some time to come, but, for the remainder 
 of his life. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 249 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 THE OCEAN AND THE NEW WORLD. 
 
 Doctors tell us that change of air is usually 
 beneficial, often necessary, nearly always agreeable. 
 Eelying on the wisdom of this opinion, we propose 
 now to give the reader who has followed us thus 
 far a change of air — by shifting the scene to the 
 bosom of the broad Atlantic — and thus blow away 
 the cobwebs and dust of the city. 
 
 Those who have not yet been out upon the great 
 ocean cannot conceive — and those who have been 
 out on it may not have seen — the splendours of a 
 luminous fog on a glorious summer morning. The 
 prevailing ideas in such circumstances are peace 
 and liquidity ! the only solid object visible above, 
 below, or around, being the ship on which you stand. 
 
 Everything else is impalpable, floating, soft, and 
 of a light, bright, silvery grey. The air is warm, 
 the sea is glass; it is circular, too, like a disc, 
 and the line where it meets with the sky is im- 
 
250 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 perceptible. Your little bark is the centre of a 
 great crystal ball, the limit of which is Immensity ! 
 
 As we have said, peace, liquidity, luminosity, 
 softness, and warmth prevail everywhere, and the 
 fog, or rather, the silvery haze — for it is dry and 
 warm as well as bright — has the peculiar effect of 
 deadening sound, so that the quiet little noises of 
 ship-board rather help than destroy the idea of that 
 profound tranquillity which suggests irresistibly to 
 the religious mind the higher aixd sweeter idea of 
 " the peace of God." 
 
 But, although intensely still, there is no suggestion 
 of death in such a scene. It is only that of slumber, 
 for the ocean undulates even when at rest, and sails 
 flap gently even when there is no wind. Besides 
 this, on the particular morning to which we call 
 attention, a species of what we may call " still life " 
 was presented by a mighty iceberg — a peaked and 
 towering mountain of snowy white and emerald 
 blue — which floated on the sea not a quarter of a 
 mile off on the starboard bow. Eeal life also was 
 presented to the passengers of the noble bark which 
 formed the centre of this scene, in the form of gulls 
 floating like great snowflakes in the air, and flocks 
 of active little divers rejoicing unspeakably on the 
 water. The distant cries of these added to the 
 harmony of nature, and tended to draw the mind 
 from mere abstract contemplation to positive 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 251 
 
 sympathy with the joys of other animals besides 
 one's-self. 
 
 The only discordant sounds that met the ears of 
 those who voyaged in the bark Ocean Queen were 
 the cacklings of a creature in the hen-coops which 
 had laid an ^^g, or thought it had done so, or wished 
 to do so, or, having been sea-sick up to that time, 
 perhaps, endeavoured to revive its spirits by recal- 
 ling the fact that it once did so, and might perhaps 
 do so again ! By the way there was also one other 
 discord, in the form of a pugnacious baby, which 
 whimpered continuously, and, from some unaccount- 
 able cause, refused to be comforted. But that was 
 a discord which, as in some musical chords, seemed 
 rather to improve the harmony — at least in its 
 mother's ears. 
 
 The Ocean Queen was an emigrant ship. In her 
 capacious hull, besides other emigrants, there were 
 upwards of seventy diamonds from the Beehive in 
 Spitalfields on their way to seek their fortunes in 
 the lands that are watered by such grand fresh- 
 water seas as Lakes Superior and Huron and Michi- 
 gan and Ontario, and such rivers as the Ottawa and 
 the St. Lawrence. 
 
 Eobert Frog and Tim Lumpy were among those 
 boys, so changed for the better in a few months 
 that, as the former remarked, " their own mothers 
 wouldn't know 'em," and not only improved in ap- 
 
2o2 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 pearance, but in spirit, ay and even to some small 
 extent in language — so great had been the influence 
 for good brought to bear on them by Christian 
 women working out of love to God and souls. 
 
 " Ain't it lovely ? " said Tim. 
 
 " Splendacious ! " replied Bob. 
 
 The reader will observe that we did not say 
 the language had, at that time, been much improved ! 
 only to some small extent. 
 
 " I 've seen pictur's of 'em, Bob," said Tim, lean- 
 ing his arms on the vessel's bulwarks as he gazed 
 on the sleeping sea, "w'en a gen'l'man came to 
 George Yard with a magic lantern, but I never 
 thought they was so big, or that the holes in 'em 
 was so blue." 
 
 " Nor I neither," said Bob. 
 
 They referred, of course, to the iceberg, the 
 seams and especially the caverns in which gra- 
 duated from the lightest azure to the deepest 
 indigo. 
 
 "Why, I do believe," continued Bobby, as the 
 haze grew a little thinner, " that there 's rivers of 
 water runnin' down its sides, just like as if it was 
 a mountain o' loaf-sugar wi' the fire-brigade a- 
 pumpin' on it. An' see, there 's water-falls too, 
 bigger I do b'lieve than the one I once saw at a 
 pantomime." 
 
 " Ay, an' far prettier too," said Tim. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 253 
 
 Bobby Frog did not quite see his way to assent 
 to that. The waterfalls on the iceberg were bigger, 
 he admitted, than those in the pantomime, but then, 
 there was not so much glare and glitter around 
 them. 
 
 " An' I 'm fond of glare an' glitter," he remarked, 
 with a glance at his friend. 
 
 " So am I Bob, but—" 
 
 At that instant the dinner-bell rang, and the 
 eyes of both glittered — they almost glared — as they 
 turned and made for the companion-hatch. Bob 
 exclaiming, "Ah, that's the thing that I'm fond of; 
 glare an' glitter 's all wery well in its way, but it 
 can't 'old a candle to grub ! " 
 
 Timothy Lumpy seemed to have no difference 
 of opinion with his friend on that point. Indeed 
 the other sixty-eight boys seemed to be marvel- 
 lously united in sentiment about it, for, without an 
 exception, they responded to that dinner-bell with 
 a promptitude quite equal to that secured by mili- 
 tary discipline ! There was a rattling of feet on 
 decks and ladderways for a few seconds, and then 
 all was quiet while a blessing was asked on the 
 meal. 
 
 For many years Miss Annie Macpherson has 
 herself conducted parties of such boys to Canada, 
 but the party of which we write happened to be in 
 charge of a gentleman whom we will name the 
 
254 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Guardian. He was there to keep order, of course, 
 but in truth this was not a difficult matter, for the 
 affections of the boys had been enlisted, and they 
 had already learned to practise self-restraint. 
 
 That same day a whale was seen. It produced 
 a sensation among the boys that is not easily de- 
 scribed. Considerately, and as if on purpose, it 
 swam round the ship and displayed its gigantic 
 proportions ; then it spouted as though to show 
 what it could do in that line, and then, as if to make 
 the performance complete and reduce the Westmin- 
 ster Aquarium to insignificance, it tossed its mighty 
 tail on high, brought it down with a clap like thun- 
 der, and finally dived into its native ocean followed 
 by a yell of joyful surprise from the rescued waifs 
 and strays. 
 
 There were little boys, perhaps even big ones, in 
 that band, who that day received a lesson of faith 
 from the whale. It taught them that pictures, 
 even extravagant ones, represent great realities. The 
 whale also taught them a lesson of error, as was 
 proved by the remark of one waif to a brothsr 
 stray : — 
 
 " I say, Piggie, it ain't 'ard now, to b'lieve that 
 the whale swallered Jonah." 
 
 " You're right, Konky." 
 
 Strange interlacing of error with error traversed 
 by truth in this sublunary sphere ! Piggie was 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 255 
 
 wrong in admitting thau Konky was right, for, as 
 every one knows, or ought to know, it was not a 
 whale at all that swallowed Jonah, but a "great 
 fish " which was " prepared " for the purpose. 
 
 But the voyage of the Ocean Queen was not 
 entirely made up of calms, and luminous fogs, and 
 bergs, and whales, and food. A volume would be 
 required to describe it all. There was much foul 
 weather as well as fair, during which periods a cer- 
 tain proportion of the little flock, being not very 
 good sailors, sank to depths of misery which they 
 had never before experienced— not even in their 
 tattered days — and even those of them who had got 
 their " sea-legs on," were not absolutely happy. 
 
 " I say, Piggie," asked the waif before mentioned 
 of his chum (or dosser) Konky, " 'ow long d*ee 
 think little Mouse v/ill go on at his present rate o* 
 heavin'?" 
 
 " I can't say," answered the stray, with a serious 
 air ; " I ain't studied the 'uman frame wery much, 
 but I should say, 'e '11 bust by to-morrow if 'e goes 
 on like 'e 's bin doin'." 
 
 A tremendous sound from little Mouse, who lay 
 in a neighbouring bunk, seemed to justify the pro- 
 phecy. 
 
 But little Mouse did not "bust." He survived 
 that storm and got his sea-legs on before the next 
 one. 
 
256 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 The voyage, however, was on the whole propi- 
 tious, and, what with school-lessons and Bible- 
 lessons and hymn-singing, and romping, and games 
 of various kinds instituted and engaged in by the 
 Guardian, the time passed profitably as well as 
 pleasantly, so that there were, perhaps, some feel- 
 ings of regret when the voyage drew to an end, 
 and they came in sight of that Great Land which 
 the Norsemen of old discovered ; which Columbus, 
 re-discovering, introduced to the civilised world, 
 and which, we think, ought in justice to have been 
 named Columbia. 
 
 And now a new era of life began for those res- 
 cued waifs and strays — those east-end diamonds 
 from the great London fields. Canada — with its 
 mighty lakes and splendid rivers, its great forests 
 and rich lands, its interesting past, prosperous 
 present, and hopeful future — opened up to view. 
 But there was a shadow on the prospect, not very 
 extensive, it is true, but dark enough to some of 
 them just then, for here the hitherto united band 
 was to be gradually disunited and dispersed, and 
 friendships that had begun to ripen under the sun- 
 shine of Christian influence were to be broken up, 
 perhaps for ever. The Guardian, too, had to be left 
 behind by each member as he was severed from his 
 fellows and sent to a new home among total 
 strangers. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 257 
 
 Still there were to set off against these things 
 several points of importance. One of these was 
 that the Guardian would not part with a single boy 
 until the character of his would-be employer was 
 inquired into, and his intention to deal kindly and 
 fairly ascertained. Another point was, that each 
 boy, when handed over to an employer, was not to be 
 left thereafter to care for himself, but his interests 
 were to be watched over and himself visited 
 at intervals by an emissary from the Beehive, so 
 that he would not feel friendless or forsaken even 
 though he should have the misfortune to fall into 
 bad hands. The Guardian also took care to point 
 out, that amid all these leave-takings and partings, 
 there was One who would " never leave nor forsake " 
 them, and to whom they were indebted for the first 
 helping hand, when they were in their rags and 
 misery, and forsaken of man. 
 
 At last the great gulf of St. Lawrence was entered, 
 and here the vessel was beset with ice, so that she 
 could not advance at a greater rate than two or 
 three miles an hour for a considerable distance. 
 
 Soon, however, those fields of frozen sea were 
 passed, and the end of the voyage drew near. Then 
 was there a marvellous outbreak of pens, ink, and 
 paper, for the juvenile flock was smitten with a 
 sudden desire to write home before going to the 
 interior of the new land. 
 
258 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 It was a sad truth that many of the poor boys 
 had neither parent nor relative to correspond with, 
 but these were none the less eager in their literary 
 work, for had they not Miss Macpherson and the 
 ladies of the Home to write to ? 
 
 Soon after that, the party landed at the far-famed 
 city of Quebec, each boy with his bag containing 
 change of linen, and garments, a rug, etc.; and there, 
 under a shed, thanks were rendered to God for a 
 happy voyage, and prayer offered for future guid- 
 ance. 
 
 Then the Guardian commenced business. He had 
 momentous work to do. The Home of Industry 
 and its work are well known in Canada. Dusty 
 diamonds sent out from the Beehive were by that 
 time appreciated, and therefore coveted; for the 
 western land is vast, and the labourers are com- 
 paratively few. People were eager to get the boys, 
 but the character of intending employers had to be 
 inquired into, and this involved care. Then the 
 suitability of boys to situations had to be con- 
 sidered. However, this was finally got over, and 
 a few of the reclaimed waifs were left at Quebec. 
 This was the beginning of the dispersion. 
 
 " I don't like it at all," said Bobby Frog to his 
 friend Tim Lumpy, that evening in the sleeping car 
 of the railway train that bore them onward to 
 Montreal ; " they 11 soon be partin' you an' me, an' 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 259 
 
 that'll be worse than wallerin' in the mud of 
 Vitechapel." 
 
 Bobby said this with such an expression of 
 serious anxiety that his little friend was quite 
 touched. 
 
 " I hope not, Bob," he replied. " What d' ee say 
 to axin' our Guardian to put us both into the same 
 sitivation?" 
 
 Bobby thought that this was not a bad idea, and 
 as they rolled along these two little waifs gravely 
 discussed their future prospects. It was the same 
 with many others of the band, though not a few 
 were content to gaze out of the carriage windows, 
 pass a running commentary on the new country, 
 and leave their future entirely to their Guardian. 
 Soon, however, the busy little tongues and brains 
 ceased to work, and ere long were steeped in slumber. 
 
 At midnight the train stopped, and great was 
 the sighing and groaning, and earnest were the 
 requests to be let alone, for a batch of the boys had 
 to be dropped at a town by the way. At last they 
 were aroused, and with their bags on their shoulders 
 prepared to set off under a guide to their various 
 homes. Soon the sleepiness wore off, and, when 
 the train was about to start, the reality of the part- 
 ing seemed to strike home, and the final hand- 
 shakings and good wishes were earnest and hearty. 
 
 Thus, little by little, the band grew less and less. 
 
260 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Montreal swallowed up a good many. While there 
 the whole band w^ent out for a walk on the heights 
 above the reservoir with their Guardian, guided by 
 a young Scotsman. 
 
 "That's a jolly-lookin* 'ouse, Tim," said Bob 
 Frog to his friend. 
 
 The Scotsman overheard the remark. 
 
 "Yes," said he, "it is a nice house, and a good 
 jolly man owns it. He began life as a poor 
 boy. And do you see that other villa — the white 
 one with the green veranda among the trees ? That 
 was built by a man who came out from England 
 just as you have done, only without anybody to take 
 care of him ; God however cared for him, and now 
 you see his house. He began life without a penny, 
 but he had three qualities which will make a man 
 of any boy, no matter what circumstances he may be 
 placed in. He was truthful, thorough, and trust- 
 worthy. Men knew that they might believe what 
 he said, be sure of the quality of what he did, and 
 could rely upon his promises. There was another 
 thing much in his favour, he was a total abstainer. 
 Drink in this country ruins hundreds of men and 
 women, just as in England. Shun drink, boys, as 
 you would a serpent." 
 
 " 1 wouldn't shun a drink o' water just now if I 
 could get it," whispered Bobby to his friend, "for 
 T 'm uncommon thirsty." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 261 
 
 At this point the whole band were permitted to 
 disperse in the woods, where they went about 
 climbing and skipping like wild squirrels, for these 
 novel sights, and scents, and circumstances were 
 overwhelmingly delightful after the dirt and smoke 
 of London. 
 
 When pretty well breathed — our waifs were 
 grown too hardy by that time to be easily exhausted 
 — the Guardian got them to sit round him and sing 
 that sweet hymn : — 
 
 " Shall we gather at the river?" 
 
 And tears bedewed many eyes, for they were 
 reminded that there were yet many partings in store 
 before that gathering should take place. 
 
 And now the remnant of the band — still a goodly 
 number — proceeded in the direction of the far west. 
 All night they travelled, and reached Belleville, 
 where they were received joyfully in the large house 
 presented as a free gift to Miss Macpherson by the 
 Council of the County of Hastings. It served as a 
 '' Distributing Home " and centre in Canada for the 
 little ones till they could be placed in suitable 
 situations, and to it they might be returned if 
 necessary, or a change of employer required it. 
 This Belleville Home was afterwards burned to 
 the ground, and rebuilt by sympathising Canadian 
 friends. 
 
 But we may not pause long here. The far west 
 
262 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 still lies before us. Our gradually diminisliing band 
 must push on. 
 
 "It's the sea!" exclaimed the boy who had been 
 named little Mouse, alias Eobbie Dell. 
 
 " ISTo, it aint," said Konky, who was a good deal 
 older ; " it 's a lake." 
 
 " Ontario," said the Guardian, " one of the noble 
 fresh-water seas of Canada." 
 
 Onward, ever onward, is the watchword just now 
 — dropping boys like seed-corn as they go ! Woods 
 and fields, and villas, and farms, and waste-lands, 
 and forests, and water, fly past in endless variety 
 and loveliness. 
 
 "A panoramy without no end!" exclaimed Tim 
 Lumpy after one of his long gazes of silent admira- 
 tion. 
 
 " Wot a difference !" murmured Bobby Frog. 
 "Wouldn't mother an' daddy an' Hetty like it, 
 just !" 
 
 The city of Toronto came in sight. The wise 
 arrangements for washing in Canadian railway-cars 
 had been well used by the boys, and pocket-combs 
 also. They looked clean and neat and wonderfully 
 solemn as they landed at the station. 
 
 But their fame had preceded them. An earnest 
 crowd came to see the boys, among whom were 
 some eager to appropriate. 
 
 " I '11 take that lad," said one bluff farmer, stepping 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 263 
 
 forward, and pointing to a boy whose face had taken 
 his fancy. 
 
 "And I want six boys for our village," said 
 another. 
 
 " I want one to learn my business," said a third, 
 " and I '11 learn him as my own son. Here are my 
 certificates of character from my clergyman and the 
 mayor of the place I belong to." 
 
 " I like the looks of that little fellow," said another, 
 pointing to Bob Frog, "and should like to have 
 him." 
 
 " Does you, my tulip ?" said Bobby, whose natural 
 tendency to insolence had not yet been subdued; 
 " an' don't you vish you may get 'im !" 
 
 It is but justice to Bobby, however, to add, that 
 this remark was made entirely to himself. 
 
 To all these flattering offers the Guardian turned 
 a deaf ear, until he had passed through the crowd 
 and marshalled his boys in an empty room of the 
 depot. Then inquiries were made ; the boys' char- 
 acters and capacities explained ; suitability on both 
 sides considered; the needs of the soul as well 
 as the body referred to and pressed ; and, finally, 
 the party went on its way greatly reduced iii 
 numbers. 
 
 Thus they dwindled and travelled westward until 
 only our friend Bobby, Tim, Konky, and little Mouse 
 remained with the Guardian, whose affections seemed 
 
264' DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 to intensify as fewer numbers were left on which 
 they might concentrate. 
 
 Soon the little Mouse was caught. A huge back- 
 woods farmer, who could have almost put him in 
 his coat-pocket, took a fancy to him. The fancy 
 seemed to be mutual, for, after a tearful farewell to 
 the Guardian, the Mouse went off with the back- 
 woodsman quite contentedly. 
 
 Then Konky was disposed of. A hearty old 
 lady with a pretty daughter and a slim son went 
 away with him in triumph, and the band was re- 
 r'uced to two. 
 
 "I do believe," whispered Bob to Tim, "that he's 
 goin* to let us stick together after all." 
 
 " You are right, my dear boy," said the Guardian, 
 who overheard the remark. "A family living a 
 considerable distance off wishes to have two boys. 
 I have reason to believe that they love the Lord 
 Jesus, and will treat you well. So, as I knew you 
 wished to be together, I have arranged for your going 
 to live with them." 
 
 As the journey drew to a close, the Guardian 
 seemed to concentrate his whole heart on the little 
 waifs whom he had conducted so far, and he gave 
 them many words of counsel, besides praying with 
 and for them. 
 
 At last, towards evening, the train rushed into 
 a grand pine wood. It soon rushed out of it again 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 265 
 
 and entered a beautiful piece of country which was 
 diversified by lakelet and rivulet, hill and vale, 
 with rich meadow lands in the hollows, where cattle 
 browsed or lay in the evening sunshine. 
 
 The train drew up sharply at a small road-side 
 station. There was no one to get into the cars there, 
 and no one to get out except our two waifs. On 
 the road beyond stood a wagon with a couple of 
 spankiDg bays in it. On the platform stood a broad- 
 shouldered, deep-chested, short-legged farmer with a 
 face like the sun, and a wide-awake on the back 
 of his bald head. 
 
 " Mr. Merryboy, I presume ?" said the Guardian, 
 descending from the car. 
 
 "The same. Glad to see you. Are these my 
 boys ?" 
 
 He spoke in a quick, hearty, off-hand manner, 
 but Bobby and Tim hated him at once, for were 
 they not on the point of leaving their last and best 
 friend, and was not this man the cause ? 
 
 They turned to their Guardian to say farewell, 
 and, even to their own surprise, burst into tears. 
 
 "God bless you, dear boys," he said, while the 
 guard held open the door of the car as if to suggest 
 haste; "good-bye. It won't be very long I think 
 before I see you again. Farewell." 
 
 He sprang into the car, the train glided away, and 
 the two waifs stood looking wistfully after it with 
 
266 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 the first feelings of desolation that had entered their 
 hearts since landing in Canada. 
 
 " My poor lads," said Mr. Merryboy, laying a hand 
 on the shoulder of each, "come along with me. 
 Home is only six miles off, and I Ve got a pair of 
 spanking horses that will trundle us over in no 
 time." 
 
 The tone of voice, to say nothing of " home " and 
 " spanking horses," improved matters greatly. Both 
 boys thought, as they entered the wagon, that they 
 did not hate him quite so much as at first. 
 
 The bays proved worthy of their master's praise. 
 They went over the road through the forest in grand 
 style, and in little more than half an hour landed 
 Bobby and Tim at the door of their Canadian home. 
 
 It was dark by that time, and the ruddy light 
 that shone in the windows and streamed through 
 the door as it opened to receive them seemed to our 
 w^aifs like a gleam of celestial light. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 267 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 AT HOMB IN CANADA, 
 
 The family of Mr. Merryboy was a small one. 
 Besides those who assisted him on the farm — and 
 who were in some cases temporary servants — his 
 household consisted of his wife, his aged mother, a 
 female servant, and a small girl. The latter was a 
 diamond from the London diggings, who had been 
 imported the year before. She was undergoing the 
 process of being polished, and gave promise of soon 
 becoming a very valuable gem. It was this that 
 induced her employer to secure our two masculine 
 gems from the same diggings. 
 
 Mrs. Merryboy was a vigorous, hearty, able- 
 bodied lady, who loved work very much for the 
 mere exercise it afforded her; who, like her hus- 
 band, was constitutionally kind, and whose mind 
 was of that serious type which takes concern with 
 the souls of the people with whom it has to do as 
 well as with their bodies. Hence she gave her waif 
 a daily lesson in religious and secular knowledge ; 
 
268 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 she reduced work on the Sabbath-days to the lowest 
 possible point in the establishment, and induced 
 her husband, who was a little shy as well as bluff 
 and off-hand, to institute family worship, besides 
 hanging on her walls here and there sweet and 
 striking texts from the Word of God. 
 
 Old Mrs. Merryboy, the mother, must have been 
 a merry girl in her youth ; for, even though at the 
 age of eighty and partially deaf, she was extremely 
 fond of a joke, practical or otherwise, and had her 
 face so seamed with the lines of appreciative 
 humour, and her nut-cracker mouth so set in a 
 smile of amiable fun, and her coal-black eyes so 
 lit up with the fires of unutterable wit, that a mere 
 glance at her stirred up your sources of comicality 
 to their depths, while a steady gaze usually resulted 
 in a laugh, in which she was sure to join with an 
 apparent belief that, whatever the joke might be, 
 it was uncommonly good. She did not speak 
 much. Her looks and smiles rendered speech 
 almost unnecessary. Her figure was unusually 
 diminutive. 
 
 Little Martha, the waif, was one of those mild, 
 reticent, tiny things that one feels a desire to fondle 
 without knowing why. Her very small face was 
 always, and, as Bobby remarked, awfully grave, 
 yet a ready smile must have lurked close at hand 
 somewhere, for it could be evoked by the smallest 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 269 
 
 provocation at any time, but fled the instant the 
 provoking cause ceased. She seldom laughed, but 
 when she did the burst was a hearty one, and over 
 immediately. Her brown hair was smooth, her 
 brown eyes were gentle, her red mouth was small 
 and round. Obedience was ingrained in her nature. 
 Original action seemed never to have entered her 
 imagination. She appeared to have been born with 
 the idea that her sphere in life was to do as she was 
 directed. To resist and fight were to her impos- 
 sibilities. To be defended and kissed seemed to 
 be her natural perquisites. Yet her early life had 
 been calculated to foster other and far different 
 qualities, as we shall learn ere long. 
 
 Tim Lumpy took to this little creature amazingly. 
 She was so little that by contrast he became quite 
 big, and felt so ! When in Martha's presence he 
 absolutely felt big and like a lion, a roaring lion 
 capable of defending her against all comers ! Bobby 
 was also attracted by her, but in a comparatively 
 mild degree. 
 
 On the morning after their arrival the two boys 
 awoke to find that the windows of their separate 
 little rooms opened upon a magnificent prospect of 
 wood and water, and that, the partition of their 
 apartment consisting of a single plank-wall, with 
 sundry knots knocked out, they were not only able to 
 converse freely, but to peep at each other awkwardly 
 
270 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 — facts which they had not observed the night 
 before, owing to sleepiness. 
 
 " I say, Tim," said Bob, '' you seem to have a 
 jolly place in there." 
 
 " First-rate," replied Tim, " an' much the same as 
 your own. I had a good squint at you before you 
 awoke. Isn't the place splendacious ?" 
 
 " Yes, Tim, it is. I Ve been lookin' about all the 
 mornin' for Adam an' Eve, but can't see 'em nowhere." 
 
 "\Vhat d'eemean?" 
 
 " Why, that we Ve got into the garden of Eden, to 
 be sure." 
 
 " Oh ! stoopid," returned Tim, " don't you know 
 that they was both banished from Eden ?" 
 
 "So they was. I forgot that. Well, it don't 
 much matter, for there's a prettier girl than Eve 
 here. Don't you see her? Martha, I think they 
 called her — down there by the summer-'ouse, feed- 
 in' the hanimals, or givin' 'em their names." 
 
 " There you go again, you ignorant booby," said 
 Tim ; " it wasn't Eve as gave the beasts their names. 
 It was Adam." 
 
 " An' wot's the difference, I should like to know ? 
 wasn't they both made one flesh ? However, I think 
 little Martha would have named 'em better if she 'd 
 bin there. What a funny little thing she is !" 
 
 " Funny !" returned Tim, contemptuously ; " she 's 
 a trump !" 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 271 
 
 During the conversation both boys had washed 
 and rubbed their faces till they absolutely shone 
 like rosy apples. They also combed and brushed 
 their hair to such an extent that each mass lay 
 quite flat on its little head, and bade fair to become 
 solid, for the Guardian's loving counsels had not 
 been forgotten, and they had a sensation of wishing 
 to please him even although absent. 
 
 Presently the house, which had hitherto been very 
 quiet, began suddenly to resound with the barking 
 of a little dog and the noisy voice of a huge man. 
 The former rushed about, saying " Good-morning " as 
 well as it could with tail and tongue to every one, 
 including the household cat, which resented the 
 familiarity with arched back and demoniacal glare. 
 The latter stamped about on the wooden floors, and 
 addressed similar salutations right and left in tones 
 that would have suited the commander of an army. 
 There was a sudden stoppage of the hurricane, and 
 a pleasant female voice was heard. 
 
 " I say. Bob, that 's the missus," whispered Tim 
 through a knot-hole. 
 
 Then there came another squall, which seemed to 
 drive madly about all the echoes in the corridors above 
 and in the cellars below. Again the noise ceased, 
 and there came up a sound like a wheezy squeak. 
 
 " I say, Tim, that 's the old 'un," whispered Bob 
 through the knot-hole. 
 
272 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Bob was right, for immediately on the wheezy 
 squeak ceasing, the hurricane burst forth in reply : — 
 
 " Yes, mother, that *s just what I shall do. You 're 
 always right. I never knew such an old thing for 
 wise suggestions! I'll set both boys to milk the 
 cows after breakfast. The sooner they learn the 
 better, for our new girl has too much to do in the 
 house to attend to that ; besides, she 's either clumsy 
 or nervous, for she has twice overturned the milk- 
 pail. But after all, I don't wonder, for that red cow 
 has several times showed a desire to fling a hind-leg 
 into the girl's face, and stick a horn in her gizzard. 
 The boys won't mind that, you know. Pity that 
 Martha 's too small for the work ; but she '11 grow — 
 she '11 grow." 
 
 " Yes, she '11 grow, Franky," replied the old lady, 
 with as knowing a look as if the richest of jokes had 
 been cracked. The look was, of course, lost on the 
 boys above, and so was the reply, because it reached 
 them in the form of a wheezy squeak. 
 
 " Oh ! I say ! Did you ever ! Milk the keows ! 
 On'y think !" whispered Bob. 
 
 " Ay, an' won't I do it with my mouth open too, 
 an' learn 'ow to send the stream up'ards !" said Tim. 
 
 Their comments were cut short by the breakfast 
 bell; at the same time the hurricane again burst 
 forth :— 
 
 " Hallo ! lads — boys ! Youngsters ! Are you up ? 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. • 273 
 
 — ah ! here you are. Good-morning, and as tidy as 
 two pins. That's the way to get along in life. 
 Come now/ sit down. Where 's Martha ? Oh ! here 
 we are. Sit beside me, little one." 
 
 The hurricane suddenly fell to a gentle breeze, 
 while part of a chapter of the Bible and a short 
 prayer were read. Then it burst forth again with 
 redoubled fury, checked only now and then by the 
 unavoidable stuffing of the vent-hole. 
 
 "You've slept well, dears,! hope?" said Mrs. Merry- 
 boy, helping each of our waifs to a splendid fried fish. 
 
 Sitting there, partially awe-stricken by the novelty 
 of their surroundings, they admitted that they had 
 slept well. 
 
 " Get ready for work then," said Mr. Merryboy, 
 through a rather large mouthful. " No time to lose. 
 Eat — eat well — for there 's lots to do. No idlers on 
 Brankly Farm, I can tell you. And we don't let 
 young folk lie abed till breakfast-time every day. 
 We let you rest this morning. Bob and Tim, just by 
 way of an extra refresher before beginning. Here, 
 tuck into the bread and butter, little man, it'll make 
 you grow. More tea, Susy (to his wife). Why, 
 mother, you're eating nothing — nothing at all. I 
 declare you '11 come to live on air at last." 
 
 The old lady smiled benignly, as though rather 
 tickled with that joke, and was understood by the 
 boys to protest that she had eaten more than 
 
 S 
 
274 • DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 enough, though her squeak had not yet become 
 intelligible to them. 
 
 " If you do take to living on air, mother," said her 
 daughter-in-law, " we shall have to boil it up with a 
 bit of beef and butter to make it strong." 
 
 Mrs. Merryboy, senior, smiled again at this, 
 though she had not heard a word of it. Obviously 
 she made no pretence of hearing, but took it as good 
 on credit, for she immediately turned to her son, put 
 her hand to her right ear, and asked what Susy said. 
 
 In thunderous tones the joke was repeated, and 
 the old lady almost went into fits over it, insomuch 
 that Bob and Tim regarded her with a spice of 
 anxiety mingled with their amusement, while little 
 Martha looked at her in solemn wonder. 
 
 Twelve months' experience had done much to 
 increase Martha's love for the old lady, but it had 
 done nothing to reduce her surprise ; for Martha, as 
 yet, did not understand a joke. This, of itself, 
 formed a subject of intense amusement to old Mrs. 
 Merryboy, who certainly made the most of circum- 
 stances, if ever woman did. 
 
 " Have some more fish, Bob," said Mrs. Merryboy, 
 junior. 
 
 Bob accepted more, gratefully. So did Tim, with 
 alacrity. 
 
 " What sort of a home had you in London, Tim ?" 
 asked Mrs. Merryboy. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 275 
 
 " Well, ma'am, I hadn't no home at all." 
 
 " No home at all, boy ; what do you mean ? You 
 must have lived somewhere." 
 
 " Oh yes, ma'am, I always lived somewheres, but it 
 wasn't nowheres in partikler. You see I 'd neither 
 father nor mother, an' though a good old 'ooman did 
 take me in, she couldn't purvide a bed or blankets, 
 an' her 'ome was stuffy, so I preferred to live in the 
 streets, an' sleep of a night w'en I couldn't pay for a 
 lodgin', in empty casks and under wegitable carts in 
 Co vent Garden Market, or in empty sugar 'ogsheads. 
 I liked the 'ogsheads best w'en I was 'ungry, an' that 
 was most always, 'cause I could sometimes pick a 
 little sugar that was left in the cracks an' 'oles, 
 w'en they 'adn't bin cleaned out a'ready. Also I 
 slep' under railway arches, and on door-steps. But 
 sometimes I 'ad raither disturbed nights, 'cause the 
 coppers wouldn't let a feller sleep in sitch places if 
 they could 'elp it." 
 
 " Who are the ' coppers V " asked the good lady of 
 the house, who listened in wonder to Tim's narra- 
 tion. 
 
 " The slopps, ma'am, the— the — pl'eece." 
 
 "Oh! the police?" 
 
 " Yes, ma'am." 
 
 "Where in the world did they expect you to sleep ? " 
 asked Mrs. Merryboy with some indignation. 
 
 "That's best known to themselves, ma'am," re- 
 
276 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 turned Tim ;" "p'raps we might 'ave bin allowed to 
 sleep on the Thames, if we 'd 'ad a mind to, or on the 
 hatmosphere, but never 'avin' tried it on, I can't say." 
 
 " Did you lead the same sort of life, Bob ? " asked 
 the farmer, who had by that time appeased his 
 appetite. 
 
 " Pretty much so, sir," replied Bobby, '' though I 
 wasn't quite so 'ard up as Tim, havin' both a father 
 and mother as well as a 'ome. But they was costly 
 possessions, so I was forced to give 'em up." 
 
 " What ! you don't mean that you forsook them ? " 
 said Mr. Merryboy with a touch of severity. 
 
 "No, sir, but father forsook me and the rest 
 of us, by gettin' into the Stone Jug — wery much 
 agin' my earnest advice, — an' mother an' sister both 
 thought it was best for me to come out here." 
 
 The two waifs, being thus encouraged, came out 
 with their experiences pretty freely, and made such 
 a number of surprising revelations, that the worthy 
 backwoodsman and his wife were lost in astonish- 
 ment, to the obvious advantage of old Mrs. Merry- 
 boy, who, regarding the varying expressions of face 
 around her as the result of a series of excellent 
 jokes, went into a state of chronic laughter of a 
 mild type. 
 
 " Have some more bread and butter, and tea, Bob 
 and some more sausage," said Mrs. Merryboy, under 
 a sudden impulse. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 277 
 
 Bob declined. Yes, that London street-arab 
 absolutely declined food ! So did Tim Lumpy ! 
 
 "IN'ow, my lads, are you quite sure," said Mr. 
 JNIerryboy, " that you Ve had enough to eat ? " 
 
 They both protested, with some regret, that they 
 had. 
 
 " You couldn't eat another bite if you was to try, 
 could you ? " 
 
 " Veil, sir," said Bob, with a spice of the ' old 
 country' insolence strong upon him, "there's no 
 sayin' what might be accomplished with a heffort, 
 but the consikences, you know, might be serious." 
 
 The farmer received this with a thunderous 
 guffaw, and, bidding the boys follow him, went out. 
 
 He took them round the farm buildings, comment- 
 ing on and explaining everything, showed them 
 cattle and horses, pigs and poultry, barns and stables, 
 and then asked them how they thought they 'd like 
 to work there. 
 
 " Uncommon ! " was Bobby Frog's prompt reply, 
 delivered with emphasis. 
 
 " Fust rate 1 " was Tim Lumpy's sympathetic 
 sentiment. 
 
 "Well, then, the sooner we begin the better. 
 D'you see that lot of cord-wood lying tumbled 
 about in the yard, Bob ? " 
 
 *'Yes, sir." 
 
 " You go to work on it, then, and pile it up against 
 
278 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 that fence, same as you see this one done. An* let's 
 see how neatly you 11 do it. Don't hurry. What 
 we want in Canada is not so much to see work done 
 quickly as done well." 
 
 Taking Tim to another part of the farm, he set 
 
 him to remove a huge heap of stones with a barrow 
 
 . and shovel, and, leaving them, returned to the house. 
 
 Both boys set to work with a will. It was to 
 them the beginning of life ; they felt that, and were 
 the more anxious to do well in consequence. Ee- 
 membering the farmer's caution, they did not hurry, 
 but Tim built a cone of stones wdth the care and 
 artistic exactitude of an architect, while Bobby 
 piled his billets of wood with as much regard to sym- 
 metrical proportion as was possible in the circum- 
 stances. 
 
 About noon they became hungry, but hunger was 
 an old foe whom they had been well trained to defy, 
 so they worked on utterly regardless of him. 
 
 Thereafter a welcome sound was heard — the 
 dinner-bell ! 
 
 Having been told to come in on hearing it, they 
 left work at once, ran to the pump, washed them- 
 selves, and appeared in the dining-room looking hot, 
 but bright and jovial, for nothing brightens the 
 human countenance so much (by gladdening the 
 heart) as the consciousness of having performed 
 duty well. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 279 
 
 From the first this worthy couple, who were 
 childless, received the boys into their home as sons, 
 and on all occasions treated them as such. Martha 
 Mild (her surname was derived from her character) 
 had been similarly received and treated. 
 
 " Well, lads," said the farmer as they commenced 
 the meal — which was a second edition of breakfast, 
 tea included, but with more meat and vegetables — 
 " how did you find the work ? pretty hard — eh ? " 
 
 " Oh ! no, sir, nothink of the kind," said Bobby, 
 who was resolved to show a disposition to work like 
 a man and think nothing of it. 
 
 " Ah, good. I '11 find you some harder work 
 after dinner." 
 
 Bobby blamed himself for having been so prompt 
 in reply. 
 
 " The end of this month, too, 1 11 have you both 
 sent to school," continued the farmer with a look 
 of hearty good-will, that Tim thought would have 
 harmonised better with a promise to give them jam- 
 tart and cream. " It 's vacation time just now, and 
 the schoolmaster 's away for a holiday. When he 
 comes back you 11 have to cultivate mind as well as 
 soil, my boys, for I Ve come under an obligation to 
 look after your education, and even if I hadn't, I 'd 
 do it to satisfy my own conscience." 
 
 The couleur-de-rose with which Bob and Tim had 
 begun to invest their future faded perceptibly on 
 
280 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 hearing this. The viands, however, were so good 
 that it did not disturb them very much. They ate 
 away heartily, and in silence. Little Martha was 
 not less diligent, for she had been busy all the 
 morning in the dairy and kitchen, playing, rather 
 than working, at domestic concerns, yet in her play 
 doing much real work, and acquiring useful know- 
 ledge, as- well as an appetite. 
 
 After dinner the farmer rose at once. He was 
 one of those who find it unnecessary either to drink 
 or smoke after meals. Indeed, strong drink and 
 tobacco were unknown in his house, and, curiously 
 enough, nobody seemed to be a whit the worse for 
 their absence. There were some people, indeed, who 
 even went the length of asserting that they were all 
 the better for their absence ! 
 
 '' N"ow for the hard work I promised you, boys ; 
 come along." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 281 
 
 CHAPTEK XX. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS AT BBANKLY FARM. 
 
 The farmer led our two boys through a deliciously 
 scented pine-wood at the rear of his house, to a 
 valley which seemed to extend and widen out into a 
 multitude of lesser valleys and clumps of woodland, 
 where lakelets and rivulets and waterfalls glittered 
 in the afternoon sun like shields and bands of bur- 
 nished silver. 
 
 Taking a ball of twine from one of his capacious 
 pockets, he gave it to Bobby along with a small 
 pocket-book. 
 
 " Have you got clasp-knives ? " he asked. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said both boys, at once producing in- 
 struments which were very much the worse for 
 wear. 
 
 " Yery well, now, here is the work I want you to 
 do for me this afternoon. D'you see the creek 
 down in the hollow yonder — about half a mile off ? '' 
 
 " Yes, yes, sir." 
 
 "Well, go down there and cut two sticks about 
 ten feet long each ; tie strings to the small ends of 
 
282 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 them ; fix hooks that you '11 find in that pocket- 
 book to the lines. The creek below the fall is 
 swarming with fish; you'll find grasshoppers and 
 worms enough for bait if you choose to look for 
 'em. Go, and see what you can do." 
 
 A reminiscence of ancient times induced Bobby 
 Frog to say " Walke-e-r ! " to himself, but he had too 
 much wisdom to say it aloud. He did, however, 
 venture modestly to remark — 
 
 "I knows nothink about fishin', sir. Never 
 cotched so much as a eel in — " 
 
 " When I give you orders, obey them ! " inter- 
 rupted the farmer, in a tone and with a look that 
 sent Bobby and Tim to the right-about double-quick. 
 They did not even venture to look back until they 
 reached the pool pointed out, and when they did 
 look back Mr. Merryboy had disappeared. 
 
 "Veil, I say," began Bobby, but Tim interrupted 
 him with, " Now Bob you must git off that 'abit 
 you've got o' puttin' v's for double-u's. Wasn't 
 we told by the genl'm'n that gave us a partin' had- 
 dress that we 'd never git on in the noo world if we 
 didn't mind our p's and q's ? An' here you are as 
 regardless of your v's as if they 'd no connection wi' 
 the alphabet." 
 
 " Pretty cove you are, to find fault wi' me'' re- 
 torted Bob, " w'en you 're far wuss wi' your haitches 
 — a-droppin' of 'em w'en you shouldn't ought to, an' 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 283 
 
 stickin' of 'em in where you oughtn't should to. Go 
 along an' cut your stick, as master told you." 
 
 The sticks were cut, pieces of string were mea- 
 sured off, and hooks attached thereto. Then grass- 
 hoppers were caught, impaled, and dropped into a 
 pool. The immediate result was almost electrify- 
 ing to lads who had never caught even a minnow 
 before. Bobby's hook had barely sunk when it was 
 seized and run away with so forcibly as to draw a 
 tremendous " Hi ! hallo ! ! ho ! ! ! I 've got 'im ! ! ! " 
 from the fisher. 
 
 " Hoy ! hurroo ! 1 " responded Tim, " so 'v I ! ! ! " 
 
 Both boys, blazing with excitement, held on. 
 
 The fish, bursting, apparently, with even greater 
 excitement, rushed off. 
 
 " He '11 smash my stick ! " cried Bob. 
 
 " The twine 's sure to go 1 " cried Tim. " Hold 
 o-o-on ! " 
 
 This command was addressed to his fish, which 
 leaped high out of the pool and went wriggling 
 back with a heavy splash. It did not obey the 
 order, but the hook did, which came to the same 
 thing. 
 
 " A ten-pounder if he 's a' ounce," said Tim. 
 
 " You tell that to the horse — hi ho ! stop that, 
 will you ? " 
 
 But Bobby's fish was what himself used to be, 
 troublesome to deal with. It would not "stop that." 
 
284 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 It kept darting from side to side and leaping out of 
 the water until, in one of its bursts, it got entangled 
 with Tim's fish, and the boys were obliged to haul 
 them both ashore together. 
 
 " Splendid ! " exclaimed Bobby, as they unhooked 
 two fine trout and laid them on a place of safety ; 
 " At 'em again ! " 
 
 At them they went, and soon had two more fish, 
 but the disturbance created by these had the effect 
 of frightening the others. At all events, at their 
 third effort their patience was severely tried, for 
 nothing came to their hooks to reward the intense 
 gaze and the nervous readiness to act which marked 
 each boy during the next half hour or so. 
 
 At the end of that time there came a change in 
 their favour, for little Martha Mild appeared on the 
 scene. She had been sent, she said, to work with 
 them. 
 
 " To play with us, you mean," suggested Tim. 
 
 " No, father said work," the child returned simply. 
 
 " It's jolly work, then ! But I say, old 'ooman, 
 d' you call Mr. Merryboy father ? " asked Bob in 
 surprise. 
 
 " Yes, I 've called him father ever since I came." 
 
 " An' who 's your real father ? " 
 
 " I have none. Never had one." 
 
 " An' your mother ? " 
 
 " Never had a mother either." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 285 
 
 " Well, you air a curiosity/' 
 
 " Hallo I Bob, don't forget your purliteness," said 
 Tim. "Corne, Mumpy; father calls you Mumpy, 
 doesn't he ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Then so will I. Well, Mumpy, as I was goin' 
 to say, you may come an' work wdth my rod if you 
 like, an' we'll make a game of it. We'll play at 
 work. Let me see where shall we be ? " 
 
 " In the garden of Eden," suggested Bob. 
 
 " The very thing," said Tim ; " I '11 be Adam an' 
 you '11 be Eve, Mumpy." 
 
 " Very well," said Martha wdth ready assent. 
 
 She would have assented quite as readily to 
 have personated Jezebel or the Witch of Endor. 
 
 " And I '11 be Cain," said Bobby, moving his line 
 in a manner that was meant to be persuasive. 
 
 " Oh 1" said Martha, with much diffidence, " Cain 
 was wicked, wasn't he?" 
 
 " Well, my dear Eve," said Tim, " Bobby Erog is 
 wicked enough for half-a-dozen Cains. In fact, you 
 can't cane him enough to pay him off for all his 
 wickedness." 
 
 " Bah I go to bed," said Cain, still intent on his 
 line, which seemed to quiver as if with a nibble. 
 
 As for Eve, being as innocent of pun-appreciation 
 as her great original probably was, she looked at the 
 two boys in pleased gravity. 
 
286 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Hi ! Cain 's got another bite," cried Adam, while 
 Eve went into a state of gentle excitement, and 
 fluttered near with an evidently strong desire to help 
 in some way. 
 
 "Hallo! got 'im again!" shouted Tim, as his rod 
 bent to the water with jerky violence ; " out o' the 
 way. Eve, else you 11 get shoved into Gihon/' 
 
 " Euphrates, you stoopid!" said Cain, turning his 
 Beehive training to account. Having lost his fish, 
 you see, he could afford to be critical while he 
 fixed on another bait. 
 
 But Tim cared not for rivers or names just then, 
 having hooked a "real wopper," which gave him 
 some trouble to land. When landed, it proved to 
 be the finest fish of the lot, much to Eve's satis- 
 faction, who sat down to watch the process when 
 Adam renewed the bait. 
 
 Now, Bobby Frog, not having as yet been quite 
 reformed, and, perhaps, having imbibed some of the 
 spirit of his celebrated prototype with his name, felt 
 a strong impulse to give Tim a gentle push behind. 
 For Tim sat in an irresistibly tempting position on 
 the bank, with his little boots overhanging the dark 
 pool from which the fish had been dragged. 
 
 " Tim," said Bob. 
 
 " Adam, if you please — or call me father, if you 
 prefer it !" 
 
 "Well, then, father, since I haven't got an 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 287 
 
 Abel to kill, I 'm only too 'appy to have a Adam 
 to souse." 
 
 Saying which, he gave him a sufficient impulse to 
 send him off! 
 
 Eve gave vent to a treble shriek, on beholding her 
 husband struggling in the water, and Cain himself 
 felt somewhat alarmed at what he had done. He 
 quickly extended the butt of his rod to his father, 
 and dragged him safe to land, to poor Eve's in- 
 expressible relief. 
 
 "What d'ee mean by that. Bob ?" demanded Tim 
 fiercely, as he sprang towards his companion. 
 
 " Cain, if you please — or call me son, if you prefers 
 it," cried Bob, as he ran out of his friend's way; 
 " but don't be waxy, father Adam, with your own 
 darlin' boy. I couldn't 'elp it. You'd ha' done 
 just the same to me if you 'd had the chance. Come, 
 shake 'ands on it." 
 
 Tim Lumpy was not the boy to cherish bad feel- 
 ing. He grinned in a ghastly manner, and shook 
 the extended hand. 
 
 " I forgive you, Cain, but please go an' look for 
 Abel an' pitch into him w'en next you git into that 
 state o' mind, for it 's agin common sense, as well as 
 history, to pitch into your old father so." Saying 
 which, Tim went off to wring out his dripping gar- 
 ments, after which the fishing was resumed. 
 
 "Wot a re-markable difference," said Bobby, 
 
288 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 breaking a rather long silence of expectancy, as he 
 glanced round on the splendid landscape which was 
 all aglow with the descending sun, "'tween these 
 'ere diggings an' Commercial Eoad, or George Yard, 
 or Eatcliffe 'Ighway. Ain't it, Tim ?" 
 
 Before Tim could reply, Mr. Merryboy came 
 forward. 
 
 " Capital !" he exclaimed, on catching sight of the 
 fish ; " well done, lads, well done. We shall have 
 a glorious supper to-night. Now, Mumpy, you run 
 home and tell mother to have the big frying-pan 
 ready. She'll want your help. Ha!" he added, 
 turning to the boys, as Martha ran off with her 
 wonted alacrity, " I thought you 'd soon teac"h your- 
 selves how to catch fish. It's not diflfiLcult here. 
 And what do you think of Martha, my boys ?" 
 
 " She's a trump !" said Bobby, with decision. 
 
 " Fust rate !" said Tim, bestowing his highest con- 
 ception of praise. 
 
 " Quite true, lads ; though why you should say 
 " fust " instead of Jtrst-isite, Tim, is more than I can 
 understand. However, you '11 get cured of suchlike 
 queer pronunciations in course of time. 'Now, I want 
 you to look on little Mumpy as your sister, and she 's 
 a good deal of your sister too in reality, for she came 
 out of that same great nest of good and bad, rich and 
 poor — London. Has she told you anything about 
 herself yet?" 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 289 
 
 '' Notliin', sir," answered Bob, " 'cept that when we 
 axed — asked, I mean — I ax — ask, your parding — she 
 said she'd neither father nor mother." 
 
 " Ah ! poor thing ; that 's too true. Come, pick 
 up your fish, and I '11 tell you about her as we go 
 along." 
 
 The boys strung their fish on a couple of 
 branches, and followed their new master home. 
 
 "Martha came to us only last year," said the 
 farmer. "She's a little older than she looks, 
 having been somewhat stunted in her growth, by 
 bad treatment, I suppose, and starvation and 
 cold in her infancy. No one knows who was her 
 father or mother. She was " found " in the streets 
 one day, when about three years of age, by a 
 man who took her home, and made use of her 
 by sending her to sell matches in public-houses. 
 Being small, very intelligent for her years, and 
 attractively modest, she succeeded, I suppose, in her 
 sales, and I doubt not the man would have continued 
 to keep her, if he had not been taken ill and carried 
 to hospital, where he died. Of course the man's 
 lodging was given up the day he left it. As the 
 man had been a misanthrope — that's a hater of 
 everybody, lads — nobody cared anything about him, 
 or made inquiry after him. The consequence was, 
 that poor Martha was forgotten, strayed away into 
 the streets, and got lost a second time. She was 
 
 T 
 
290 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 picked up this time by a widow lady in very reduced 
 circumstances, who questioned her closely ; but all 
 that the poor little creature knew was that she 
 didn't know where her home was, that she had no 
 father or mother, and that her name was Martha 
 
 " The widow took her home, made inquiries about 
 her parentage in vain, and then adopted and began 
 to train her, which accounts for her having so little 
 of that slang and knowledge of London low life that 
 you have so much of, you rascals ! The lady gave 
 the child the pet surname of Mild, for it was so 
 descriptive of her character. But poor Martha was 
 not destined to have this mother very long. After 
 a few years she died, leaving not a sixpence or a 
 rag behind her worth having. Thus little Mumpy 
 was thrown a third time on the world, but God 
 found a protector for her in a friend of the widow, 
 who sent her to the Eefuge — the Beehive as you 
 call it — which has been such a blessing to you, my 
 lads, and to so many like you, and along with her 
 the £10 required to pay her passage and outfit to 
 Canada. They kept her for some time and trained 
 her, and then, knowing that I wanted a little lass 
 here, they sent her to me, for which I thank God, 
 for she 's a dear little child." 
 
 The tone in which the last sentence was uttered 
 told more than any words could have conveyed the 
 feelings of the bluff farmer towards the little gem 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 291 
 
 that had been dug out of the London mines and 
 thus given to him. 
 
 Keader, they are prolific mines, those East-end 
 mines of London! If you doubt it, go, hear and 
 see for yourself. Perhaps it were better advice to 
 say, go and dig, or help the miners ! 
 
 Need it be said that our waifs and strays grew 
 and flourished in that rich Canadian soil ? It need 
 not ! One of the most curious consequences of the 
 new connection was the powerful affection that 
 sprang up between Bobby Frog and Mrs. Merryboy, 
 senior. It seemed as if that jovial old lady and our 
 London waif had fallen in love with each other at 
 first sight. Perhaps the fact that the lady was 
 intensely appreciative of fun, and the young gentle- 
 man wonderfully full of the same, had something to 
 do with it. Whatever the cause, these two were 
 constantly flirting with each other, and Bob often 
 took the old lady out for little rambles in the wood 
 behind the farm. 
 
 There was a particular spot in the woods, near a 
 waterfall, of which this curious couple w^ere particu- 
 larly fond, and to which they frequently resorted, 
 and there, under the pleasant shade, with the roar 
 of the fall for a symphony, Bob poured out his 
 hopes and fears, reminiscences and prospects into 
 the willing ears of the little old lady, who was so 
 very small that Bob seemed quite a big man by 
 
292 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 contrast. He had to roar almost as loud as the 
 cataract to make her hear, but he was well 
 rewarded. The old lady, it is true, did not speak 
 much, perhaps because she understood little, but 
 she expressed enough of sympathy, by means of 
 nods, and winks with her brilliant black eyes, and 
 smiles with her toothless mouth, to satisfy any boy 
 of moderate expectations. 
 
 And Bobby was satisfied. So, also, were the other 
 waifs and strays, not only with old granny, but 
 with everything in and around their home in the 
 ^NTew World. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 293 
 
 CHAPTEE XXL 
 
 TREATS OF ALTERED CIRCUMSTANCES AND BLUE RIBBONISM. 
 
 Once again we return to the great city, and to 
 Mrs. Frog's poor lodging. 
 
 But it is not poor now, for the woman has 
 at last got riches and joy — such riches as the 
 ungodly care not for, and a joy that they cannot 
 understand. 
 
 It is not all riches and joy, however. The Master 
 has told us that we shall have " much tribulation." 
 What then ? Are we worse off than the unbelievers ? 
 Do they escape the tribulation ? It is easy to 
 prove that the Christian has the advantage of the 
 worldling, for, while both have worries and tribu- 
 lation without fail, the one has a little joy along 
 with these — nay, much joy if you choose — which, 
 however, will end with life, if not before; while 
 the other has joy unspeakable and full of glory, 
 which will increase with years, and end in absolute 
 felicity ! 
 
 Let us look at Mrs. Frog's room now, and listen 
 to her as she sits on one side of a cheerful fire, sew- 
 
294 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 ing, while Hetty sits on the other side, similarly 
 occupied, and Matty, alias Mita, lies in her crib 
 sound asleep. 
 
 It is the same room, the same London atmos- 
 phere, which no moral influence will ever purify, 
 and pretty much the same surroundings, for Mrs. 
 Frog's outward circumstances have not altered much 
 in a worldly point of view. The neighbours in the 
 court are not less filthy and violent. One drunken 
 nuisance has left the next room, but another almost 
 as bad has taken his place. Nevertheless, although 
 not altered much, things are decidedly improved in 
 the poor pitiful dwelling. Whereas, in time past, 
 it used to be dirty, now it is clean. The table is the 
 same table, obviously, for you can see the crack 
 across the top caused by Ned's great list on that 
 occasion when, failing rather in force of argument 
 while laying down the law, he sought to emphasise 
 his remarks with an effective blow ; but a craftsman 
 has been at work on the table, and it is no longer 
 rickety. The chair, too, on which Mrs. Frog sits, is 
 the same identical chair which missed the head of 
 Bobby Frog that time he and his father differed in 
 opinion on some trifling matter, and smashed a 
 panel of the door; but the chair has been to see the 
 doctor, and its constitution is stronger now. The 
 other chair, on which Hetty sits, is a distinct inno- 
 vation* So is baby's crib. It has replaced the 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 295 
 
 heap of straw which formerly sufficed, and there are 
 two low bedsteads in corners which once were 
 empty. 
 
 Besides all this there are numerous articles of 
 varied shape and size glittering on the walls, such 
 as sauce-pans and pot-lids, etc., which are made to 
 do ornamental as well as useful duty, being polished 
 to the highest possible degree of brilliancy. Every- 
 where there is evidence of order and care, showing 
 that the inmates of the room are somehow in better 
 circumstances. 
 
 Let it not be supposed that this has been accom- 
 plished by charity. Mrs. Samuel Twitter is very 
 charitable undoubtedly. There can be no question 
 as to that ; but if she were a hundred times more 
 charitable than she is, and were to give away a 
 hundred thousand times more money than she does 
 give, she could not greatly diminish the vast poverty 
 of London. Mrs. Twitter had done what she could 
 in this case, but that was little, in a money point of 
 view, for there were others who had stronger claims 
 upon her than Mrs. Frog. But Mrs. Twitter had 
 put her little finger under Mrs. Frog's chin when 
 her lips were about to go under water, and so, 
 figuratively, she kept her from drowning. Mrs. 
 Twitter had put out a hand when Mrs. Frog tripped 
 and was about to tumble, and thus kept her from 
 falling. When Mrs. Frog, weary of life, was on the 
 
296 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 point of rushing once again to London Bridge, 
 with a purpose, Mrs. Twitter caught the skirt of her 
 ragged robe with a firm but kindly grasp and held 
 her back, thus saving her from destruction; but, best 
 of all, when the poor woman, under the influence 
 of the Spirit of God, ceased to strive with her Maker 
 and cried out earnestly, "What must I do to be 
 saved?" Mrs. Twitter grasped her with both hands 
 and dragged her with tender violence towards the 
 Fold, but not quite into it. 
 
 Tor Mrs. Twitter was a wise, unselfish woman, 
 as well as good. At a certain point she ceased to 
 act; and said, " Mrs. Frog, go to your own Hetty, and 
 she will tell you what to do.'' 
 
 And Mrs. Frog went, and Hetty, with joyful 
 surprise in her heart, and warm tears of gratitude 
 in her e^^es, pointed her to Jesus the Saviour of 
 mankind. It was nothing new to the poor woman 
 to be thus directed. It is nothing new to almost 
 any one in a Christian land to be pointed to 
 Christ ; but it is something new to many a one to 
 have the eyes opened to see, and the will influenced 
 to accept. It was so now with this poor, self- 
 willed, and long-tried — or, rather, long-resisting — 
 woman. The Spirit's time had come, and she was 
 made willing. But now she had to face the diffi- 
 culties of the new life. Conscience — never killed, 
 and now revived — be2[an to act. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 297 
 
 "I must work/' she said, internally, and con- 
 science nodded approval. " I must drink less," she 
 said, but conscience shook her head. "It will be very 
 hard, you see," she continued, apologetically, " for a 
 poor woman like me to get through a hard day 
 without just one glass of beer to strengthen me." 
 
 Conscience did all her work by looks alone. She 
 was naturally dumb, but she had a grand majestic 
 countenance with great expressive eyes, and at the 
 mention of one glass of beer she frowned so that 
 poor Mrs. Frog almost trembled. 
 
 At this point Hetty stepped iato the conversation. 
 All unaware of what had been going on in her 
 mother's mind, she said, suddenly, "Mother, I'm 
 going to a meeting to-night; will you come ?" 
 
 Mrs. Frog was quite willing. In fact she had 
 fairly given in and become biddable like a little 
 child, — though, after all, that interesting creature 
 does not always, or necessarily, convey the most 
 perfect idea of obedience ! 
 
 It was a rough meeting, composed of rude elements, 
 in a large but ungilded hall in Whitechapel. The 
 people were listening intently to a powerful speaker. 
 
 The theme was strong drink. There were oppo- 
 nents and sympathisers there. " It is the greatest 
 curse, I think, in London," said the speaker, as 
 Hetty and her mother entered. "Bah!" exclaimed 
 a powerful man beside whom they chanced to sit 
 
298 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 down. " I Ve drank a lot on 't an' don't find it no 
 curse, at all." " Silence," cried some in the audience. 
 " I tell 'ee it 's all bam wot 'e 's talking" said the 
 powerful man. "Put 'im out," cried some of the 
 audience. But the powerful man had a powerful 
 look, and a great bristly jaw, and a fierce pair of 
 eyes which had often been blackened, and still bore 
 the hues of the last fight ; no one, therefore, 
 attempted to put him out, so he snapped his fingers 
 at the entire meeting, said, "Bah!" again, with a 
 look of contempt, and relapsed into silence, while the 
 speaker, heedless of the slight interruption, went on. 
 
 " Why, it 's a Blue Eibbon meeting:, Hetty," whis- 
 pered Mrs. Frog. 
 
 " Yes, mother," whispered Hetty in reply, " that 's 
 one of its names, but its real title, I heard one gentle- 
 man say, is the Gospel-Temperance Association, for, 
 you see, they 're very anxious to put the gospel first 
 and temperance second ; temperance bein' only one 
 of the fruits of the gospel of Jesus." 
 
 The speaker went on in eloquent strains pleading 
 the great cause — now drawing out the sympa- 
 thies of his hearers, then appealing to their 
 reason ; sometimes relating incidents of deepest 
 pathos, at other times convulsing the audience with 
 touches of the broadest humour, insomuch that the 
 man who said "bah!" modified his objections to 
 "pooh!" and ere long came to that turning-point 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 299 
 
 where silence is consent. In tiiis condition he 
 remained until reference was made by the speaker 
 to a man — not such a bad fellow too, when sober — 
 who, under the influence of drink, had thrown his 
 big shoe at his wife's head and cut it so badly that 
 she was even then — while he was addressing them 
 — lying in hospital hovering between life and death. 
 
 "That's me!" cried the powerful man, jumping 
 up in a state of great excitement mingled with in- 
 dignation, while he towered head and shoulders 
 above the audience, " though how you come for to 
 'ear on 't beats me holler. An' it shows 'ow lies git 
 about, for she 's not gone to the hospital, an' it 
 wasn't shoes at all, but boots I flung at 'er, an' they 
 only just grazed 'er, thank goodness, an' sent the 
 cat flyin' through the winder. So — " 
 
 A burst of laughter with mingled applause and 
 cheers cut off the end of the sentence and caused 
 the powerful man to sit down in much confusion, 
 quite puzzled what to think of it all. 
 
 " My friend," said the speaker, when order had 
 been restored, " you are mistaken. I did not refer 
 to you at all, never having seen or heard of you 
 before, but there are too many men like you — men 
 who would be good men and true if they would 
 only come to the Saviour, who would soon convince 
 them that it is wise to give up the drink and put on 
 the blue ribbon. Let it not be supposed, my friends, 
 
300 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 that I say it is the duty of every one to put on the 
 blue ribbon and become a total abstainer. There 
 are circumstances in which a ' little wine ' may be 
 advisable. Why, the apostle Paul himself, when 
 Timothy's stomach got into a chronic state of disease 
 which subjected him, apparently, to ' frequent 
 infirmities,' advised him to take a ' little wine,' but 
 he didn't advise him to take m_any quarts of beer, or 
 numerous glasses of brandy and water, or oceans of 
 Old Tom, or to get daily fuddled on the poisons 
 which are sold by many publicans under these 
 names. Still less did Paul advise poor dyspeptic 
 Timothy to become his own medical man and pre- 
 scribe all these medicines to himself, whenever he 
 felt inclined for them. Yes, there are the old and 
 the feeble and the diseased, who may (observe I 
 don't say who do, for I am not a doctor, but who 
 may) require stimulants under medical advice. To 
 these we do not speak, and to these we would not 
 grudge the small alleviation to their sad case which 
 may be found in stimulants ; but to the young and 
 strong and healthy we are surely entitled to say, 
 to plead, and to entreat — put on the blue ribbon if 
 you see your way to it. And by the young we 
 mean not only all boys and girls, but all men and 
 women in the prime of life, ay, and beyond the 
 prime, if in good health. Surely you will all admit 
 that the young lequire no stimulants. Are they not 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 301 
 
 superabounding in energy? Do they not require 
 the very opposite — sedatives, and do they not find 
 these in constant and violent muscular exercise V 
 
 With many similar and other arguments did the 
 speaker seek to influence the mass of human beings 
 before him, taking advantage of every idea that 
 cropped up and every incident in the meeting that 
 occurred to enforce his advice — namely, total abs- 
 tinence for the young and the healthy — until he 
 had stirred them up to a state of considerable 
 enthusiasm. Then he said : — 
 
 "I am glad to see you enthusiastic. Nothing 
 great can be done without enthusiasm. You may 
 potter along the even tenor of your way without it, 
 but you'll never come to much good, and you'll 
 never accomplish great things, without it. What is 
 enthusiasm ? Is it not seeing the length, breadth, 
 height, depth, and bearing of a good thing, and being 
 zealously affected in helping to bring it about? 
 There are many kinds of enthusiasts, though but 
 one quality of enthusiasm. Weak people show their 
 enthusiasm too much on the surface. Powerful folk 
 keep it too deep in their hearts to be seen at all. 
 What then, are we to scout it in the impulsive 
 because too obvious ; to undervalue it in the reti- 
 cent because almost invisible ? Nay, let us be thank- 
 ful for it in any form, for the tJii7ig is good, though 
 the individual's manner of displaying it may be 
 
302 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 faulty. Let us hope that the too gushing may 
 learn to clap on the breaks a little — a very little ; 
 but far more let us pray that the reticent and the 
 self-possessed, and the oh !-dear-no-you '11-never- 
 catch-me-doing-i^Aa^-sort-of -thing people, may be 
 enabled to get up more steam. Better far in my 
 estimation the wild enthusiast than the self-pos- 
 sessed and self-sufLicient cynic. Just look at your 
 gentlemanly cynic; good-natured very likely, for 
 he 's mightily pleased with himself and excessively 
 wise in regard to all things sublunary. Why, even 
 he has enthusiasm, though not always in a good 
 cause. Follow him to the races. Watch him while 
 he sees the sleek and beautiful creatures straining 
 every muscle, and his own favourite drawing ahead, 
 inch by inch, until it bids fair to win. Is that our 
 cynic, bending forward on his steed, with gleaming 
 eyes and glowing cheek, and partly open mouth and 
 quick-coming breath, and so forgetful of himself 
 that he swings off his hat and gives vent to a lusty 
 cheer as the favourite passes the winning-post ? 
 
 " But follow him still further. Don't let him go. 
 Hold on to his horse's tail till we see him safe into 
 his club, and wait there till he has dined and gone 
 to the opera. There he sits, immaculate in dress and 
 bearing, in the stalls. It is a huge audience. A great 
 star is to appear. The star comes on — music such 
 as might cause the very angels to bend and listen. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 303 
 
 The sweet singer exerts herself; her rich voice 
 swells in volume and sweeps round the hall, filling 
 every ear and thrilling every heart, until, unable to 
 restrain themselves, the vast concourse rises en masse, 
 and, with waving scarf and kerchief, thunders forth 
 applause ! And what of our cynic ? There he is, 
 the wildest of the wild — for he happens to love 
 music — shouting like a maniac and waving his hat, 
 regardless of the fact that he has broken the brim, 
 and that the old gentleman whose corns he has 
 trodden on frowns at him with savage indignation. 
 
 " Yes," continued the speaker, " the whole world 
 is enthusiastic when the key-note of each indi- 
 vidual, or class of individuals, is struck ; and shall 
 we be ashamed of our enthusiasm for this little 
 bit of heavenly blue, which symbolises the great 
 fact that those who wear it are racing with the 
 demon Drink to save men and women (ourselves 
 included, perhaps) from his clutches; racing with 
 Despair to place Hope before the eyes of those 
 who are blindly rushing to destruction; racing 
 with Time to snatch the young out of the way 
 of the Destroyer before he lays hand on them; 
 and singing — ay shouting — songs of triumph and 
 glory to God because of the tens of thousands 
 of souls and bodies already saved; because of the 
 bright prospect of the tens of thousands more to 
 follow ; because of the innumerable voices added to 
 
304 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 the celestial choir, and the glad assurance that the 
 hymns of praise thus begun shall not die out with 
 our feeble frames, but will grow stronger in sweet- 
 ness as they diminish in volume, until, the river 
 crossed, they shall burst forth again with indescrib- 
 able intensity in the ISTew Song. 
 
 "Some people tell us that these things are not 
 true. Others say they won't last. My friends, I 
 know, and many of you know, that they are true, 
 and even if they were not to last, have we not even 
 now ground for praise ? Shall we not rejoice that 
 the lifeboat has saved some, because others have 
 refused to embark and perished? But we don't 
 admit thab these things won't last. Very likely, in 
 the apostolic days, some of the unbelievers said of 
 them and their creed, " How long will it last ?" If 
 these objectors be now able to take note of the 
 world's doings, they have their answer from Father 
 Time himself ; for does he not say, ' Christianity has 
 lasted nearly nineteen hundred years, and is the 
 strongest moral motive-power in the world to-day' ? 
 The Blue Eibbon, my friends, or what it represents, 
 is founded on Christianity ; therefore the principles 
 which it represents are sure to stand. Who will 
 come now and put it on ?" 
 
 " I will !" shouted a strong voice from among the 
 audience, and up rose the powerful man who began 
 the evening with "bah!" and "pooh!" He soon 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 305 
 
 made his way to the platform amid uproarious 
 cheering, and donned the blue. 
 ^ "Hetty," whispered Mrs. Erog in a low, timid 
 voice, " I think I would like to put it on too." 
 
 If the voice had been much lower and more timid, 
 Hetty would have heard it, for she sat there watching 
 for her mother as one might watch for a parent in 
 the crisis of a dread disease. She knew that no 
 power on earth can change the will, and she had 
 waited and prayed till the arrow was sent home by 
 the hand of God. f 
 
 "Come along, mother," she said — but said no 
 more, for her heart was too full. 
 
 Mrs. Frog was led to the platform, to which 
 multitudes of men, women, and children were press- 
 ing, and the little badge was pinned to her breast. 
 
 Thus did that poor woman begin her Christian 
 course with the fruit of self-denial. 
 
 She then set about the work of putting her house 
 in order. It was up-hill work at first, and very 
 hard, but the promise did not fail her, " Lo ! I am 
 with you alway." In all her walk she found Hetty 
 a guardian angel. 
 
 " I must work, Hetty, dear," she said, " for it will 
 never do to make you support us all ; but what am 
 I to do with baby ? There is no one to take charge 
 of her when I go out." 
 
 " I am quite able to keep the whole of us, mother, 
 U 
 
30 G DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 now tliat I get such good pay from the lady I work 
 for, but as you want to work, I can easily manage 
 for baby. You know I Ve often wished to speak of 
 the Infant Nursery in George Yard. Before you 
 sent Matty away I wanted you to send her there, 
 but — " Hetty paused. 
 
 "Go on, dear. I was mad agin' you an' your 
 religious ways; wasn't that it?" said Mrs. Frog. 
 
 "Well, mother, it don't matter now, thank God. 
 The Infant Nursery, you know, is a part of the In- 
 stitution there. The hearts of the people who 
 manage it were touched by the death of so many 
 thousands of little ones every year in London through 
 want and neglect, so they set up this nursery to 
 enable poor widowed mothers and others to send 
 their babies to be cared for — nursed, fed, and amused 
 in nice airy rooms — while the mothers are at work. 
 They charge only fourpence a day for this, and each 
 baby has its own bag of clothing, brush and comb, 
 towel and cot. They will keep Matty from half- 
 past seven in the morning till eight at night foi 
 you, so that will give you plenty of time to work, 
 won't it, mother?" 
 
 "It will indeed, Hetty, and all for fourpence a 
 day, say you?" 
 
 "Yes, the ordinary charge is fourpence, but 
 widows get it for twopence for each child, and, 
 perhaps, they may regard a deserted wife as a 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 307 
 
 widow ! There is a fine of twopence per hour for 
 any child not taken away after eight, so you '11 have 
 to be up to time, mother." 
 
 Mrs. Frog acted on this advice, and thus was 
 enabled to earn a sufficiency to enable her to pay 
 her daily rent, to clothe and feed herself and child, 
 to give a little to the various missions undertaken 
 by the Institutions near her, to put a little now 
 and then into the farthing bank, and even to give 
 a little in charity to the poor ! 
 
 ISTow, reader, you may have forgotten it, but if you 
 turn back to near the beginning of this chapter, you 
 will perceive that all we have been writing about is 
 a huge digression, for which we refuse to make the 
 usual apology. 
 
 We return again to Mrs. Frog where we left her, 
 sitting beside her cheerful fire, sewing and convers- 
 ing with Hetty. 
 
 " I can't bear to think of 'im, Hetty," said Mrs. 
 Frog. " You an' me sittin' here so comfortable, with 
 as much to eat as we want, an' to spare, while your 
 poor father is in a cold cell. He 's bin pretty bad 
 to me of late, it 's true, wi' that drink, but he wasn't 
 always like that, Hetty; even you can remember 
 him before he took to the drink." 
 
 "Yes, mother, I can, and, bless the Lord, he 
 may yet be better than he ever was. When is his 
 time up?" 
 
308 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " This day three weeks. The twelve months will 
 be out then. We must pray for 'im, Hetty." 
 
 "Yes, mother. I am always prayin' for him. 
 You know that." 
 
 There was a touch of anxiety in the tones and 
 faces of both mother and daughter as they talked 
 of the father, for his home-coming might, perhaps, 
 nay probably would, be attended with serious con- 
 sequences to the renovated hoij^ehold. They soon 
 changed the subject to one more agreeable. 
 ^ "Isn't Bobby's letter a nice one, mother?" said 
 Hetty, "and so well written, though the spellin' 
 might have been better ; but then he 's had so little 
 schoolin'." 
 
 "It just makes my heart sing," returned Mrs. 
 Frog. " Eead it again to me, Hetty. I '11 never 
 tire o' hearin' it. I only wish it was longer." 
 
 The poor mother's wish was not unnatural, for the 
 letter which Bobby had written was not calculated 
 to tax the reader's patience, and, as Hetty hinted, 
 there was room for improvement, not only in the 
 spelling but in the writing. Nevertheless, it had 
 carried great joy to the mother's heart. We shall 
 therefore give it verbatim et literatim : — 
 
 BRANKLY FARM — K.ANADA. 
 
 " DEER MUTHER. wcu i left you i promisd to rite so 
 heer gos. this Plase is eaven upon arth. so pritty 
 an grand. you never did see the likes, ide park 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 309 
 
 is nuffin to it, au as for Kensintn gardings — wy to 
 kompair thems rediklis. theres sitch a nice litle 
 gal here, shes wun of deer mis mukfersons gals — 
 wot the vestenders calls a wafe and sometimes a 
 strai. were all very fond of er spesially tim lumpy, 
 i shuvd im in the river wun dai. my — ow e spluterd. 
 but e was non the wus — all the better, mister an 
 mistress meryboi aint that a joly naim are as good 
 as gold to us. we as prairs nite and mornin an no 
 end witls an as appy as kings and kueens asitin 
 on there throns. give all our luv to deer father, an 
 etty an baiby an mis mukferson an mister oUand 
 an all our deer teechers. sai we 11 never forgit wot 
 they told us. your deer sun bobby." 
 
 " Isn't it beautiful V said Mrs. Frog, wiping away 
 a tear with the sock she was darning in preparation 
 for her husband's return. 
 
 " Yes, mother. Bless the people that sent 'im 
 out to Canada," said Hetty, "for he would never 
 have got on here." 
 
 There came a tap to the door as she spoke, and 
 Mrs. Twitter, entering, was received with a hearty 
 welcome. 
 
 " I came, Mrs. Frog," she said, accepting the chair 
 — for there was even a third chair — which Hetty 
 placed for her, " to ask when your husband will be 
 home again." 
 
 Good Mrs. Twitter carefully avoided the risk of 
 
310 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 hurting the poor woman's feelings by needless 
 reference to jail. 
 
 "I expect him this day three weeks, ma'am," 
 replied Mrs. Frog. 
 
 "That will do nicely," returned Mrs. Twitter. 
 "You see, my husband knows a gentleman who 
 takes great pleasure in getting con — in getting men 
 like ISTed, you know, into places, and giving them a 
 chance of — of getting on in life, you understand ?" 
 
 " Yes, ma'am, we must all try to git on in life if 
 we would keep in life," said Mrs. Frog, sadly. 
 
 " Well, there is a situation open just now, which 
 the gentleman — the same gentleman who was so 
 kind in helping us after the fire; you see we all 
 need help of one another, Mrs. Frog — which the 
 gentleman said he could keep open for a month, but 
 not longer, so, as I happened to be passing your house 
 to-night on my way to the Yard, to the mothers' 
 meeting, I thought I'd just look in and tell you, and 
 ask you to be sure and send J^ed to me the moment 
 he comes home." 
 
 " I will, ma'am, and God bless you for thinkin' of 
 us so much." 
 
 "Eemember, now," said Mrs. Twitter, impressively, 
 " hefore he has time to meet any of his old comrades. 
 Tell him if he comes straight to me he will hear 
 something that will please him very much. I won't 
 tell you what. That is my message to him. And 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 3 1 1 
 
 now, how is my Mita ? Oh ! I need not ask. There 
 she lies like a little angel ! (Mrs. Twitter rose and 
 went to the crib, but did not disturb the little 
 sleeper.) I wish I saw roses on her little cheeks 
 and more fat, Mrs. Frog." 
 
 Mrs. Frog admitted that there was possible im- 
 provement in the direction of roses and fat, but 
 feared that the air (it would have been more correct 
 to have said the smoke and smells) of the court 
 went against roses and fat, somehow. She was 
 thankful, however, to the good Lord for the health 
 they all enjoyed in spite of local disadvantages. 
 
 " Ah ! '' sighed Mrs. Twitter, " if we could only 
 transport you all to Canada — " 
 
 " Oh ! ma'am," exclaimed Mrs. Frog, brightening 
 up suddenly, " we 've had such a nice letter from our 
 Bobby. Let her see it, Hetty." 
 
 " Yes, and so nicely written, too," remarked Hetty, 
 with a beaming face, as she handed Bobby's pro- 
 duction to the visitor, "though he doesn't quite 
 understand yet the need for capital letters." 
 
 "Never mind, Hetty, so long as he sends you capital 
 letters," returned Mrs. Twitter, perpetrating the first 
 pun she had been guilty of since she was a baby ; 
 " and, truly, this is a charming letter, though short." 
 
 "Yes, it's rather short, but it might have been 
 shorter," said Mrs. Frog, indulging in a truism. 
 
 Mrs. Twitter was already late for the mothers' 
 
312 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 meeting, but she felt at once that it would be better 
 to be still later than to disappoint Mrs. Frog of a 
 little sympathy in a matter which touched her feelings 
 so deeply. She sat down, therefore, and read the 
 letter over, slowly, commenting on it as she went 
 along in a pleasant sort of way, which impressed 
 the anxious mother with, not quite the belief, but 
 the sensation that Bobby was the most hopeful 
 immigrant which Canada had received since it was 
 discovered. 
 
 " Now, mind, send Ned up at oncel' said the ami- 
 able lady when about to quit the little room. 
 
 " Yes, Mrs. Twitter, T will ; good-night." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 313 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 NKD frog's experiences AND SAMMY TWITTER'S WOES. 
 
 But Ned Frog, with strong drink combined, 
 rendered fruitless all the efforts that were put forth 
 in his behalf at that time. 
 
 When discharged with a lot of other jail-birds, 
 none of whom, however, he knew, he sauntered 
 leisurely homeward, wondering whether his wife was 
 alive, and, if so, in what condition he should find her. 
 
 It may have been that better thoughts were 
 struggling in his breast for ascendency, because he 
 sighed deeply once or twice, which was not a usual 
 mode with Ned of expressing his feelings. A growl 
 was more common and more natural, considering 
 his character. 
 
 Drawing nearer and nearer to his old haunts, yet 
 taking a roundabout road, as the moth is drawn to 
 the candle, or as water descends to its level, he went 
 slowly on, having little hope of comfort in his 
 home, and not knowing very well what to do. 
 
 As he passed down one of the less frequented 
 
314 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 streets leading into Whitechapel, he was arrested 
 by the sight of a purse lying on the pavement. To 
 become suddenly alive, pick it up, glance stealthily 
 round, and thrust it into his pocket, was the work of 
 an instant. The saunter was changed into a steady 
 business-like walk. As he turned into Commercial 
 Street, Ned met No. 666 full in the face. He knew 
 that constable intimately, but refrained from taking 
 notice of him, and passed on with an air and 
 expression which were meant to convey the idea of 
 infantine innocence. Guilty men usually over-reach 
 themselves. Giles noted the air, and suspected 
 guilt, but, not being in a position to prove it, 
 walked gravely on, with his stern eyes straight to 
 the front. 
 
 In a retired spot Ned examined his " find." It 
 contained six sovereigns, four shillings, threepence, 
 a metropolitan railway return ticket, several cut- 
 tings from newspapers, and a recipe for the concoc- 
 tion of a cheap and wholesome pudding, along with 
 a card bearing the name of Mrs. Samuel Twitter, 
 written in ink and without any address. 
 
 " You 're in luck, Ned," he remarked to himself, 
 as he examined these treasures. "Now, old boy, 
 you 'aven't stole this 'ere purse, so you ain't a thief; 
 you don't know w'ere Mrs. S. T. lives, so you can't 
 find 'er to return it to 'er. Besides, it 's more than 
 likely she won't feel the want of it — w'ereas I feels 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 315 
 
 in want of it wery much indeed. Of course it 's my 
 dooty to 'and it over to the plice, but, in the fust 
 place, I refuse to 'ave any communication wi' the 
 p'lice, friendly or otherwise ; in the second place, I 
 'ad no 'and in makin' the laws, so I don't feel bound 
 to obey 'em ; thirdly, I 'm both 'ungry an' thirsty, 
 an' 'ere you 'ave the remedy for them afflictions, so, 
 fourthly — 'ere goes ! " 
 
 Having thus cleared his conscience, Ned com- 
 mitted the cash to his vest pocket, and presented 
 the purse witli its remaining contents to the rats 
 in a neighbouring sewer. 
 
 Almost imiiiediately afterwards he met an Irish- 
 man, an old friend. 
 
 "Terence, my boy, well met!" he said, offering 
 his hand. 
 
 " Hooroo ! Ned Frog, sure I thought ye was in 
 limbo !" 
 
 "You thought right, Terry; only half-an-hour 
 out. Come along, I '11 stand you somethin' for the 
 sake of old times. By the way, have you done that 
 job yet?" 
 
 "What job?" 
 
 " Why, the dynamite job, of course." 
 
 " No, I 've gi'n that up," returned the Irishman 
 with a look of contempt. " To tell you the honest 
 truth, I don't believe that the way to right Ireland 
 is to blow up England. But there 's an Englishman 
 
3 1 6 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 you'll find at the Swan an' Anchor — a sneakin' 
 blackguard, as would sell his own mother for 
 dhrink — he 11 help you if you wants to have a 
 hand in the job. I 'm off it." 
 
 ISTot withstanding this want of sympathy on that 
 point, the two friends found that they held enough 
 in common to induce a prolonged stay at the public- 
 house, from which Ned finally issued rather late at 
 night, and staggered homewards. He met no ac- 
 quaintance on the way, and was about to knock at 
 his own door when the sound of a voice within 
 arrested him. 
 
 It was Hetty, praying. The poor wife and 
 daughter had given up hope of his returning at so 
 late an hour that night, and had betaken themselves 
 to their usual refuge in distress. N"ed knew the 
 sound well, and it seemed to rouse a demon in his 
 breast, for he raised his foot with the intention of 
 driving in the door, when he was again arrested by 
 another sound. 
 
 It was the voice of little Matty, who, awaking 
 suddenly out of a terrifying dream, set up a shriek- 
 ing which at once drowned all other sounds. 
 
 Ned lowered his foot, thrust his hands into his 
 pockets, and stood gazing in a state of indecision at 
 the broken pavement for a few minutes. 
 
 " No peace there," he said, sternly. " Prayin' an' 
 squallin' don't suit me, so good-night to 'ee all." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 317 
 
 With that he turned sharp round, and staggered 
 away, resolving never more to return ! 
 
 "Is that you, ISTed Frog?" inquired a squalid, 
 dirty-looking woman, thrusting her head out of a 
 window as he passed. 
 
 "No, 'tain't," said Ned, fiercely, as he left the 
 court. 
 
 He went straight to a low lodging-house, but 
 before entering tied his money in a bit of rag, 
 and thrust it into an inner pocket of his vest, which 
 he buttoned tight, and fastened his coat over it. 
 Paying the requisite fourpence for the night's lodg- 
 ing, he entered, and was immediately hailed by 
 several men who knew him, but being in no humour 
 for good fellowship, he merely nodded and went 
 straight up to his lowly bed. It was one of seventy 
 beds that occupied the entire floor of an immense 
 room. Police supervision had secured that this 
 room should be well ventilated, and that the bedding 
 should be reasonably clean, though far from clean- 
 looking, and Ned slept soundly in spite of drink, 
 for, as we have said before, he was unusually strong. 
 
 Next day, having thought over his plans in bed, 
 and, being a man of strong determination, he went 
 forth to carry them into immediate execution. He 
 went to a lofty tenement in the neighbourhood of 
 Dean and Flower Street, one of the poorest parts of 
 the city, and hired a garret, which was so high up 
 
318 DUSTY DIAMOKDS. 
 
 that even the staircase ended before you reached it, 
 and the remainder of the npvrard flight had to be 
 performed on a ladder, at the top of which was a 
 trap-door, the only entrance to Ked's new home. 
 
 Having paid a week's rent in advance he took 
 possession, furnished the apartment with one old 
 chair, one older table, one bundle of straw in a sack, 
 one extremely old blanket, and one brand-new pipe 
 with a corresponding ounce or two of tobacco. Then 
 he locked the trap door, put the key in his pocket, and 
 descended to the street, where at Bird-Fair he pro- 
 vided himself with sundry little cages and a few birds. 
 Having conveyed these with some food for himself 
 and the little birds to his lodging he again descended 
 to the street, and treated himself to a pint of beer. 
 
 While thus engaged he was saluted by an old 
 friend, the owner of a low music-hall, who begged 
 for a few minutes* conversation with him outside. 
 
 " N'ed," he said, " I 'm glad I fell in with you, for 
 I 'm uncommon 'ard up just now." 
 
 " I never lends money," said Ned, brusquely 
 turning away. 
 
 " 'Old on, Ned, I don't want yer money, bless yer ! 
 I wants to give you money." 
 
 ' Oh ! that 's quite another story ; fire away, old 
 man." 
 
 " "Well, you see, I 'm 'ard up, as I said, for a man 
 to keep order in my place. The last man I 'ad was 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 319 
 
 a good un, *e was. Six futt one in 'is socks, an' as 
 strong as a 'orse, but by ill luck one night, a sailor- 
 chap that was bigger than 'im come in to the 'all, 
 an' they 'ad a row, an' my man got sitch a lickin' 
 that he 'ad to go to hospital, an' 'e 's been there for 
 a week, an' won't be out they say for a month or 
 more. Now, ISTed, will you take the job ? The 
 pay's good an' the fun's considerable. So's the 
 fightin', sometimes, but you 'd put a stop to that 
 you know. An', then, you'll 'ave all the day to 
 yourself to do as you like." 
 
 " I 'm your man," said Ned, promptly. 
 
 Thus it came to pass that the pugilist obtained 
 suitable employment as a peacemaker and keeper 
 of order, for a time at least, in one of those dis- 
 reputable places of amusement where the unfortunate 
 poor of London are taught lessons of vice and vanity 
 which end often in vexation of spirit, not only to 
 themselves, but to the strata of society which rest 
 above them. 
 
 One night Ned betook himself to this temple of 
 vice, and on the way was struck by the appearance 
 of a man with a barrow — a sort of book- stall on 
 wheels — who was pushing his way through the 
 crowded street. It was the man who at the temper- 
 ance meeting had begun with " bah 1" and "pooh !" 
 and had ended by putting on the Blue Eibbon. He 
 had once been a comrade of Ned Frog, but had 
 
320 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 become so very respectable that his old chum 
 scarcely recognised him. 
 
 " Hallo ! Eeggie North, can that be you ? " 
 
 North let down his barrow, wheeled round, aud 
 held out his hand with a hearty, " how are 'ee, old 
 man ? Wy you 're lookin' well, close cropped an' 
 comfortable, eh ! Livin' at Her Majesty's expense 
 lately? Where d'ee live now, Ned? I'd like to 
 come and see you." 
 
 Ned told his old comrade the locality of his new 
 abode. 
 
 "But I say, North, how respectable you are! 
 What's come over you? not become a travellin' 
 bookseller, have you ?" 
 
 " That 's just what I am, Ned." 
 
 " Well, there 's no accountin' for taste. I hope it 
 pays." 
 
 "Ay, pays splendidly — pays the seller of the 
 books and pays the buyers better." 
 
 "How's that?" asked Ned, in some surprise, 
 going up to the barrow ; " oh ! I see, Bibles." 
 
 " Yes, Ned, Bibles, the Word of God. Will you 
 buy one ?" 
 
 " No, thank 'ee," said Ned, drily. 
 
 "Here, I'll make you a present o' one, then," 
 returned North, thrusting a Bible into the other's 
 hand ; " you can't refuse it of an old comrade. Good- 
 night. 1 11 look in on you soon." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 321 
 
 "You needn't trouble yourself," Ned called out 
 as his friend went off, and he felt half inclined 
 to fling the Bible after him, but checked himself. 
 It was worth money ! so he put it in his pocket and 
 went his way. 
 
 The hall was very full that night, a new comic 
 singer of great promise having been announced, and 
 oh ! it was sad to see the youths of both sexes, little 
 more than big boys and girls, who went there to 
 smoke, and drink, and enjoy ribald songs and 
 indecent jests ! 
 
 We do not mean to describe the proceedings. Let 
 it suffice to say that, after one or two songs and a 
 dance had been got through, Ned, part of whose duty 
 it was to announce the performances, rose and in a 
 loud voice said — 
 
 " Seignor Twittorini will now sing." 
 
 The Signer stepped forward at once, and was 
 received with a roar of enthusiastic laughter, for 
 anything more lugubrious and wobegone than the 
 expression of his face had never been seen on these 
 boards before. There was a slight look of shyness 
 about him, too, which increased the absurdity of the 
 thing, and it was all so natural, as one half-tipsy 
 woman remarked. 
 
 So it was — intensely natural — for Seignor Twittor- 
 ini was no other than poor Sammy Twitter in the 
 extremest depths of his despair. Half-starved, half- 
 
322 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 mad, yet ashamed to return to his father's house, 
 the miserable boy had wandered in bye streets, and 
 slept in low lodging-houses as long as his funds 
 lasted. Then he tried to get employment with only 
 partial success, until at last, recollecting that he had 
 been noted among his companions for a sweet voice 
 and a certain power of singing serio-comic songs, he 
 thought of a low music-hall into which he had 
 staggered one evening when drunk — as much with 
 misery as with beer. The manager, on hearing a 
 song or two, at once engaged him and brought him 
 out. As poor Sammy knew nothing about acting, it 
 was decided that he should appear in his own gar- 
 ments, which, being shabby genteel, were pretty well 
 suited for a great Italian singer in low society. 
 
 But Sammy had overrated his own powers. 
 After the first burst of applause was over, he stood 
 gazing at the audience with his mouth half open, 
 vainly attempting to recollect the song he meant to 
 sing, and making such involuntary contortions with 
 his thin visage, that a renewed burst of laughter 
 broke forth. When it had partially subsided, Sammy 
 once more opened his mouth, gave vent to a gasp, 
 burst into tears, and rushed from the stage. 
 
 This was the climax! It brought down the 
 house ! IsTever before had they seen such an actor. 
 He was inimitable, and the people made the usual 
 demand for an encore with tremendous fervour, 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 323 
 
 expecting that Signer Twittorini would repeat the 
 scene, probably with variations, and finish off with 
 the promised song. But poor Sammy did not re- 
 spond. 
 
 "I see, — you can improvise," said the manager, 
 quite pleased, " and I 've no objection when it 's well 
 done like that ; but you 'd better go on now, and 
 stick to the programme." 
 
 " I can't sing," said Sammy, in passionate despair. 
 
 " Come, come, young feller, I don't like actin' off 
 the stage, an' the audience is gittin' impatient." 
 
 '' But I tell you I can't sing a note," repeated Sam. 
 
 " What 1 D'ye mean to tell me you're not actin' ?" 
 
 " I wish I was !" cried poor Sam, glancing upward 
 with tearful eyes and clasping his hands. 
 
 " Come now. You 've joked enough. Go on and 
 do your part," said the puzzled manager. 
 
 " But I tell you I 'm not joking. I couldn't sing 
 just now if you was to give me ten thousand pounds !" 
 
 It might have been the amount of the sum stated, 
 or the tone in which it was stated — we know not — 
 but the truth of what Sam said was borne so forcibly 
 in upon the manager, that he went into a violent 
 passion; sprang at Sam's throat; hustled him to- 
 wards a back door, and kicked him out into a back 
 lane, where he sat down on an empty packing case, 
 covered his face with his hands, bowed his head on 
 his knees, and wept. 
 
324 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 The manager returned on the stage, and, with a 
 calm voice and manner, which proved himself to be 
 a very fair actor, stated that Signer Twittorini had 
 met with a sudden disaster — not a very serious one 
 — which, however^ rendered it impossible for him 
 to re-appear just then, but that, if sufficiently re- 
 covered, he would appear towards the close of the 
 evening. 
 
 This, with a very significant look and gesture from 
 Ned Frog, quieted the audience to the extent at least 
 of inducing them to do nothing worse than howl con- 
 tinuously for ten minutes, after which they allowed 
 the performances to go on, and saved the keeper of 
 order the trouble of knocking down a few of the 
 most unruly. 
 
 Ned was the first to quit the hall when all was 
 over. He did so by the back door, and found Sam 
 still sitting on the door-step. 
 
 " What 's the matter with ye, youngster ?" he said, 
 going up to him. " You Ve made a pretty mess of 
 it to-night." 
 
 " I couldn't help it — indeed I couldn't. Perhaps 
 1 11 do better next time." 
 
 " Better ! ha ! ha ! You couldn't ha' done better 
 — if you 'd on'y gone on. But why do ye sit there ?" 
 
 " Because I 've nowhere to go to." 
 
 "There's plenty o' common lodgin' 'ouses, ain't 
 there?" 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 325 
 
 " Yes, but I haven't got a single rap." 
 
 " Well, then, ain't there the casual ward ? Wy 
 don't you go there ? You '11 git bed and board for 
 nothin' there." 
 
 Having put this question, and received no answer, 
 Ned turned away without further remark. 
 
 Hardened though Ned was to suffering, there 
 was something in the fallen boy's face that had 
 touched this fallen man. He turned back with a 
 sort of remonstrative growl, and re-entered the back 
 lane, but Signer Twittorini was gone. He had 
 heard the manager's voice, and fled. 
 
 A policeman directed him to the nearest casual 
 ward, where the lowest stratum of abject poverty 
 finds its nightly level. 
 
 Here he knocked with trembling hand. He was 
 received; he was put in a lukewarm bath and 
 washed ; he was fed on gruel and a bit of bread — 
 quite sufficient to allay the cravings of hunger ; he 
 was shown to a room in which appeared to be a 
 row of corpses — so dead was the silence — each 
 rolled in a covering of some dark brown substance, 
 and stretched out stiff on a tressel with a canvas 
 bottom. One of the tressels was empty. He was 
 told he might appropriate it. 
 
 "Are they dead-?" he asked, looking round with a 
 shudder. 
 
 " Not quite," replied his jailer, with a short laugh, 
 
326 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " but dead-beat most of 'em — tired out, I should say, 
 and disinclined to move." 
 
 Sam Twitter fell on the couch, drew the coverlet 
 over him, and became a brown corpse like the rest, 
 while the guardian retired and locked the door to 
 prevent the egress of any who might chance to come 
 to life again. 
 
 In the morning Sam had a breakfast similar to 
 the supper; was made to pick oakum for a few 
 hours by way of payment for hospitality, and left 
 with a feeling that he had at last reached the lowest 
 possible depth of degradation. 
 
 So he had in that direction, but there are 
 other and varied depths in London — depths of 
 crime and of sickness, as well as of suffering 
 and sorrow ! 
 
 Aimlessly he wandered about for another day, 
 almost fainting with hunger, but still so ashamed to 
 face his father and mother that he would rather have 
 died than done so. 
 
 Some touch of pathos, or gruff tenderness mayhap, 
 in Ned Frog's voice, induced him to return at night 
 to the scene of his discreditable failure, and await 
 the pugilist's coming out. He followed him a short 
 way, and then running forward, said — 
 
 " Oh, sir ! I 'm very low !" 
 
 "Hallo! Signer Twittorini again!" said Ned, 
 wheeling round, sternly. " What have I to do with 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 327 
 
 your being low ? I 've been low enough myself at 
 times, an' nobody helped — " 
 
 Ned checked himself, for he knew that what he 
 said was false. 
 
 " I think I 'm dying," said Sam, leaning against a 
 house for support. 
 
 " Well, if you do die, you '11 be well out of it all," 
 replied Ned, bitterly. " What 's your name ?" 
 
 " Twitter," replied Sam, forgetting in his woe that 
 he had not intended to reveal his real name. 
 
 " Twitter — Twitter. I Ve heard that name before. 
 Why, yes. Father's name Samuel — eh? Mother 
 alive — got cards with Mrs. Samuel Twitter on 'em, 
 an' no address?" 
 
 "Yes — yes. How do you come to know?" asked 
 Sam in surprise. 
 
 " Never you mind that, youngster, but you come 
 along wi' me. I 've got a sort o' right to feed you. 
 Ha 1 ha ! come along." 
 
 Sam became frightened at this sudden burst of 
 hilarity, and shrank away, but Ned grasped him by 
 the arm, and led him along with such decision, that 
 resistance he felt would be useless. 
 
 In a few minutes he was in Ned's garret eating 
 bread and cheese with ravenous satisfaction. 
 
 "Have some beer]" said Ned, filling a pewter pot. 
 
 " No — no — no — no /" said Sam, shuddering as he 
 turned his head away. 
 
328 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 "Well, youngster," returned Ned, with a slight 
 look of surprise, " please yourself, and here 's your 
 health." 
 
 He drained the pot to the bottom, after which, 
 dividing his straw into two heaps, and tlirowing 
 them into two corners, he bade Sam lie down and 
 rest. 
 
 The miserable boy was only too glad to do so. He 
 flung himself on the little heap pointed out, and the 
 last thing he remembered seeing before the " sweet 
 restorer " embraced him was the huge form of Ned 
 Frog sitting in his own corner with his back to the 
 wall, the pewter pot at his elbow, and a long clay 
 pipe in his mouth. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 329 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 HOPES REVIVE. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Balls, butler to Sir Richard Bran- 
 don, standing with his legs wide apart and his hands 
 under his coat tails in the servants' hall, delivered 
 himself of the opinion that " things was comin' to 
 a wonderful pass when Sir Eichard Brandon would 
 condescend to go visitin' of a low family in White- 
 chapel." 
 
 "But the family is no more low than you are, 
 Mr. Balls," objected Jessie Summers, who, being not 
 very high herself, felt that the remark was slightly 
 personal. 
 
 " Of course not, my dear," replied Balls, with a 
 paternal smile. " I did not for a moment mean that 
 Mr. Samuel Twitter was low in an offensive sense, 
 but in a social sense. Sir Eichard, you know, 
 belongs to the hupper ten, an' he 'as not been used 
 to associate with people so much further down in the 
 scale. Whether he 's right or whether he 's wrong 
 ain't for me to say. I merely remark that, things 
 being as they are, the master 'as come to a won- 
 derful pass." 
 
330 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " It 's all along of Miss Diana," said Mrs. Screw- 
 bury. " That dear child 'as taken the firm belief 
 into her pretty 'ead that all people are equal in the 
 sight of their Maker, and that we should look on 
 each other as brothers and sisters, and you know she 
 can twist Sir Eichard round her little finger, and 
 she's taken a great fancy to that Twitter family 
 ever since she's been introduced to them at that 
 'Ome of Industry by Mr. Welland, who used to be 
 a great friend of their poor boy that ran away. And 
 Mrs. Twitter goes about the 'Ome, and among the 
 poor so much, and can tell her so many stories about 
 poor people, that she 's grown quite fond of her." 
 
 " But we ain't all equal, Mrs. Screwbury," said the 
 cook, recurring, with some asperity, to a former 
 remark, " an' nothink you or anybody else can ever 
 say will bring me to believe it." 
 
 " Quite right, cook," said Balls. " For instance, no 
 one would ever admit that I was as good a cook as 
 you are, or that you was equal to Mrs. Screwbury 
 as a nurse, or that any of us could compare with 
 Jessie Summers as a 'ouse-maid, or that I was equal 
 to Sir Eichard in the matters of edication, or station, 
 or wealth. No, it is in the more serious matters 
 that concern our souls that we are equal, and I fear 
 that when Death comes, he 's not very particular as 
 to who it is he 's cuttin' down when he 's got the 
 order." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 331 
 
 A ring at the bell cut short this learned discourse. 
 
 " That 's for the cab/' remarked Mr. Balls as he 
 went out. 
 
 Now, while these things were taking place at the 
 " West End," in the " East End " the Twitters were 
 assembled round the social board enjoying them- 
 selves — that is to say, enjoying themselves as much 
 as in the circumstances was possible. For the 
 cloud that Sammy's disappearance had thrown over 
 them was not to be easily or soon removed. 
 
 Since the terrible day on which he was lost, a 
 settled expression of melancholy had descended on 
 the once cheery couple, which extended in vary- 
 ing degree down to their youngest. Allusion was 
 never made to the erring one ; yet it must not be 
 supposed he was forgotten. On the contrary, 
 Sammy was never out of his parents' thoughts. 
 They prayed for him night and morning aloud, and 
 at all times silently. They also took every possible 
 step to discover their boy's retreat, by means of the 
 ordinary police, as well as detectives whom they 
 employed for the purpose of hunting Sammy up ; 
 but all in vain. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that this 
 private sorrow induced Mrs. Twitter selfishly to for- 
 get the poor, or intermit her labours among them. 
 She did not for an hour relax her efforts in their 
 behalf at Georgje Yard and at Commercial Street. 
 
I 
 
 332 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 At the Twitter social board — which, by the way, 
 was spread in another house not far from that which 
 had been burned — sat not only Mr. and Mrs. 
 Twitter and all the little Twitters, but also Mrs. 
 Loper, who had dropped in just to make inquiries, 
 and Mrs. Larrabel, who was anxious to hear what 
 news they had to tell, and Mr. Crackaby, who was 
 very sympathetic, and Mr. Stickler, who was ora- 
 cular. Thus the small table was full. 
 
 " Mariar, my dear," said Mr. Twitter, referring to 
 some remarkable truism which his wife had just 
 uttered, " we must just take things as we find 'em. 
 The world is not goin' to change its course on pur- 
 pose to please us. Things might be worse, you 
 know, and when the spoke in your wheel is at its 
 lowest there must of necessity be a rise unless it 
 stands still altogether." 
 
 "You're right, Mr. Twitter. I always said so," 
 remarked Mrs. Loper, adopting all these sentiments 
 with a sigh of resignation. " If we did not submit 
 to fortune when it is adverse, why then we 'd have 
 to — have to — '* 
 
 '' Succumb to it," suggested Mrs. Larrabel, with 
 one of her sweetest smiles. 
 
 "jSTo, Mrs. Larrabel, I never succumb — from 
 principle I never do so. The last thing that any 
 woman of good feeling ought to do is to succumb. 
 I would bow to it." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 333 
 
 " Quite right, ma'am, quite right," said Stickler, 
 who now found time to speak, having finished his 
 first cup of tea and second muffin ; " to bow is, to 
 say the least of it, polite and simple, and is always 
 safe, for it commits one to nothing ; but then, sup- 
 pose that Fortune is impolite and refuses to return 
 the bow, what, I ask you, would be the result?" 
 
 As Mrs. Loper could not form the slightest con- 
 ception what the result would be, she replied with 
 a weak smile and a request for more sausage. 
 
 These remarks, although calculated to enlist the 
 sympathies of Crackaby and excite the mental 
 energies of Twitter, had no effect whatever on those 
 gentlemen, for the latter was deeply depressed, and 
 his friend Crackaby felt for him sincerely. Thus 
 the black sheep remained victorious in argument — 
 which was not always the case. 
 
 Poor Twitter ! He was indeed at that time utterly 
 crestfallen, for not only had he lost considerably by 
 the fire — ^his house having been uninsured — but 
 business in the city had gone wrong somehow. A 
 few heavy failures had occurred among speculators, 
 and as these had always a row of minor speculators 
 at their backs, like a row of child's bricks, which only 
 needs the fall of one to insure the downcome of 
 all behind it, there had been a general tumble of 
 speculative bricks, tailing off with a number of 
 unspeculative ones, such as tailors, grocers, butchers. 
 
334 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 and shopkeepers generally. Mr. Twitter was one of 
 the unspeculative unfortunates, but he had not come 
 quite down. He had only been twisted unccmfort- 
 ably to one side, just as a toy brick is sometimes 
 seen standing up here and there in the midst of 
 surrounding wreck. Mr. Twitter was not absolutely 
 ruined. He had only " got into difficulties." 
 
 But this was a small matter in his and his good 
 wife's eyes compared with the terrible fall and dis- 
 appearance of their beloved Sammy. He had 
 always been such a good, obedient boy ; and, as his 
 mother said, "so sensitive." It never occurred 
 to Mrs. Twitter that this sensitiveness was very 
 much the cause of his fall and disappearance, for 
 the same weakness, or cowardice, that rendered him 
 unable to resist the playful banter of his drinking 
 comrades, prevented him from returning to his 
 family in disgrace. 
 
 "You have not yet advertised, I think?" said 
 Crackaby. 
 
 " No, not yet," answered Twitter ; " we cannot bear 
 to publish it. But we have set several detectives 
 on his track. In fact we expect one of them this 
 very evening ; and I shouldn't wonder if that was 
 him," he added, as a loud knock was heard at the 
 door. 
 
 "Please, ma'am," said the domestic, "Mr. Welland's 
 at the door with another gentleman. 'E says 'e 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 335 
 
 won't come in — 'e merely wishes to speak to you 
 for a moment." 
 
 " Oh ! bid 'em come in, bid *em come in," said Mrs. 
 Twitter in the exuberance of a hospitality which 
 never turned any one away, and utterly regard- 
 less of the fact that her parlour was extremely 
 small. 
 
 Another moment, and Stephen Welland entered, 
 apologising for the intrusion, and saying that he 
 merely called with Sir Kichard Brandon, on their 
 way to the Beehive meeting, to ask if anything had 
 been heard of Sam. 
 
 " Come in, and welcome, do!* said Mrs. Twitter 
 to Sir Kichard, whose face had become a not un- 
 familiar one at the Beehive meetings by that time. 
 " And Miss Diana, too ! I 'm 50 glad you've brought 
 her. Sit down, dear. Not so near the door. To 
 be sure there ain't much room anywhere else, but — 
 get out of the way, Stickler." 
 
 The black sheep hopped to one side instantly, and 
 Di was accommodated with his chair. Stickler was 
 one of those toadies who worship rank for its own 
 sake. If a lamp-post had been knighted Stickler 
 would have bowed down to it. If an ass had been 
 what he styled " barrow-knighted," he would have 
 lain down and let it walk over him — perhaps would 
 even have solicited a passing kick — certainly would 
 not have resented one. 
 
336 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 "Allow me, Sir Eichard/' he said, with some 
 reference to the knight's hat. 
 
 "Hush, Stickler!" said Mrs. Twitter. 
 
 The black sheep hushed, while the bustling lady 
 took the hat and placed it on the sideboard. 
 
 "Your stick, Sir Eichard," said Stickler, "per- 
 mit-" 
 
 "Hold your tongue, Stickler," said Mrs. Twit- 
 ter. 
 
 The black sheep held his tongue — between his 
 teeth, — and wished that some day he might have 
 the opportunity of punching Mrs. Twitter's head, 
 without, if possible, her knowing who did it. 
 Though thus reduced to silence, he cleared his 
 throat in a demonstratively subservient manner 
 and awaited his opportunity. 
 
 Sir Eichard was about to apologise for the intru- 
 sion when another knock was heard at the outer 
 door, and immediately after, the City Missionary, 
 John Seaward, came in. He evidently did not 
 expect to see company, but, after a cordial saluta- 
 tion to every one, said that he had called on his 
 way to the meeting. 
 
 " You are heartily welcome. Come in," said Mrs. 
 Twitter, looking about for a chair, " come, sit beside 
 me, Mr. Seaward, on the stool. You '11 not object 
 to a humble seat, I know." 
 
 " I am afraid," said Sir Eichard, " that the meeting 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 337 
 
 has much to answer for in the way of flooding you 
 with unexpected guests." 
 
 " Oh ! dear, no, sir, I love unexpected guests — the 
 more unexpected the more I — Molly, dear " (to her 
 eldest girl), " take all the children up-stairs." 
 
 Mrs. Twitter was beginning to get confused in 
 her excitement, but the last stroke of generalship 
 relieved the threatened block and her anxieties at 
 the same time. 
 
 " But what of Sam V asked young Welland in a 
 low tone ; " any news yet ?" 
 
 "None," said the poor mother, suddenly losing 
 all her vivacity, and looking so pitifully miserable 
 that the sympathetic Di incontinently jumped off 
 her chair, ran up to her, and threw her arms round 
 her neck. 
 
 " Dear, darling child," said Mrs. Twitter, return- 
 ing the embrace with interest. 
 
 " But I have brought you news," said the mission- 
 ary, in a quiet voice which produced a general hush. 
 
 " News 1" echoed Twitter with sudden vehemence. 
 
 " Oh ! Mr. Seaward," exclaimed the poor mother, 
 clasping her hands and turning pale. 
 
 '*Yes," continued Seaward; "as all here seem 
 to be friends, I may tell you that Sam has been 
 heard of at last. He has not, indeed, yet been 
 found, but he has been seen in the company of 
 a man well known as a rough disorderly character, 
 
 Y 
 
338 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 but who it seems has lately put on the blue ribbon, 
 so we may hope that his influence over Sam will be 
 for good instead of evil." 
 
 An expression of intense thankfulness escaped 
 from the poor mother on hearing this, but the father 
 became suddenly much excited, and plied the 
 missionary with innumerable questions, which, how- 
 ever, resulted in nothing, for the good reason that 
 nothing more was known. 
 
 At this point the company were startled by 
 another knock, and so persuaded was Mrs. Twitter 
 that it must be Sammy himself, that she rushed out 
 of the room, opened the door, and almost flung 
 herself into the arms of No. 666. 
 
 "I — I — beg your pardon, Mr. Scott, I thought 
 that—" 
 
 "No harm done, ma'am," said Giles. "May I 
 come in?" 
 
 " Certainly, and most welcome." 
 
 When the tall constable bowed his head to pass 
 under the ridiculously small doorway, and stood 
 erect in the still more ridiculously small parlour, it 
 seemed as though the last point of capacity had 
 been touched, and the walls of the room must 
 infallibly burst out. But they did not ! Probably 
 the house had been built before domiciles warranted 
 to last twenty years had come into fashion. 
 
 " You have found him 1" exclaimed Mrs. Twitter, 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 339 
 
 clasping her hands and looking up in Giles's calm 
 countenance with tearful eyes. 
 
 "Yes, ma'am, I am happy to tell you that we 
 have at last traced him. I have just left him." 
 
 " And does he know you have come here ? Is he 
 expecting us V* asked the poor woman breathlessly. 
 
 " Oh ! dear, no, ma'am, I rather think that if he 
 knew I had come here, he would not await my 
 return, for the young gentleman does not seem 
 quite willing to come home. Indeed he is not quite 
 fit ; excuse me." 
 
 " How d' you know he 's not willing ?" demanded 
 Mr. Twitter, who felt a rising disposition to stand 
 up for Sammy. 
 
 *' Because I heard him say so, sir. I went into 
 the place where he was, to look for some people 
 who are wanted, and saw your son sitting with a 
 well-known rough of the name of N"orth, who has 
 become a changed man, however, and has put on 
 the blue ribbon. I knew North well, and recog- 
 nised your son at once. North seemed to have 
 been trying to persuade your boy to return [' bless 
 him! bless him!' from Mrs. Twitter], for I heard 
 him say as I passed — ' Oh I no, no, no, I can nevei* 
 return home ! ' " 
 
 " Where is he ? Take me to him at once. My 
 bonnet and shawl, Molly !" 
 
 "Pardon me, ma'am," said Giles. "It is not a 
 
340 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 very fit place for a lady— though there are some 
 ladies who go to low lodging-houses regularly to 
 preach ; but unless you go for that purpose it — " 
 
 " Yes, my dear, it would be quite out of place," 
 interposed Twitter. " Come, it is my duty to go to 
 this place. Can you lead me to it, Mr. Scott ? " 
 
 ''Oh! and I should like to go too — so much, so 
 very much 1" 
 
 It was little Di who spoke, but her father said 
 that the idea was preposterous. 
 
 "Pardon me, Sir Kichard," said Mr. Seaward; 
 " this happens to be my night for preaching in the 
 common lodging-house where Mr. Scott says poor 
 Sam is staying. If you choose to accompany me, 
 there is nothing to prevent your little daughter 
 going. Of course it would be as well that no one 
 whom the boy might recognise should accompany 
 us, but his father might go and stand at the door 
 outside, while the owner of the lodging might be 
 directed to tell Sam that some one wishes to see 
 him." 
 
 "Your plan is pretty good, but I will arrange 
 my plans myself," said Mr. Twitter, who suddenly 
 roused himself to action with a degree of vigour 
 that carried all before it. " Go and do your own 
 part, Mr. Seaward. Give no directions to the pro- 
 prietor of the lodging, and leave Sammy to me. I 
 will have a cab ready for him, and his mother in 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 341 
 
 the cab waiting, with a suit of his own clothes. 
 Are you ready ?'* 
 
 " Quite ready," said the missionary, amused as 
 well as interested by the good man's sudden 
 display of resolution. Mrs. Twitter, also, was re- 
 duced to silence by surprise, as well as by submis- 
 sion. Sir Eichard agreed to go and take Di with 
 him, if Giles promised to hold himself in readiness 
 within call. 
 
 " You see," he said, " I have been in similar 
 places before now, but — not with my little 
 child!" 
 
 As for Loper, Larrabel, Crackaby, Stickler, and 
 Co. — feeling that it would be improper to remain 
 after the host and hostess were gone ; that it would 
 be equally wrong to offer to go with them, and quite 
 inappropriate to witness the home-coming, — they 
 took themselves off, but each resolved to flutter 
 unseen in the neighbourhood until he, or she, could 
 make quite sure that the prodigal had returned. 
 
 It was to one of the lowest of the common 
 lodging-houses that Sam Twitter the younger had 
 resorted on the night he had .been discovered by 
 No. 6Q6, That day he had earned sixpence by 
 carrying a carpet bag to a railway station. One 
 penny he laid out in bread, one penny in cheese. 
 With the remaining fourpence he could purchase 
 the right to sit in the lodging-house kitchen, and to 
 
342 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 sleep in a bed in a room with thirty or forty home- 
 less ones like himself. 
 
 On his way to this abode of the destitute, he was 
 overtaken by a huge man with a little bit of blue 
 ribbon in his button-hole. 
 
 "Hallo! young feller," exclaimed the man, 
 " you 're the chap that was livin' wi' Ned Frog the 
 night I called to see 'im — eh ? Sam Twitter, ain't 
 you?" 
 
 "Yes," said young Sam, blushing scarlet with 
 alarm at the abruptness of the question. " Yes, I 
 am. T — Twitter is my name. You're the man 
 that gave him the Bible, are you not, whom he 
 turned out of his house for tryin' to speak to him 
 about his soul?" 
 
 " The same, young feller. That 's me, an' Eeggie 
 Xorth is my name. He'd 'ave 'ad some trouble 
 to turn me out once, though, but I've given up 
 quarrellin' and fightin' now, havin' enlisted under 
 the banner of the Prince of Peace," replied the man, 
 who was none other than our Bible-salesman, the 
 man who contributed the memorable speech— 
 "Bah!" and "Pooh!" at the Gospel temperance 
 meeting. " Where are you going ? " 
 
 Sam, who never could withhold information or 
 retain a secret if asked suddenly, gave the name of 
 the common lodging-house to which he was bound. 
 
 " Well, I 'm going there too, so, come along." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 343 
 
 Sam could not choose but go with the man. He 
 would rather have been alone, but could not shake 
 him off. 
 
 Entering, they sat down at a table together near 
 the kitchen fire, and North, pulling out of his pocket 
 a small loaf, cut it in two and offered Sam half. 
 
 Several men were disputing in the box or com- 
 partment next to them, and as they made a great 
 noise, attracting the attention of all around, North 
 and his friend Sam were enabled the more easily 
 to hold confidential talk unnoticed, by putting their 
 heads together and chatting low as they ate their 
 frugal meal. 
 
 " What made you leave Ned 1 " asked North. 
 
 " How did you know I 'd left him ? " 
 
 "Why, because if you was still with him you 
 wouldn't be here ! " 
 
 This was so obvious that Sam smiled ; but it was 
 a sad apology for a smile. 
 
 "I left him, because he constantly offered me 
 beer, and I 've got such an awful desire for beer now, 
 somehow, that I can't resist it, so I came away. And 
 there 's no chance of any one offering me beer in 
 this place." 
 
 "Not much," said North, with a grin. "But, 
 young feller (and there was something earnestly 
 kind in the man's manner here), if you feel an 
 atvfid desire for drink, you 'd better put on this." 
 
344 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 He touched his bit of blue ribbon. 
 
 "Xo use," returned Sam, sorrowfully, "I once 
 put it on, and — and — I 've broke the pledge." 
 
 " That 's bad, no doubt ; but what then ?" returned 
 North ; " are we never to tell the truth any more 
 'cause once we told a lie ? Are we never to give up 
 swearin' 'cause once we uttered a curse ? The Lord 
 is able to save us, no matter how much we may 
 have sinned. Why, sin is the very thing He saves 
 us from — if we '11 only come to Him." 
 
 Sam shook his head, but the manner- of the man 
 had attracted him, and eventually he told all his 
 story to him. Eeggie North listened earnestly, but 
 the noise of the disputants in the next box was so 
 great that they rose, intending to go to a quieter 
 part of the large room. The words they heard at 
 the moment, however, arrested them. The speaker 
 was, for such a place, a comparatively well-dressed 
 man, and wore a top-coat. He was discoursing on 
 poverty and its causes. 
 
 "It is nothing more nor less," he said, with em- 
 phasis, " than the absence of equality that produces 
 so much poverty." 
 
 " Hear 1 hear !" cried several voices, mingled with 
 which, however, were the scoffing laughs of several 
 men who knew too well and bitterly that the cause 
 of their poverty was not the absence of equality, 
 but, drink with improvidence. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 345 
 
 "What right," asked the man, somewhat indig- 
 nantly, "what right has Sir Crossly Cowel, for 
 instance, the great capitalist, to his millions that 'e 
 don't know what to do with, when we 're starvin' ? 
 (Hear!) He didn't earn tliese millions; they was 
 left to 'im by his father, an' he didn't earn 'em, nor 
 did his grandfather, or his great-grandfather, and so, 
 back an' back to the time of the robber who came 
 over with. William — the greatest robber of all — an' 
 stole the money, or cattle, from our forefathers. 
 (Hear! hear!) An' what right has Lord Lorrumdoddy 
 to the thousands of acres of land he 's got ? (' Ha ! 
 you may say that !' from an outrageously miserable- 
 looking man, who seemed too wretched to think, and 
 only spoke for a species of pastime.) What right 
 has he, I say, to his lands? The ministers of 
 religion, too, are to be blamed, for they toady the 
 rich and uphold the unjust system. My friends, it 
 is these rich capitalists and landowners who oppress 
 the people. What right have they, I ask again, to 
 their wealth, when the inmates of this house, and 
 thousands of others, are ill-fed and in rags ? If I had 
 my way {Hear ! hear ! and a laugh), I would dis- 
 tribute the wealth of the country, and have no poor 
 people at all such as I see before me^ — such as this 
 poor fellow (laying his hand on the shoulder of the 
 outrageously miserable man, who said * Just so ' 
 feebly, but seemed to shrink from his touch). Do 
 
346 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 I- not speak the truth?" he added, looking round 
 with the air of a man who feels that he carries his 
 audience with him. 
 
 " Well, mister, I ain't just quite clear about that," 
 said Eeggie North, rising up and looking over the 
 heads of those in front of him. There was an im- 
 mediate and complete silence, for North had both a 
 voice and a face fitted to command attention. " I 'm 
 not a learned man, you see, an' hain't studied the 
 subjec', but isn't there a line in the Bible which 
 says, 'Blessed are they that consider the poor'? 
 Now it do seem to me that if we was all equally rich, 
 there would be no poor to consider, an' no rich to 
 consider 'em !" 
 
 There was a considerable guffaw at this, and the 
 argumentative man was about to reply, but North 
 checked him with — 
 
 " 'Old on, sir, I ain't done yet. You said that Sir 
 Cowley Cross — " 
 
 " Crossly Cowel," cried his opponent, correcting. 
 
 " I ax your pardon ; Sir Crossly Cowel — that 'e 
 'ad no right to 'is millions, 'cause 'e didn't earn 'em, 
 and because 'is father left 'em to 'im. Now, I 'ad a 
 grandmother with one eye, poor thing — but of coorse 
 that 's nothin' to do wi' the argiment — an' she was 
 left a fi' pun note by 'er father as 'ad a game leg — 
 though that 's nothin' to do wi' the argiment neither. 
 Now, what puzzles me is, that if Sir Cow — Cross — " 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 347 
 
 A great shout of laughter interrupted North here, 
 for he looked so innocently stupid, that most of the 
 audience saw he was making game of the social 
 reformer. 
 
 "What puzzles me is," continued North, "that 
 if Sir Crossly Cowel 'as no right to 'is millions, my 
 old grandmother 'ad no right to 'er fi' pun note! 
 (Hear, hear, and applause.) I don't know nothin' 
 about that there big thief Willum you mentioned, 
 nor yet Lord Lorrumdoddy, not bein' 'ighly con- 
 nected, you see, mates, but no doubt this gentleman 
 believes in 'is principles — " 
 
 "Of course I do," said the social reformer in- 
 dignantly. 
 
 " Well, then," resumed North, suddenly throwing 
 off his sheepish look and sternly gazing at the re- 
 former while he pointed to the outrageously miserable 
 man, who had neither coat, vest, shoes, nor socks, 
 " do you see that man ? If you are in earnest, take 
 off your coat and give it to him. What right have 
 you to two coats when he has none ?" 
 
 The reformer looked surprised, and the proposal 
 was received with loud laughter ; all the more that 
 he seemed so little to relish the idea of parting 
 with one of his coats in order to prove the justice 
 of his principles and his own sincerity. 
 
 To give his argument more force, Eeggie North 
 took a sixpence from his pocket and held it up. 
 
348 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " See here, mates, when I came to this house I said 
 to myself, ' The Lord 'as given me success to-day in 
 sellin' His word ' — you know, some of you, that I 'm 
 a seller of Bibles and Testaments ? " 
 
 " Ay, ay, old boy. We know you," said several 
 voices. 
 
 "And I wasn't always that," added North. 
 
 " That 's true, anyhow," said a voice with a laugh. 
 
 "Well. For what I was, I might thank drink 
 and a sinful heart. For what I am I thank the 
 Lord. But, as I was goin' to say, I came here 
 intendin' to give this sixpence — it ain't much, but 
 it 's all I can spare — to some poor feller in distress, 
 for I practise what I preach, and I meant to do it 
 in a quiet way. But it seems to me that, seein' 
 what's turned up, I'll do more good by givin' it in 
 a public way — so, there it is, old man," and he put 
 the sixpence on the table in front of the outrageously 
 miserable man, who could hardly believe his eyes. 
 
 The change to an outrageously jovial man, with 
 the marks of misery still strong upon him, was 
 worthy of a pantomime, and spoke volumes; for, 
 small though the sura might seem to Sir Crossly 
 Cowel, or Lord Lorrumdoddy, it represented a full 
 instead of an empty stomach and a peaceful instead 
 of a miserable night to one wreck of humanity. 
 
 The poor man swept the little coin into his 
 pocket and rose in haste with a " thank 'ee/' to go 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 349 
 
 out and invest it at once, but was checked by 
 North. 
 
 " Stop, stop, my fine fellow ! Not quite so fast. 
 If you 11 wait till I Ve finished my little business 
 here, 1 11 take you to where you 11 get some warm 
 grub for nothin', and maybe an old coat too." En- 
 couraged by such brilliant prospects, the now jovially- 
 miserable man sat down and waited while North 
 and Sam went to a more retired spot near the door, 
 where they resumed the confidential talk that had 
 been interrupted. 
 
 " The first thing you must do, my boy," said 
 North, kindly, " is to return to your father's 'ouse ; 
 an' that advice cuts two ways — 'eaven-ward an' 
 earth-ward." 
 
 " Oh ! no, no, nOy I can never return home," re- 
 plied Sam, hurriedly, and thinking only of the shame 
 of returning in his wretched condition to his earthly 
 father. 
 
 It was at this point that the couple had come 
 under the sharp stern eye of No. Q^^, who, as we 
 have seen, went quietly out and conveyed the infor- 
 mation direct to the Twitter family. 
 
350 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 THE RETURNING PRODIGAL. 
 
 For a considerable time the Bible-seller plied 
 Sam with every argument he could think of in order 
 to induce him to return home, and he was still in 
 the middle of his effort when the door opened, and 
 two young men of gentlemanly appearance walked 
 in, bearing a portable harmonium between them. 
 
 They were followed by one of the ladies of the 
 Beehive, who devote all their time — and, may we 
 not add, all their hearts — to the rescue of the 
 perishing. Along with her came a tall, sweet- 
 faced girl. She was our friend Hetty Trog, who, 
 after spending her days at steady w^ork, spent some 
 of her night hours in labours of love. Hetty was 
 passionately fond of music, and had taught herself 
 to play the harmonium sufficiently to accompany 
 simple hymns. 
 
 After her came the missionary, whose kind face 
 was familiar to most of the homeless ones there. 
 They greeted him with good-natured familiarity, but 
 some of their faces assumed a somewhat vinegar 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 351 
 
 aspect when the tall form of Sir Kichard Brandon 
 followed Seaward. 
 
 " A bloated haristocrat !" growled one of the men. 
 
 "Got a smart little darter, anyhow/' remarked 
 another, as Di, holding tight to her father's hand, 
 glanced from side to side with looks of mingled pity 
 and alarm. 
 
 For poor little Di had a not uncommon habit of 
 investing everything in couleur de rose, and the stern 
 reality which met her had not the slightest tinge of 
 that colour. Di had pictured to herself clean rags 
 and picturesque poverty. The reality was dirty 
 rags and disgusting poverty. She had imagined 
 sorrowful faces. Had she noted them when the 
 missionary passed, she might indeed have seen 
 kindly looks; but when her father passed there 
 were only scowling faces, nearly all of which were 
 unshaven and dirty. Di had not thought at all of 
 stubbly beards or dirt ! Neither had she thought of 
 smells, or of stifling heat that it was not easy to 
 bear. Altogether poor little Di was taken down 
 from a height on that occasion to which she never 
 again attained, because it was a false height. In 
 after years she reached one of the true heights — 
 which was out of sight higher than the false one ! 
 
 There was something very business-like in these 
 missionaries, for there was nothing of the simply 
 amateur in their work — like the visit of Di and her 
 
352 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 father. They were familiar with the East-end mines ; 
 knew where splendid gems and rich gold were to be 
 found, and went about digging with the steady per- 
 sistence of the labourer, coupled, however, with the 
 fire of the enthusiast. * 
 
 They carried the harmonium promptly to the most 
 conspicuous part of the room, planted it there, 
 opened it, placed a stool in front of it, and one of the 
 brightest diamonds from that mine — in the person 
 of Hetty Frog — sat down before it. Simply, and in 
 sweet silvery tones, she sang — 
 
 **Come to the Saviour — ** 
 
 The others joined — even Sir Eichard Brandon 
 made an attempt to sing — as he had done on a 
 previous occasion, but without much success, musi- 
 cally speaking. Meanwhile, John Seaward turned 
 up the passage from which he had prepared to speak 
 that evening. And bo eloquent with nature's sim- 
 plicity was the missionary, that the party soon forgot 
 all about the Twitters while the comforting Gospel 
 was being urged upon the unhappy creatures around. 
 
 But we must not forget the Twitters. They are 
 our text and sermon just now ! 
 
 Young Sam Twitter had risen with the intention 
 of going out when the missionary entered, for words 
 of truth only cut him to the heart. But his com- 
 panion whispered him to wait a bit. Soon his 
 attention was riveted. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 353 
 
 While he sat there spell-bound, a shabby-genteel 
 man entered and sat down beside him. He wore a 
 broad wide-awake, very much slouched over his face, 
 and a coat which had once been fine, but now bore 
 marks of having been severely handled — as if 
 recently rubbed by a drunken wearer on white- 
 washed and dirty places. The man*s hands were 
 not so dirty, however, as one might have expected 
 from his general appearance, and they trembled 
 much. On one of his fingers was a gold ring. 
 This incongruity was lost on Sam, who was too much 
 absorbed to care for the new comer, and did not even 
 notice that he pushed somewhat needlessly close 
 to him. 
 
 These things were not, however, lost on Eeggie 
 North, who regarded the man with some surprise, 
 not unmixed with suspicion. 
 
 When, after a short time, however, this man laid 
 his hand gently on that of Sam and held it, the 
 boy could no longer neglect his eccentricities. He 
 naturally made an effort to pull the hand away, but 
 the stranger held it fast. Having his mind by that 
 time entirely detached from the discourse of the 
 missionary, Sam looked at the stranger in surprise, 
 but could not see his face because of the dis- 
 reputable wide-awake which he wore. But great 
 was his astonishment, not to say alarm, when he 
 felt two or three warm tears drop on his hand. 
 
 z 
 
354 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Again he tried to pull it away, but the strange man 
 held it tighter. Still further, he bent his head over 
 it and kissed it. 
 
 A strange unaccountable thrill ran through the 
 boy's frame. He stooped, looked under the brim of 
 the hat, and beheld his father ! 
 
 "Sammy — dear, dear Sammy," whispered the 
 man, in a husky voice. 
 
 But Sammy could not reply. He was thunder- 
 struck. Neither could his father speak, for he was 
 choking. 
 
 But Reggie North had heard enough. He was 
 quick-witted, and at once guessed the situation. 
 
 " Now then, old genlm'n," he whispered, " don't 
 you go an' make a fuss, if you 're wise. Go out as 
 quiet as you came in, an' leave this young 'un to 
 me. It 's all right. I 'm on your side." 
 
 Samuel Twitter senior was impressed with the 
 honesty of the man's manner, and the wisdom of 
 his advice. Letting go the hand, after a parting 
 squeeze, he rose up and left the room. Two minutes 
 later. North and Sammy followed 
 
 They found the old father outside, who again 
 grasped his son's hand with the words, " Sammy, my 
 boy — dear Sammy ; " but he never got further than 
 that. 
 
 No. 666 was there too. 
 
 " You '11 find the cab at the end of the street, sir," he 
 
DUSTY DIAMOl^DS. 355 
 
 said, and next moment Sammy found himself borne 
 along — not unwillingly — by North and his father. 
 
 A cab door was opened. A female form was seen 
 with outstretched arms. 
 
 "Mother!" 
 
 " Sammy — darling — " 
 
 The returning prodigal disappeared into the cab. 
 Mr. Twitter turned round. 
 
 " Thank you. God bless you, whoever you are," 
 he said, fumbling in his vest pocket; having for- 
 gotten that he represented an abject beggar, and 
 had no money there. 
 
 " ISTo thanks to me, sir. Look higher," said the 
 Bible-seller, thrusting the old gentleman almost 
 forcibly into the vehicle. " Now then, cabby, drive 
 on. 
 
 The cabby obeyed. Having already received his 
 instructions he did not drive home. Where he drove 
 to is a matter of small consequence. It was to an 
 unknown house, and a perfect stranger to Sammy 
 opened the door. Mrs. Twitter remained in the cab 
 while Sammy and his father entered the house, the 
 latter carrying a bundle in his hand. They were 
 shown into what the boy must have considered — if 
 he considered anything at all just then — a pre- 
 posterously small room. 
 
 The lady of the house evidently expected them, 
 for she said, " The bath is quite ready, sir." 
 
356 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Now, Sammy, — dear boy," said Mr. Twitter, " off 
 with your rags — and g — git into that b — bath." 
 
 Obviously Mr. Twitter did not speak with ease. 
 In truth it was all he could do to contain himself, 
 and he felt that his only chance of bearing up was 
 to say nothing more than was absolutely necessary 
 in short ejaculatory phrases. Sammy was deeply 
 touched, and began to wash his dirty face with a 
 few quiet tears before taking his bath. 
 
 " Now then, Sammy — look sharp ! You didn't 
 use — to — be — so — slow! eh?" 
 
 " No, father. I suppose it — it — is want of habit. 
 I haven't undressed much of late." 
 
 This very nearly upset poor Mr. Twitter. He 
 made no reply, but assisted his son to disrobe with 
 a degree of awkwardness that tended to delay 
 progress. 
 
 '' It — it 's not too hot — eh ?" 
 
 '•Oh! no, father. It's — it's — v — very nice." 
 
 " Go at it with a will, Sammy. Head and all, my 
 boy — down with it. And don't spare the soap. 
 Lots of soap here, Sammy — no end of soap 1" 
 
 The truth of which Mr. Twitter proceeded to 
 illustrate by covering his son with a lather that 
 caused him quickly to resemble whipt cream. 
 
 " Oh ! hold on, father, it 's getting into my eyes." 
 
 "My boy — dear Sammy — forgive me. I didn't 
 quite know what I was doing. Never mind. Down 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 357 
 
 you go again, Sammy — head and all. That's it. 
 Now, that 's enough ; out you come." 
 
 " Oh ! father," said the poor boy, while invisible 
 tears trickled over his wet face, as he stepped out 
 of the bath, " it 's so good of you to forgive me so 
 freely." 
 
 " Forgive you, my son ! forgive! why, I 'd — I 'd — " 
 
 He could say no more, but suddenly clasped 
 Sammy to his heart, thereby rendering his face and 
 person soap-suddy and wet to a ridiculous extent. 
 
 Unclasping his arms and stepping back, he looked 
 down at himself. 
 
 " You dirty boy ! what d' you mean by it ? " 
 
 " It 's your own fault, daddy," replied Sam, with 
 a hysterical laugh, as he enveloped himself in a towel. 
 
 A knock at the bath-room door here produced 
 dead silence. 
 
 '' Please, sir," said a female voice, " the lady in the 
 cab sends to say that she 's gettin* impatient." 
 
 " Tell the lady in the cab to drive about and take 
 an airing for ten minutes," replied Mr. Twitter with 
 reckless hilarity. 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "Now, my boy, here's your toggery," said the 
 irrepressible father, hovering round his recovered 
 son like a moth round a candle — " your best suit, 
 Sammy ; the one you used to wear only on Sundays, 
 you extravagant fellow." 
 
358 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Sammy put it on with some difficulty from want 
 of practice, and, after combing out and brushing his 
 hair, he presented such a changed appearance that 
 none of his late companions could have recognised 
 him. His father, after fastening up his coat with 
 every button in its wrong hole, and causing as 
 ifiuch delay as possible by assisting him to dress, 
 finally hustled him down-stairs and into the cab, 
 where he was immediately re- enveloped by Mrs. 
 Twitter. 
 
 He was not permitted to see any one that night, 
 but was taken straight to his room, where his mother 
 comforted, prayed with, fed and fondled him, and 
 then allowed him to go to bed. 
 
 Next morning early — before breakfast — Mrs. 
 Twitter assembled all the little Twitters, and put 
 them on chairs in a row — according to order, for 
 Mrs. Twitter's mind was orderly in a remarkable 
 degree. They ranged from right to left thus : — 
 Molly, Willie, Fred, Lucy, and Alice — with Alice's 
 doll on a doll's chair at the left flank of the line. 
 
 " Now children," said Mrs. Twitter, sitting down 
 in front of the row with an aspect so solemn that 
 they all immediately made their mouths very small 
 and their eyes very large — ^in which respect they 
 brought themselves into wonderful correspondence 
 with Alice's doll. "Now children, your dear 
 brother Sammy has come home." 
 
SAMUEL TWITTER AND SON.— Page 358 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 359 
 
 "Oh! how nice! Where has he been? What 
 has he seen? Why has he been away so long? 
 How jolly!" were the various expressions with 
 which the news was received. 
 
 " Silence." 
 
 The stillness that followed was almost oppressive, 
 for the little Twitters had been trained to prompt 
 obedience. To say truth they had not been difficult 
 to train, for they were all essentially mild. 
 
 " Now, remember, when he comes down to break- 
 fast you are to take no notice whatever of his having 
 been away — no notice at all." 
 
 " Are we not even to say good-morning or kiss 
 him, mamma?" asked little Alice with a look of 
 wonder. 
 
 " Dear child, you do not understand me. We are 
 all charmed to see Sammy back, and so thankful — 
 so glad — that he has come, and we will kiss him 
 and say whatever we please to him excerpt'' (here 
 she cast an awful eye along the line and dropt her 
 voice) except ask him where — he — has — leen. 
 
 "Mayn't we ask him how he liked it, mamma?" 
 said Alice. 
 
 "Liked what, child?" 
 
 " Where he has been, mamma." 
 
 " No, not a word about where he has been ; only 
 that we are so glad, so very glad, to see him 
 back." 
 
360 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Fred, who had an argumentative turn of mind, 
 thought that this would be a rather demonstrative 
 though indirect recognition of the fact that Sammy 
 had been somewhere that was wrong, but, having 
 been trained to unquestioning obedience, Fred said 
 nothing. 
 
 "Now, dolly," whispered little Alice, bending 
 down, " 'member dat — you 're so glad Sammy's come 
 back ; mustn't say more — not a word more." 
 
 "It is enough for you to know, my darlings," 
 continued Mrs. Twitter, "that Sammy has been 
 wandering and has come back." 
 
 " Listen, Dolly, you hear ? Sammy's been w^onder- 
 ing an' come back. Dat 's 'nuff for you!' 
 
 " You see, dears," continued Mrs. Twitter, with a 
 slightly perplexed look, caused by her desire to save 
 poor Sammy's feelings, and her anxiety to steer 
 clear of the slightest approach to deception, " you 
 see, Sammy has been long away, and has been very 
 tired, and won't like to be troubled with too many 
 questions at breakfast, you know, so I want you all 
 to talk a good deal about anything you like — your 
 lessons, — for instance, when he comes down." 
 
 "Before we say good-morning, mamma, or after ?" 
 asked Alice, who was extremely conscientious. 
 
 " Darling child," exclaimed the perplexed mother, 
 "you'll never take it in. What I want to impress 
 on you is — " 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 361 
 
 She stopped, suddenly, and what it was she 
 meant to impress we shall never more clearly know, 
 for at that moment the foot of Sammy himself was 
 heard on the stair. 
 
 "Now, mind, children, not a word — not — a — 
 word!" 
 
 The almost preternatural solemnity induced by 
 this injunction was at once put to flight by Sammy, 
 at whom the whole family flew with one accord and 
 a united shriek — pulling him down on a chair and 
 embracing him almost to extinction. 
 
 Fortunately for Sammy, and his anxious mother, 
 that which the most earnest desire to obey orders 
 would have failed to accomplish was brought about 
 by the native selfishness of poor humanity, for, the 
 first burst of welcome over, Alice began an elaborate 
 account of her Dolly's recent proceedings, which 
 seemed to consist of knocking her head against 
 articles of furniture, punching out her own eyes and 
 flattening her own nose ; while Fred talked of his 
 latest efforts in shipbuilding; Willie of his hopes 
 in regard to soldiering, and Lucy of her attempts to 
 draw and paint. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Twitter contented themselves with 
 gazing on Sammy's somewhat worn face, and lying 
 in watch, so that, when Alice or any of the young 
 members of the flock seemed about to stray on the 
 forbidden ground, they should be ready to descend, 
 
362 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 like two wolves on the fold, remorselessly change 
 the subject of conversation, and carry all before 
 them. 
 
 Thus tenderly was that prodigal son received 
 back to his father's house. 
 
DUSTY DIAMOKDS. 363 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 CANADA AGAIN— AND SURPRLSING NEWS. 
 
 It is most refreshing to those who have been long 
 cooped up in a city to fly on the wings of steam 
 to the country and take refuge among the scents of 
 flowers and fields and trees. We have said this, or 
 something like it, before, and remorselessly repeat 
 it — for it is a grand truism. 
 
 Let us then indulge ourselves a little with a glance 
 at the farm of Brankly in Canada. 
 
 Lake Ontario, with its expanse of boundless blue, 
 rolls like an ocean in the far distance. We can see 
 it from the hill-top where the sweet-smelling red- 
 pines grow. At the bottom of the hill lies Brankly 
 itself, with its orchards and homestead and fields of 
 golden grain, and its little river, with the little 
 sawmill going as pertinaciously as if it, like the 
 river, had resolved to go on for ever. Cattle are 
 there, sheep are there, horses and wagons are there, 
 wealth and prosperity are there, above all happiness 
 is there, because there also dwells the love of God. 
 
364 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 It is a good many years, reader, since you and I 
 were last here. Then, the farm buildings and 
 fences were brand-new. itTow, although of course 
 not old, they bear decided traces of exposure to the 
 weather. But these marks only give compactness 
 of look and unity of tone to everything, improving 
 the appearance of the place vastly. 
 
 The fences, which at first looked blank and 
 staring, as if wondering how they had got there, are 
 now more in harmony with the fields they enclose. 
 The plants which at first struggled as if unwillingly 
 on the dwelling-house, now cling to it and climb 
 about it with the affectionate embrace of old friends. 
 Everything is improved — 
 
 Well, no, not everything. Mr. Merryboy's legs 
 have not improved. They will not move as actively 
 as they were wont to do. They will not go so far, 
 and they demand the assistance of a stick. But Mr. 
 Merryboy*s spirit has improved — though it was pretty 
 good before, and his tendency to universal philan- 
 thropy has increased to such an extent that the 
 people of the district have got into a way of 
 sending their bad men and boys to work on his 
 farm in order that they may become good ! 
 
 Mrs. Merryboy, however, has improved in every 
 way, and is more blooming than ever, as well as a 
 trifle stouter, but Mrs. Merryboy senior, although 
 advanced spiritually, has degenerated a little physi- 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 365 
 
 cally. The few teeth that kept her nose and chin 
 apart having disappeared, her mouth has also vanished, 
 though there is a decided mark which tells where it 
 was — especially w^hen she speaks or smiles. The 
 hair on her forehead has become as pure w^iite as 
 the winter snows of Canada. Wrinkles on her 
 visage have become the rule, not the exception, but 
 as they all run into comical twists, and play in the 
 forms of humour, they may, perhaps, be regarded as 
 a physical improvement. She is stone deaf now, 
 but this also may be put to the credit side of her 
 account, for it has rendered needless those awkward 
 efforts to speak loud and painful attempts to hear 
 which used to trouble the family in days gone by. 
 It is quite clear, however, when you look into 
 granny's coal-black eyes, that if she were to live to 
 the age of Methuselah she will never be blind, nor 
 ill-natured, nor less pleased with herself, her sur- 
 roundings, and the whole order of things created ! 
 
 But who are these that sit so gravely and busily 
 engaged with breakfast as though they had not the 
 prospect of another meal that year? Two young 
 men and a young girl. One young man is broad 
 and powerful though short, with an incipient 
 moustache and a fluff of whisker. The other is 
 rather tall, slim, and gentlemanly, and still beardless. 
 The girl is little, neat, well-made, at the budding 
 period of life, brown-haired, brown-eyed, ronnd, soft 
 
366 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 — ^just such a creature as one feels disposed to pat 
 on the head and say, " My little pet ! " 
 
 Why, these are two "waifs" and a "stray!" 
 Don't you know them? Look again. Is not the 
 stout fellow our friend Bobby Frog, the slim one 
 Tim Lumpy, and the girl Martha Mild ? But who, 
 in all London, would believe that these were children 
 who had been picked out of the gutter ? Nobody — 
 except those good Samaritans who had helped to pick 
 them up, and who could show you the photographs 
 of what they once were and what they now are. 
 
 Mr. Merryboy, although changed a little as re- 
 gards legs, was not in the least deteriorated as to 
 lungs. As Granny, Mrs. Merryboy, and the young 
 people sat at breakfast he was heard at an immense 
 distance ofP, gradually making his way towards the 
 house. 
 
 " Something seems to be wrong with father this 
 morning, I think," said Mrs. Merryboy, junior, 
 listening. 
 
 Granny, observing the action, pretended to listen, 
 and smiled. 
 
 ' " He 's either unusually jolly or unusually savage 
 -a little more tea, mother," said Tim Lumpy, push- 
 ing in his cup. 
 
 Tim, being father-and-motherless, called Mr. 
 Merryboy father and the wife mother. So did 
 Martha, but Bobby Frog, remembering those whom 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 367 
 
 he had left at home, loyally declined, though he did 
 not object to call the elder Mrs. Merryboy granny. 
 
 " Something for good or evil must have happened," 
 said Bobby, laying down his knife and fork as the 
 growling sound drew nearer. 
 
 At last the door flew open and the storm burst in. 
 
 And we may remark that Mr. Merryboy's stormy 
 nature was, if possible, a little more obtrusive than 
 it used to be, for whereas in former days his toes 
 and heels did most of the rattling-thunder-business, 
 the stick now came into play as a prominent creator 
 of din — not only when flourished by hand, but often 
 on its own account and unexpectedly, when propped 
 clumsily in awkward places. 
 
 " Hallo ! good people all, how are 'ee ? morning — 
 morning. Boys, d'ee know that the saw-mill 's come 
 to grief?'' 
 
 "No, are you in earnest, father?" cried Tim, 
 jumping up. 
 
 " In earnest ! Of course I am. Pretty engineers 
 you are. Sawed its own bed in two, or burst itself. 
 Don't know which, and what 's more I don't care. 
 Come, Martha, my bantam chicken, let 's have a cup 
 of tea. Bother that stick, it can't keep its legs much 
 better than myself. How are you, mother ? Glorious 
 weather, isn't it ? " 
 
 Mr. Merryboy ignored deafness. He continued to 
 speak to his mother just as though she heard him. 
 
368 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 And she continued to nod and smile, and make- 
 believe to hear with more demonstration of face and 
 cap than ever. After all, her total loss of hearing 
 made little difference, her sentiments being what 
 Bobby Frog in his early days would have described 
 in the words, " Wot 's the hodds so long as you 're 
 'appy?" 
 
 But Bobby had now ceased to drop or misapply 
 his h's — though he still had some trouble with his r's. 
 
 As he was chief engineer of the saw-mill, having 
 turned out quite a mechanical genius, he ran down 
 to the scene of disaster with much concern on hear- 
 ing the old gentleman's report. 
 
 And, truly, when he and Tim reached the pictur- 
 esque spot where, at the water's edge among fine 
 trees and shrubs, the mill stood clearly reflected in 
 its own dam, they found that the mischief done was 
 considerable. The machinery, by which the frame 
 with its log to be sawn was moved along quarter- 
 inch by quarter-inch at each stroke, was indeed all 
 right, but it had not been made self-regulating. The 
 result was that, on one of the attendant workmen 
 omitting to do his duty, the saw not only ripped off 
 a beautiful plank from a log, but continued to cross- 
 cut the end of the heavy framework, and then 
 proceeded to cut the iron which held the log in its 
 place. The result, of course, was that the iron re- 
 fused to be cut, and savagely revenged itself by 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 369 
 
 scraping off, flattening down, turning up, and other- 
 wise damaging, the teeth of the saw ! 
 
 " H'm ! that comes of haste," muttered Bob, as he 
 surveyed the wreck. " If I had taken time to make 
 the whole affair complete before setting the mill to 
 work, this would not have happened." 
 
 " Never mind, Bob, we must learn by experience, 
 you know," said Tim, examining the damage done 
 with a critical eye. " Luckily, we have a spare saw 
 in the store." 
 
 " Eun and fetch it," said Bob to the man in charge 
 of the mill, whose carelessness had caused the dam- 
 age, and who stared silently at his work with a look 
 of horrified resignation. 
 
 When he was gone Bob and Tim threw off their 
 coats, rolled up their sleeves to the shoulder, and set 
 to work with a degree of promptitude and skill which 
 proved them to be both earnest and capable workmen. 
 
 The first thing to be done was to detach the 
 damaged saw from its frame. 
 
 "There," said Bob, as he flung it down, "you 
 won't use your teeth again on the wrong subject for 
 some time to come. Have we dry timber heavy 
 enough to mend the frame, Tim?" 
 
 " Plenty — more than we want." 
 
 " Well, you £[0 to work on it while I fix up the 
 new saw." 
 
 To work the two went accordingly — adjusting. 
 2 a 
 
370 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 screwing, squaring, sawing, planing, mortising, until 
 the dinner-bell called them to the house. 
 
 "So soon!" exclaimed Bob; "dinner is a great 
 bother when a man is very busy." 
 
 " D' ye think so, Bob ? Well, now, I look on it as a 
 great comfort — specially when you 're hungry." 
 
 "Ah! but that's because you are greedy, Tim. 
 You always were too fond o' your grub." 
 
 " Come, Bob, no slang. You know that mother 
 doesn't like it. By the way, talkin' of mothers, is it 
 on Wednesday or Thui'sday that you expect your 
 mother?" 
 
 " Thursday, my boy," replied Bob, with a bright 
 look. " Ha ! that will be a day for me 1" 
 
 " So it will. Bob, I 'm glad for your sake," returned 
 Tim with a sigh, which was a very unusual expres- 
 sion of feeling for him. Plis friend at once under- 
 stood its significance. 
 
 " Tim, my boy, I 'm sorry for you. I wish I could 
 split my mother in two and give you half of her." 
 
 " Yes," said Tim, somewhat absently, " it is sad to 
 have not one soul in the world related to you." 
 
 " But there are many who care for you as much 
 as if they were relations," said Bob, taking his^ 
 friend's arm as they approached the house. 
 
 "Come along, come along, youngsters," shouted 
 Mr. Merryboy from the window, "the dinner 's gettin' 
 cold, and granny 's gettin' in a passion. Look sharp. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 371 
 
 If you knew what news I have for you you 'd look 
 sharper." 
 
 "What news, sir?" asked Bob, as they sat down 
 to a table which did not exactly " groan " with viands 
 — it was too strong for that — but which was heavily 
 weighted therewith. 
 
 " I won't tell you till after dinner — just to punish 
 you for being late; besides, it might spoil your 
 appetite." 
 
 "But suspense is apt to spoil appetite, father, 
 isn't it ?" said Tim, who, well accustomed to the old 
 farmer's eccentricities, did not believe much in 
 the news he professed to have in keeping. 
 
 " Well, then, you must just lose your appetites, 
 for I won't tell you," said Mr. Merryboy firmly. " It 
 will do you good — eh! mother, won't a touch of 
 starvation improve them, bring back the memory of 
 old times — eh?" 
 
 The old lady, observing that her son was address- 
 ing her, shot forth such a beam of intelligence and 
 goodwill that it was as though a gleam of sunshine 
 had burst into the room. 
 
 "I knew you'd agree with me — ha! ha! you 
 always do, mother," cried the farmer, flinging his 
 handkerchief at a small kitten which was sporting 
 on the floor and went into fits of delight at the 
 attention. 
 
 After dinner the young men were about to return 
 
372 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 to their saw-mill when Mr. MerrjLoy called them 
 back. 
 
 "What would you say, boys, to hear that Sir 
 Eichard Brandon, with a troop of emigrants, is going 
 to settle somewhere in Canada?' 
 
 " I would think he 'd gone mad, sir, or changed 
 his nature," responded Bob. 
 
 ," Well, as to whether he 's gone mad or not I can't 
 tell — he may have changed his nature, who knows ? 
 That's not beyond the bounds of possibility. Any- 
 way, he is coming. I Ve got a letter from a friend 
 of mine in London who says he read it in the 
 papers. But perhaps you may learn more about 
 it in thatr 
 
 He tossed a letter to Bob, who eagerly seized it. 
 " From sister Hetty," he cried, and tore it open. 
 
 The oomplete unity and unanimity of this family 
 was well illustrated by the fact, that Bob began to 
 read the letter aloiid without asking leave and with- 
 out apology. 
 
 " Dearest Bob," it ran, " you will get this letter 
 only a mail before our arrival. I had not meant to 
 write again, but cannot resist doing so, to give you 
 the earliest news about it. Sir Eichard has changed 
 his mind! You know, in my last, I told you he 
 had helped to assist several poor families from this 
 quarter — as well as mother and me, and Matty. 
 He is a real friend to the poor, for he doesn't merely 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 373 
 
 fling coppers and old clothes at them, but takes 
 trouble to find out about them, and helps them in 
 the way that seems best for each. It 's all owing to 
 that sweet Miss Di, who comes so much about here 
 that she 's almost as well known as Giles Scot the 
 policeman, or our missionary. By the way, Giles 
 has been made an Inspector lately, and has got no 
 end of medals and a silver watch, and other testi- 
 monials, for bravery in saving people from fires, and 
 canals, and cart wheels, and — he 's a wonderful man 
 is Giles, and they say his son is to be taken into the 
 force as soon as he 's old enough. He 's big enough 
 and sensible enough already, and looks twice his age. 
 After all, if he can knock people down, and take 
 people up, and keep order, what does it matter how 
 young he is ? 
 
 " But I 'm wandering, I always do wander. Bob, 
 when I write to you ! Well, as I was saying. Sir 
 Pdchard has changed his mind and has resolved to 
 emigrate himself, with Miss Di and a whole lot of 
 friends and work-people. He wants, as he says, to 
 establish a colony of likeminded people, and so you 
 may be sure that all who have fixed to go with him 
 are followers of the Lord Jesus — and not ashamed 
 to say so. As I had already taken our passages in 
 the Amazon steamer — " 
 
 " The Amazon ! " interrupted Mr. Merryboy, with 
 a shout, " why, that steamer has arrived already ! " 
 
374 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " So it has," said Bob, becoming excited ; " their 
 letter must have been delayed, and they must have 
 come by the same steamer that brought it; why, 
 they '11 be here immediately ! " 
 
 " Perhaps to-night ! " exclaimed Mrs. Merry- 
 boy. 
 
 *' Oh ! how nice ! " murmured Martha, her great 
 brown eyes glittering with joy at the near prospect 
 of seeing that Hetty about whom she had heard so 
 much. 
 
 " Impossible ! " said Tim Lumpy, coming down on 
 them all with his wet-blanket of common-sense. 
 " They would never come on without dropping us a 
 line from Quebec, or Montreal, to announce their 
 arrival." 
 
 "That's true, Tim," said Mr. Merryboy, "but 
 you Ve not finished the letter. Bob — go on. Mother, 
 mother, what a variety of faces you are making !" 
 
 This also was true, for old Mrs. Merryboy, seeing 
 that something unusual was occurring, had all this 
 time been watching the various speakers with her 
 coal-black eyes, changing aspect with their varied 
 expressions, and wrinkling her visage up into such 
 inexpressible contortions of sympathetic good-will, 
 that she really could not have been more sociable if 
 she had been in full possession and use of her five 
 senses. 
 
 "As I had already," continued Bob, reading. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 375 
 
 "taken our passages in the Amazon steamer, Sir 
 Eichard thought it best that we should come on 
 before, along with his agent, who goes to see after 
 the land, so that we might have a good long stay 
 with you, and dear Mr. and Mrs. Merryboy, who have 
 been so kind to you, before going on to Brandon — 
 which, I believe, is the name of the place in the back- 
 woods where Sir Eichard means us all to go to. I 
 don't know exactly where it is — and I don't know 
 anybody who does, but that 's no matter. Enough for 
 mother, and Matty, and me to know that it 's within 
 a few hundred miles of you, which is very different 
 from three thousand miles of an ocean ! 
 
 "You 11 also be glad to hear that Mr. Twitter 
 with all his family is to join this band. It quite 
 puts me in mind of the story of the Pilgrim 
 Fathers, that I once heard in dear Mr. Holland's 
 meeting hall, long ago. I wish he could come too, 
 and all his people with him, and all the ladies from 
 the Beehive. Wouldn't that be charming! But, 
 then, — who would be left to look after London? 
 Xo, it is better that they should remain at home. 
 
 " Poor Mr. Twitter never quite got the better of 
 his fire, you see, so he sold his share in his business, 
 and is getting ready to come. His boys and girls 
 will be a great help to him in Canada, instead of a 
 burden as they have been in London — the younger 
 ones I mean, of course, for Molly, and Sammy, and 
 
376 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Willie have been helping their parents for a long 
 time past. I don't think Mrs. Twitter quite likes it, 
 and I *m sure she 's almost breaking her heart at the 
 thought of leaving George Yard. It is said that 
 their friends Mrs. Loper, Mrs. Larrabel, Stickler, and 
 Crackaby, want to join, but I rather think Sir 
 Eichard isn't very keen to have them. Mr. Stephen 
 Welland is also coming. One of Sir Eichard's 
 friends, Mr. Brisbane I think, got him a good 
 situation in the Mint — that 's where all the money 
 is coined, you know — but, on hearing of this expedi- 
 tion to Canada, he made up his mind to go there 
 instead ; so he gave up the Mint — very unwillingly, 
 however, I believe, for he wanted very much to go 
 into the Mint. Now, no more at present from your 
 loving and much hurried sister (for I 'm in the 
 middle of packing), Hetty." 
 
 Now, while Bob Frog was in the act of putting 
 Hetty's letter in his pocket, a little boy was seen on 
 horseback, galloping up to the door. 
 
 He brought a telegram addressed to " Mr. Eobert 
 Frog." It was from Montreal, and ran thus : " We 
 have arrived, and leave this on Tuesday forenoon." 
 
 " Why, they 're almost here noWy' cried Bob. 
 
 "Harness up, my boy, and off you go — not a 
 moment to lose!" cried Mr. Merryboy, as Bob 
 dashed out of the room. " Take the bays, Bob," he 
 added in a stentorian voice, thrusting his head out 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 377 
 
 of the window, " and the biggest wagon. Don't 
 forget the rugs 1 " 
 
 Ten minutes later, and Bob Frog, with Tim Lumpy 
 beside him, was driving the spanking pair of bays 
 to the railway station. 
 
378 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVI. 
 
 HAPPY MEETINGS. 
 
 It was to the same railway station as that at 
 which they had parted from their guardian and 
 been handed over to Mr. Merry boy years before 
 that Bobby Frog now drove. The train was not due 
 for half an hour. 
 
 " Tim," said Bob after they had walked up and 
 down the platform for about five minutes, "how 
 slowly time seems to fly when one's in a hurry !" 
 
 " Doesn't it ?" assented Tim, ''crawls like a snail." 
 
 " Tim," said Bob, after ten minutes had elapsed, 
 " what a difficult thing it is to wait patiently when 
 one 's anxious !" 
 
 ''Isn't it?" assented Tim, "so hard to keep from 
 fretting and stamping." 
 
 " Tim," said Bob, after twenty minutes had passed, 
 " I wonder if the two or three dozen people on this 
 platform are all as uncomfortably impatient as I 
 am. 
 
 " Perhaps they are," said Tim, " but certainly pos- 
 sessed of more power to restrain themselves." 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 379 
 
 " Tim," said Bob, after the lapse of five-and- 
 twenty minutes, " did you ever hear of such a long 
 half-hour since you were born ?" 
 
 "Never," replied the sympathetic Tim, "except 
 once long ago when 1 was starving, and stood for 
 about that length of time in front of a confectioner's 
 window till I nearly collapsed and had to run away 
 at last for fear I should smash in the glass and feed." 
 
 " Tim, I '11 take a look round and see that the 
 bays are all right." 
 
 " You 've done that four times already, Bob." 
 
 " Well, I'll do it five times, Tim. There's luck, 
 you know, in odd numbers." 
 
 There was a sharpish curve ou the line close to 
 the station. While Bob Frog was away the train, 
 being five minutes before its time, came thundering 
 round the curve and rushed alongside the platform. 
 
 Bob ran back of course and stood vainly trying to 
 see the people in each carriage as it went past. 
 
 " Oh. \w7iat a sweet eager face !" exclaimed Tim, 
 gazing after a young girl who had thrust her head 
 out of a iirst-class carriage. 
 
 " Let alone sweet faces, Tim — this way. The 
 third classes are all behind." 
 
 By this time the train had stopped, and great was 
 the commotion as friends and relatives met or said 
 good-bye hurriedly, and bustled into and out of the 
 carriages — commotion which was increased by the 
 
380 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 cheering of a fresh band of rescued waifs going to new 
 homes in the west, and the hissing of the safety 
 valve which took it into its head at that inconven- 
 ient moment to let off superfluous steam. Some of 
 the people rushing about on that platform and jost- 
 ling each other would have been the better for safety 
 valves ! Poor Bobby Frog was one of these. 
 
 "Not there!" he exclaimed despairingly, as he 
 looked into the last carriage of the train. 
 
 " Impossible," said Tim, " we Ve only missed them ; 
 come back." 
 
 They went back, looking eagerly into carriage 
 after carriage — Bob even glancing under the seats in 
 a sort of wild hope that his mother might be hiding 
 there, but no one resembling Mrs. Frog was to be 
 seen. 
 
 A commotion at the front part of the train, more 
 pronounced than the general hubbub, attracted their 
 attention. 
 
 " Oh ! where is he — where is he V cried a female 
 voice, which was followed up by the female herself, 
 a respectable elderly woman, who went about the 
 platform scattering people right and left in a fit of 
 temporary insanity, " where is my Bobby, where is 
 he, I say ? Oh ! why won't people git out o' my 
 way ? Git out o' the way (shoving a sluggish man 
 forcibly), where are you, Bobby ? Bo-o-o-o-o-by !" 
 
 It was Mrs. Frog! Bob saw her, but did not 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 381 
 
 move. His heart was in his throat ! He could not 
 move. As he afterwards said, he was struck all of 
 a heap, and could only stand and gaze with his hands 
 clasped. 
 
 " Out o' the way, young man !" cried Mrs. Frog, 
 brushing indignantly past him, in one of her erratic 
 bursts. *' Oh ! Bobby — where has that boy gone 
 
 to r 
 
 " Mother 1" gasped Bob. 
 
 " Who said that ?" cried Mrs. Frog, turning round 
 with a sharp look, as if prepared to retort " you 're 
 another " on the shortest notice. 
 
 "Mother!" again said Bob, unclasping his hands 
 and holding them out. 
 
 Mrs. Frog had hitherto, regardless of the well- 
 known effect of time, kept staring at heads on 
 the level which Bobby's had reached when he 
 left home. She now looked up with a startled 
 expression. 
 
 " Can it — is it — oh ! Bo — " she got no further, but 
 sprang forward and was caught and fervently clasped 
 in the arms of her son. 
 
 Tim fluttered round them, blowing his nose 
 violently though quite free from cold in the head 
 — which complaint, indeed, is not common in those 
 regions. 
 
 Hetty, who had lost her mother in the crowd, now 
 ran forward w^ith Matty. Bob saw them, let go his 
 
382 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 mother, and received one in each arm— squeezing 
 them both at once to his capacious bosom. 
 
 Mrs. Frog might have fallen, though that was not 
 probable, but Tim made sure of her by holding out 
 a hand which the good woman grasped, and laid her 
 head on his breast, quite willing to make use of 
 him as a convenient post to lean against, while she 
 observed the meeting of the young people with a 
 contented smile. 
 
 Tim observed that meeting too, but with very 
 different feelings, for the "sweet eager face" that 
 he had seen in the first-class carriage belonged to 
 Hetty! Long-continued love to human souls had 
 given to her face a sweetness — and sympathy with 
 human spirits and bodies in the depths of povert}^ 
 sorrow, and deep despair had invested it with a 
 pitiful tenderness and refinement — which one looks 
 for more naturally among the innocent in the 
 higher ranks of life. 
 
 Poor Tim gazed unutterably, and his heart went 
 on in such a way that even Mrs. Frog's attention was 
 arrested. Looking up, she asked if he was took 
 bad. 
 
 " Oh ! dear no. By no means," said Tim, quickly. 
 
 " You 're tremblin' so," she returned, " an' it ain't 
 cold — but your colour 's all right. I suppose it 's the 
 natur' o' you Canadians. But only to think that my 
 Bobby," she added, quitting her leaning-post, and again 
 
BUSTY DIAMONDS. 383 
 
 seizing tier son, " that my Bobby should 'ave grow'd 
 up, an' his poor mother knowed nothink about it ! 
 I can't believe my eyes — it ain't like Bobby a bit, 
 yet some'ow I know it 's 'im ! Why, you 've grow'd 
 into a gentleman, you 'ave." 
 
 " And you have grown into a flatterer," said Bob, 
 with a laugh. " But come, mother, this way ; I 've 
 brought the wagon for you. Look after the 
 luggage, Tim — Oh I I forgot. This is Tim, Hetty 
 Tim Lumpy. You remember, you used to see us 
 playing together when we were city Arabs." 
 
 Hetty looked at Tim, and, remembering Bobby's 
 strong love for jesting, did not believe him. She 
 smiled, however, and bowed to the tall good-looking 
 youth, who seemed unaccountably shy and confused 
 as he went off to look after the luggage. 
 
 "Here is the wagon; come along," said Bob, 
 leading his mother out of the station. 
 
 "The waggin, boy; I don't see no^waggin." 
 " Why, there, with the pair of bay horses." 
 " You don't mean the carridge by the fence, do 
 you?" 
 
 " Well, yes, only we call them wagons here." 
 " An' you calls the 'osses lay 'osses, do you ?" 
 "Yes." 
 . " Well now, I would call 'em beautiful 'osses, but 
 I suppose bay means the same thing here. You 've 
 got strange ways in Canada." 
 
384 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Yes, mother, and pleasant ways too, as I liope 
 you shall find out ere long. Get in, now. Take 
 care ! Now then, Hetty — come, Matty. How diffi- 
 cult to believe that such a strapping young thing 
 can be the squalling Matty I left in London ! " 
 
 Matty laughed as she got in, by way of reply, for 
 she did not yet quite believe in her big brother. 
 
 " Do you drive, Tim ; I '11 stay inside," said Bob. 
 
 In another moment the spanking bays were 
 whirling the wagon over the road to Brankly 
 Farm at the rate of ten miles an hour. 
 
 Need it be said that the amiable Merryboys did 
 not fail of their duty on that occasion ? That Hetty 
 and Matty took violently to brown-eyed Martha at 
 first sight, having heard all about her from Bob long 
 ago — as she of them ; that Mrs. Merryboy was, we 
 may say, one glowing beam of hospitality ; that Mrs. 
 Frog was, so to speak, one blazing personification of 
 amazement, which threatened to become chronic — 
 there was so much that was contrary to previous 
 experience and she was so slow to take it in ; that 
 Mr. Merryboy became noisier than ever, and that, 
 what between his stick and his legs, to say nothing 
 of his voice, he managed to create in one day hubbub 
 enough to last ten families for a fortnight ; that the 
 domestics and the dogs were sympatheticall}- joyful ; 
 that even the kitten gave unmistakeable evidences 
 of unusual hilarity — though some attributed the 
 
BOBBY FROG AND HIS MOTHER.— Page 385. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 385 
 
 effect to surreptitiously-obtained cream ; and, finally, 
 that old granny became something like a Chinese 
 image in the matter of nodding and gazing and 
 smirking and wrinkling, so that there seemed some 
 danger of her terminating her career in a gush of 
 universal philanthropy — need all this be said, we 
 ask ? We think not ; therefore we won't say it. 
 
 But it was not till Bob Frog got his mother all to 
 himself, under the trees, near the waterfall, down by 
 the river that drove the still unmended saw-mill, that 
 they had real and satisfactory communion. It would 
 have been interesting to have listened to these two — 
 with memories and sympathies and feelings towards 
 the Saviour of sinners so closely intertwined, yet with 
 knowledge and intellectual powers in many respects 
 so far apart. But we may not intrude too closely. 
 
 Towards the end of their walk. Bob touched on a 
 subject which had been uppermost in the minds of 
 both all the time, but from which they had shrunk 
 equally, the one being afraid to ask, the other dis- 
 inclined to tell. 
 
 " Mother,'' said Bob, at last, " what about father ?" 
 
 "Ah! Bobby," replied Mrs. Frog, beginning to 
 weep, gently, " I know'd ye would come to that — 
 you was always so fond of 'im, an* he was so fond o' 
 you too, indeed — " 
 
 " I know it, mother," interrupted Bob, " but have 
 you never heard of him ? " 
 2b 
 
386 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Never. I might 'ave, pVaps, if lie 'd bin took 
 an' tried under his own name, but you know he had 
 so many aliases, an* the old 'ouse we used to live in 
 we was obliged to quit, so p'r'aps he tried to find us 
 and couldn't." 
 
 " May God help him— dear father ! " said the son 
 in a low sad voice. 
 
 " I 'd never Ve left 'im, Bobby, if he 'adn't left me. 
 You know that. An' if I thought he was alive and 
 know'd w'ere he was, I 'd go back to 'im yet, but — " 
 
 The subject was dropped here, for the new mill 
 came suddenly into view, and Bob was glad to draw 
 his mother's attention to it. 
 
 " See, we were mending that just before we got 
 the news you were so near us. Come, I '11 show it 
 to you. Tim Lumpy and I made it all by ourselves, 
 and I think you '11 call it a first-class article. By 
 the way, how came you to travel first-class ? " 
 
 " Oh ! that 's all along of Sir Eichard Brandon. 
 He 's sitch a liberal gentleman, an' said that as it 
 was by his advice we were goin' to Canada, he would 
 pay our expenses ; and he 's so grand that he never 
 remembered there was any other class but first, when 
 he took the tickets, an' when he was show'd what 
 he 'd done he laughed an' said he wouldn't alter it, 
 an' we must go all the way first-class. He 's a strange 
 man, but a good 'un ! " 
 
 By this time they had reached the platform of 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 387 
 
 the damaged saw-mill, and Bob pointed out, with 
 elaborate care, the details of the mill in all its 
 minute particulars, commenting specially on the 
 fact that most of the telling improvements on it 
 were due to the fertile brain and inventive genius 
 of Tim Lumpy. He also explained the different 
 kinds of saws — the ripping saw, and the cross-cut 
 saw, and the circular saw, and the eccentric saw — 
 just as if his mother were an embryo mill-wright, 
 for he felt that she took a deep interest in it all, and 
 Mrs. Frog listened with the profound attention of a 
 civil engineer, and remarked on everything with 
 such comments as — oh ! indeed ! ah ! well now ! ain't 
 it wonderful ? amazin' ! an' you made it all too I 
 Oh! Bobby! — and other more or less appropriate 
 phrases. 
 
 On quitting the mill to return to the house they 
 saw a couple of figures walking down another 
 avenue, so absorbed in conversation that they did 
 not at first observe Bob and his mother, or take 
 note of the fact that Matty, being a bouncing girl, 
 had gone after butterflies or some such child-allur- 
 ing insects. 
 
 It was Tim Lumpy and Hetty Frog. 
 
 And no wonder that they were absorbed, for 
 was not their conversation on subjects of the pro- 
 foundest interest to both? — George Yard, White- 
 chapel, Commercial Street, Spitalfields, and the 
 
388 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 Sailor's Home, and the Eests, and all the other 
 agencies for rescuing poor souls in monstrous 
 London, and the teachers and school companions 
 whom they had known there and never could forget! 
 ]N"o wonder, we say, that these two were absorbed 
 while comparing notes, and still less wonder that 
 they were even more deeply absorbed when they 
 got upon the theme of Bobby Frog — so much loved, 
 nay, almost worshipped, by both. 
 
 At last they observed Mrs. Frog's scarlet shawl — 
 which was very conspicuous— and her son, and 
 tried to look unconscious, and wondered with quite 
 needless surprise where Matty could have gone to. 
 
 Bobby Frog, being a sharp youth, noted these 
 things, but made no comment to any one, for the air 
 of Canada had, somehow, invested this waif with 
 wonderful delicacy of feeling. 
 
 Although Bob and his mother left off talking of 
 Ned Frog somewhat abruptly, as well as sorrow- 
 fully, it does not follow that we are bound to do the 
 same. On the contrary, we nov/ ask the reader to 
 leave Brankly Farm rather abruptly, and return to 
 London for the purpose of paying !N"ed a visit. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 389 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVII. 
 
 A STRANGE VISIT AND ITS RESULTS. 
 
 Edward Feog, bird-fancier, pugilist, etc. (and the 
 etc. represents an unknown quantity) has changed 
 somewhat like the rest, for a few years have thinned 
 the short-cropped though once curly locks above his 
 knotted forehead, besides sprinkling them with grey. 
 But in other respects he has not fallen off — nay he 
 has rather improved, owing to the peculiar system 
 of diet and discipline and regularity of life to which, 
 during these years, he has been subjected. 
 
 When Ned returned from what we may style his 
 outing, he went straight to the old court with some- 
 thing like a feeling of anxiety in his heart, but 
 found the old home deserted and the old door, 
 which still bore deep marks of his knuckles on the 
 upper panels and his boots on the lower, was pad- 
 locked. He inquired for Mrs. Frog, but was told 
 she had left the place long ago, — and no one knew 
 where she had gone. 
 
 With a heavy heart Ned turned from the door 
 and sauntered away, friendless and homeless. He 
 
390 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 thought of making further inquiries about his 
 family, but at the corner of the street smelt the old 
 shop that had swallowed up so much of his earnings. 
 
 " If I 'd on'y put it all in the savin's bank," he 
 said bitterly, stopping in front of the gin-palace, 
 " I 'd 'ave bin well ofiP to-day." 
 
 An old comrade turned the corner at that 
 moment. 
 
 " What ! I^ed Frog ! " he cried, seizing his hand 
 and shaking it with genuine goodwill. " Well, this 
 is good luck. Come along, old boy ! " 
 
 It was pleasant to the desolate man to be thus 
 recognised. He went along like an ox to the 
 slaughter, though, unlike the ox, he knew well what 
 he was going to. 
 
 He was "treated." He drank beer. Other old 
 friends came in. He drank gin. If good resolves 
 had been coming up in his mind earlier in the day 
 he forgot them now. If better feelings had been 
 struggling for the mastery, he crushed them now. 
 He got drunk. He became disorderly. He went 
 into High Street, Whitechapel, with a view to do 
 damage to somebody. He succeeded. He tumbled 
 over a barrow, and damaged his own shins. He en- 
 countered No. 666 soon after, and, through his 
 influence, passed the night in a police cell. 
 
 After this Ned gave up all thought of searching 
 for his wife and family. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 391 
 
 " Better let 'em alone," he growled to himself on 
 being discharged from the police office with a 
 caution. 
 
 But, as we have said or hinted elsewhere, Ned 
 was a man of iron will. He resolved to avoid the 
 public-house, to drink in moderation, and to do his 
 drinking at home. Being as powerful and active as 
 ever he had been, he soon managed, in the capacity 
 of a common labourer, to scrape enough money 
 together to enable him to retake his old garret, 
 which chanced to be vacant. Indeed its situation 
 was so airy, and it was so undesirable, that it was 
 almost always vacant. He bought a few cages and 
 birds ; found that the old manager of the low music- 
 hall was still at work and ready to employ him, and 
 thus fell very much into his old line of life. 
 
 One night, as he was passing into his place of 
 business — the music-hall — a man saw him and recog- 
 nised him. This was a city missionary of the John 
 Seaward type, who chanced to be fishing for souls 
 that night in these troubled waters. There are many 
 such fishermen about, thank God, doing their grand 
 work unostentatiously, and not only rescuing souls 
 for eternity, but helping, more perhaps than even 
 the best informed are aware of, to save London from 
 tremendous evil. 
 
 What it was in Ned Prog that attracted this man 
 of God we know not, but, after casting his lines for 
 
392 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 some hours in other places, he returned to the music- 
 hall and loitered about the door. 
 
 At a late hour its audience came pouring out with 
 discordant cries and ribald laughter. Soon Ned 
 appeared and took his way homeward. The mission- 
 ary followed at a safe distance till he saw Ned 
 disappear through the doorway that led to his garret. 
 Then, running forward, he entered the dark passage 
 and heard Ned's heavy foot clanking on the stone 
 steps as he mounted upwards. 
 
 The sound became fainter, and the missionary, 
 fearing lest he should fail to find the room in which 
 his man dwelt — for there were many rooms in the 
 old tenement — ran hastily up-stairs and paused to 
 listen. The footsteps were still sounding above him, 
 but louder now, because Ned was mounting a wooden 
 stair. A few seconds later a heavy door was banged, 
 and all was quiet. 
 
 The city missionary now groped his way upwards 
 until he came to the highest landing, where in the 
 thick darkness he saw a light under a door. With 
 a feeling of uncertainty and a silent prayer for help 
 he knocked gently. The door was opened at once 
 by a middle-aged woman, whose outline only could 
 be seen, her back being to the light. 
 
 " Is it here that the man lives who came up just 
 now?" asked the missionary. 
 
 "What man?" she replied, fiercely, "I know 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 393 
 
 nothink about men, an' 'ave nothink to do with 'em. 
 Ned Frog 's the on'y man as ever comes 'ere, an' he 
 lives up there." 
 
 She made a motion, as if pointing upwards some- 
 where, and banged the door in her visitor's face. 
 
 "Up there!" The missionary had reached the 
 highest landing, and saw no other gleam of light any- 
 where. Groping about, however, his hand struck 
 against a ladder. All doubt as to the use of this 
 was immediately banished, for a man's heavy tread 
 was heard in the room above as he crossed it. 
 
 Mounting the ladder, the missionary, instead of 
 coming to a higher landing as he had expected, 
 thrust his hat against a trap -door in the roof. Im- 
 mediately he heard a savage human growl. Evidently 
 the man was in a bad humour, but the missionary 
 knocked. 
 
 "Who's there?" demanded the man, fiercely, for 
 his visitors were few, and these generally connected 
 with the police force. 
 
 "May I come in?" asked the missionary in a 
 mild voice — not that he put the mildness on for 
 the occasion. He was naturally mild — additionally 
 so by grace. 
 
 " Oh ! yes — you may come in," cried ihQ man, 
 lifting the trap-door. 
 
 The visitor stepped into the room and was startled 
 by Ned letting fall the trap-door with a crash that 
 
394 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 shook the whole tenement. Planting himself upon 
 it, he rendered retreat impossible. 
 
 It was a trying situation, for the man was in a 
 savage humour, and evidently the worse for drink. 
 But missionaries are bold men. , 
 
 " Now," demanded Ned, " what may you want ?" 
 
 " I want your soul," replied his visitor, quietly. 
 
 " You needn't trouble yourself, then, for the devil 's 
 got it already." 
 
 " No — he has not got it yet, Ned." 
 
 " Oh ! you know me then ?" 
 
 " No. I never saw you till to-night, but I learned 
 your name accidentally, and I'm anxious about 
 your soul." 
 
 " You don't know me," Ned repeated, slowly, " you 
 never saw me till to-night, yet you 're anxious about 
 my soul ! What stuff are you talkin' ! 'Ow can 
 that be?" 
 
 " Now, you have puzzled m^," said the missionary. 
 " I cannot tell how that can be, but it is no ' stuff,' I 
 assure you. I think it probable, however, that your 
 own experience may help you. Didn't you once see 
 a young girl whom you had never seen before, whom 
 you didn't know, whom you had never even heard 
 of, yet you became desperately anxious to win her ?" 
 
 Ned instantly thought of a certain woman whom 
 he had often abused and beaten, and whose heart he 
 had probably broken. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 395 
 
 "Yes," he said, "I did; but then I had failed in 
 love wi' her at first sight, and you can't have failed 
 in love wi' me, you know." 
 
 Ned grinned at this idea in spite of himself. 
 
 " Well, no," replied the missionary, " not exactly. 
 You're not a very lovable object to look at just 
 now. Nevertheless, I am anxious about your soul 
 at first sight. I can't tell how it is, but so it is." 
 
 " Come, now," said Ned, becoming suddenly stern. 
 " I don't believe in your religion, or your Bible, or 
 your prayin' and psalm-singin'. I tell you plainly, 
 I 'm a infidel. But if you can say anything in favour 
 o' your views, fire away ; I '11 listen, only don't let 
 me have any o' your sing-songin' or whinin', else 
 I '11 kick you down the trap-door and down the stair 
 an' up the court and out into the street — speak out, 
 like a man." 
 
 " I will speak as God the Holy Spirit shall enable 
 me," returned the missionary, without the slightest 
 change in tone or manner. 
 
 " Wei], then, sit down," said Ned, pointing to the 
 only chair in the room, while he seated himself on 
 the rickety table, which threatened to give way 
 altogether, while the reckless man swung his right 
 leg to and fro quite regardless of its complainings. 
 
 " Have you ever studied the Bible ? " asked the 
 missionary, somewhat abruptly. 
 
 " Well, no, of course not. I 'm not a parson, but 
 
396 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 I have read a bit here and there, an' it 's all rubbish. 
 I don't believe a word of it." 
 
 " There 's a part of it," returned the visitor, " which 
 says that God maketh his rain to fall on the just 
 and on the unjust. Do you not believe that ? " 
 
 " Of course I do. A man can't help believin' that, 
 for he sees it — it falls on houses, fields, birds and 
 beasts as well." 
 
 " Then you do believe a word of it ? " 
 
 " Oh ! come, you 're a deal too sharp. You know 
 what I mean." 
 
 "No," said his visitor, quickly, "I don't quite 
 know what you mean. One who professes to be an 
 infidel professes more or less intelligent disbelief in 
 the Bible, yet you admit that you have never 
 studied the book which you profess to disbelieve — 
 much less, I suppose, have you studied the books 
 which give us the evidences of its truth." 
 
 "Don't suppose, Mr. parson, or missioner, or 
 whatever you are," said Ned, " that you 're goin' to 
 floor me wi' your larnin'. I 'm too old a bird for 
 that. Do you suppose that I'm bound to study 
 everything on the face o' the earth like a lawyer 
 before I *m entitled to say I don't believe it. If I 
 see that a thing don't work well, that 's enough for 
 me to condemn it." 
 
 " You 're quite right there. I quite go with that 
 line of reasoning. By their fruits shall ye know 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 397 
 
 them. A man don't nsnally go to a thistle to find 
 grapes. But let me ask you, N"ed, do you usually 
 find that murderers, drunkards, burglars, thieves, and 
 blackguards in general are students of the Bible and 
 given to prayer and psalm-singing ? " 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! I should rather think not," said Ned, 
 much tickled by the supposition. 
 
 " Then," continued the other, " tell me, honestly, 
 JSTed, do you find that people who read God's Word 
 and sing His praise and ask His blessing on all 
 they do, are generally bad fathers, and mothers, and 
 masters, and servants, and children, and that from 
 their ranks come the worst people in society ? " 
 
 " Now, look here, Mr. missioner," cried Ned, leap- 
 ing suddenly from the table, which overturned with 
 a crash, " I 'm one o' them fellers that 's not to be 
 floored by a puff o' wind. I can hold my own agin 
 most men wi' fist or tongue. But I like fair-play in 
 the ring or in argiment. I have not studied this 
 matter, as you say, an' so I won't speak on it. But 
 I '11 look into it, an' if you come back here this day 
 three weeks 1 11 let you know what I think. You 
 may trust me, for when I say a thing I mean it." 
 
 "Will you accept a Testament, then," said the 
 missionary, rising and pulling one out of his pocket. 
 
 " No, I won't," said Ned, " I 've got one." 
 
 The missionary looked surprised, and hesitated. 
 
 " Don't you believe me ? " asked Ned, angrily. 
 
398 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " At first I did not," was the reply, " but now that 
 I stand before your face and look in your eyes I do 
 believe you." 
 
 IsTed gave a cynical laugh. " You 're easy to gull," 
 he said; " why, when it serves my purpose I can lie 
 like a trooper." 
 
 " I know that," returned the visitor, quietly, " but 
 it serves your purpose to-night to speak the truth. 
 I can see that. May I pray that God should guide 
 you?" 
 
 " Yes, you may, but not here. 1 11 have no hypo- 
 critical goin' down on my knees till I see my way to 
 it. If I don't see my way to it, I '11 let you know 
 when you come back this day three weeks." 
 
 " Well, I '11 pray for you in my own room, Ned 
 Frog." 
 
 " You may do what you like in your own room. 
 Good-night." 
 
 He lifted the trap-door as he spoke, and pointed 
 downward. The missionary at once descended after 
 a brief "good-night," and a pleasant nod. Ned just 
 gave him time to get his head out of the way when 
 he let the trap fall with a clap like thunder, and 
 then began to pace up and down his little room 
 with his hands in his pockets and his chin on his 
 breast. 
 
 After a short time he went to a corner of the 
 room where stood a small wooden box that con- 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 399 
 
 tained the few articles of clothing which he pos- 
 sessed. From the bottom of this he fished up the 
 New Testament that had been given to him long 
 ago by Eeggie North. Drawing his chair to the 
 table and the candle to his elbow, the returned 
 convict opened the Book, and there in his garret 
 began for the first time to read in earnest the 
 wonderful Word of Life ! 
 
400 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVIII. 
 
 THE GREAT CHANGE. 
 
 Punctual to the day and the hour, the missionary 
 returned to Ned's garret. 
 
 Much and earnestly had he ptayed, in the mean- 
 time, that the man might be guided in his search 
 after truth, and that to himself might be given 
 words of wisdom which might have weight with 
 him. 
 
 But the missionary's words were not now required. 
 God had spoken to the rough man by his own 
 Word. The Holy Spirit had carried conviction home. 
 He had also revealed the Saviour, and the man 
 was converted before the missionary again saw him. 
 
 Eeader, we present no fancy portrait to you. 
 Our fiction had its counterpart in actual life. 'Ned 
 Frog, in essential points at least, represents a real 
 man — though we have, doubtless, saddled on his 
 broad shoulders a few unimportant matters, which 
 perhaps did not belong to him. 
 
 " I believe that this is God's Word, my friend," 
 he said, extending his hand, the moment the 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 401 
 
 missionary entered, " and in proof of that I will now 
 ask you to kneel with me and pray." 
 
 You may be sure that the man of God complied 
 gladly and with a full heart 
 
 We may not, however, trace here the after-course 
 of this man in detail. For our purpose it will suffice 
 to say that this was no mere flash in the pan. Ned 
 Frog's character did not change. It only received 
 a new direction and a new impulse. The vigorous 
 energy and fearless determination with which he 
 had in former days pursued sin and self-gratifica- 
 tion had now been turned into channels of righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 Very soon after finding Jesus for himself, he 
 began earnestly to desire the salvation of others, 
 and, in a quiet humble way, began with the poor 
 people in his own stair. 
 
 But this could not satisfy him. He was too 
 strong both in body and mind to be restrained, and 
 soon took to open-air preaching. 
 
 " I 'm going to begin a mission," he said, one day, 
 to the missionary who had brought him to the 
 Saviour. " There are many stout able fellows here 
 who used to accept me as a leader in wickedness, 
 and who will, perhaps, agree to follow me in a new 
 walk. Some of them have come to the Lord already. 
 I 'm goin', sir, to get these to form a band of workers, 
 and we 11 take up a district." 
 2c 
 
402 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " Good," said the missionary, " there 's nothing like 
 united action. What part of the district will you 
 take up yourself, Ned ?" 
 
 "The place where I stand, sir," he replied. 
 " Where I have sinned there will I preach to men 
 the Saviour of sinners." 
 
 And he did preach, not with eloquence, perhaps, 
 but with such fervour that many of his old comrades 
 were touched deeply, and some were brought to 
 Christ and joined his "Daniel Band." Moreover, 
 Ned kept to his own district and class. He did 
 not assume that all rich church-goers are hypocrites, 
 and that it was his duty to stand in conspicuous 
 places and howl to them the message of salvation, in 
 tones of rasping discord. No, it was noted by his 
 mates, as particularly curious, that the voice of the 
 man who could, when he chose, roar like a bull of 
 Bashan, had become soft and what we may style 
 entreative in its tone. Moreover, he did not try to 
 imitate clerical errors. He did not get upon a 
 deadly monotone while preaching, as so many do. 
 He simply sj)oJce when he preached— spoke loud, no 
 doubt, but in a tone precisely similar to that in 
 which, in former days, he would have seriously 
 advised a brother burglar to adopt a certain course, 
 or to carefully steer clear of another course, in order 
 to gain his ends or to avoid falling into the hands of 
 the police. Thus men, when listening to him, came 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 403 
 
 to believe that he was really speaking to them in 
 earnest, and not "preaching"! 
 
 Oh ! that young men who aim at the high 
 privilege of proclaiming the "good news" would 
 reflect on this latter point, and try to steer clear of 
 that fatal rock on which the Church — not the 
 Episcopal, Presbyterian, or any other Church, but 
 the whole Church militant — has been bumping so 
 long to her own tremendous damage ! 
 
 One point which told powerfully with those whom 
 ISTed sought to win was, that he went about endea- 
 vouring, as far as in him lay, to undo the evil that 
 he had done. Some of it could never be undone — 
 he felt that bitterly. Some could be remedied — he 
 rejoiced in that and went about it with vigour. 
 
 For instance, he owed several debts. Being a 
 handy fellow and strong, he worked like a horse, and 
 soon paid off his debts to the last farthing. Again, 
 many a time had he, in days gone by, insulted and 
 defamed comrades and friends. These he sought 
 out with care and begged their pardon. The bull- 
 dog courage in him was so strong that in former 
 days he would have struck or insulted any man 
 who provoked him, without reference to his, it might 
 be, superior size or strength. He now went as 
 boldly forward to confess his sin and to apologise. 
 Sometimes his apologies were kindly received, at 
 other times he was rudely repelled and called a 
 
404 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 hypocrite in language that we may not repeat, but 
 he took it well ; he resented nothing now, and used 
 to say he had been made invulnerable since he had 
 enlisted under the banner of the Prince of Peace. 
 
 Yet, strange to say, the man's pugilistic powers 
 were not rendered useless by his pacific life and 
 profession. 
 
 One day he was passing down one of those streets 
 where even the police prefer to go in couples. Sud- 
 denly a door burst open and a poor drunken woman 
 was kicked out into the street by a big ruffian with 
 whom Ned was not acquainted. Not satisfied with 
 what he had done, the rough proceeded to kick the 
 woman, who began to scream " murder !" 
 
 A crowd at once collected, for, although such 
 incidents were common enough in such places, they 
 always possessed sufficient interest to draw a crowd ; 
 but no one interfered, first, because no one cared, 
 and, second, because the man was so big and 
 powerful that every one was afraid of him. 
 
 Of course Ned interfered, not with an indignant 
 statement that the man ought to be ashamed of 
 himself, but, with the quiet remark — 
 
 " She's only a woman, you know, an' can't return 
 it." 
 
 " An' wot 'ave you got to do with it ?" cried the 
 man with a savage curse, as he aimed a tremendous 
 blow at Ned with his right hand. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 405 
 
 Our pugilist expected that. He did not start or 
 raise his hands to defend himself. He merely put 
 his head to one side, and the huge fist went harm- 
 lessly past his ear. Savagely the rough struck out 
 with the other fist, but Ned quietly, yet quickly put 
 his head to the other side, and again the fist went 
 innocently by. A loud laugh and cheer from the 
 crowd greeted this, for, apart altogether from the 
 occasion of the disagreement, this turning of the 
 head aside was very pretty play on the part of Ned 
 — being a remarkably easy-looking but exceedingly 
 difficult action, as all boxers know. It enabled Ned 
 to smile in the face of his foe without doing him 
 any harm. But it enraged the rough to such an 
 extent, that he struck out fast as well as hard, 
 obliging Ned to put himself in the old familiar 
 attitude, and skip about smartly. 
 
 " I don't want to hurt you, friend," said Ned at 
 last, "but I can, you see !" and he gave the man a 
 slight pat on his right cheek with one hand and a 
 tap on the forehead with the other. 
 
 This might have convinced the rough, but he 
 would not be convinced. Ned therefore gave him 
 suddenly an open-handed slap on the side of the 
 head which sent him through his own door- way; 
 through his own kitchen — if we may so name it — 
 and into his own coal-cellar, where he measured his 
 length among cinders and domestic d^lris. 
 
406 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 " I didn't want to do it, friends," said Ned in a 
 mild voice, as soon as the laughter had subsided, 
 *' but, you see, in the Bible — a book I 'm uncommon 
 fond of — we 're told, as far as we can, to live peace- 
 ably with all men. N"ow, you see, I couldn't live 
 peaceably wf this man to-day. He wouldn't let me, 
 but I think I '11 manage to do it some day, for I '11 
 come back here to-morrow, and say I 'm sorry I had 
 to do it. Meanwhile I have a word to say to you 
 about this matter." 
 
 Here Ned got upon the door-step of his adversary, 
 and finished off by what is sometimes styled 
 " improving the occasion." 
 
 Of course, one of the first things that Ned Frog did, 
 on coming to his " right mind," was to make earnest 
 and frequent inquiries as to the fate of his wife and 
 family. Unfortunately the man who might have 
 guided him to the right sources of information — the 
 City missionary who had brought him to a knowledge 
 of the truth — was seized with a severe illness, which 
 not only confined him to a sick-bed for many weeks, 
 but afterwards rendered it necessary that he should 
 absent himself for a long time from the sphere of 
 his labours. Thus, being left to himself, Ned's 
 search was misdirected, and at last he came to the 
 heart-breaking conclusion that they must have gone, 
 as he expressed it, " to the bad ;" that perhaps his 
 wife had carried out her oft-repeated threat, and 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 407 
 
 drowned herself, and that Bobby, having been only 
 too successful a pupil in the ways of wickedness, 
 had got himself transported. 
 
 To prosecute his inquiries among his old foes, the 
 police, was so repugnant to Ned that he shrank from 
 it, after the failure of one or two attempts, and the 
 only other source which might have been successful 
 he failed to appeal to through his own ignorance. 
 He only knew of George Yard and the Home of 
 Industry by name, as being places which he hid 
 hated, because his daughter Hetty was so taken up 
 with them. Of course he was now aware that the 
 people of George Yard did good work for his new 
 Master, but he was so ignorant of the special phase 
 of their work at the beginning of his Christian 
 career that he never thought of applying to them 
 for information. Afterw^ards he became so busy 
 with his own special work, that he forgot all about 
 these institutions. 
 
 When the missionary recovered and returned to 
 his work, he at once — on hearing for the first time 
 from !N'ed his family history — put him on the scent, 
 and the discovery was then made that they had gone to 
 Canada. He wrote immediately, and soon received a 
 joyful reply from Hetty and a postscript from Bobby, 
 which set his heart singing and his soul ablaze with 
 gratitude to a sparing and preserving God. 
 
 About that time, however, the robust frame gave 
 
408 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 way under the amount of labour it was called on to 
 perform. 'Ned was obliged to go into hospital. 
 When there he received pressing invitations to go 
 out to Canada, and offers of passage-money to any 
 extent. Mrs. Frog also offered to return home with- 
 out delay and nurse him, and only waited to know 
 whether he would allow her. 
 
 Ned declined, on the ground that he meant to 
 accept their invitation and go to Canada as soon as 
 h# was able to undertake the voyage. 
 
 A relapse, however, interfered with his plans, and 
 thus the visit, like many other desirable events in 
 human affairs, was. for a time, delayed. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 409 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIX. 
 
 HOME AGAIN. 
 
 Time passed away, and Bobby Frog said to his 
 mother one morning, "Mother, I'm going to England." 
 
 It was a fine summer morning when he said this. 
 His mother was sitting in a bower which had been 
 constructed specially for her use by her son and his 
 friend Tim Lumpy. It stood at the foot of the 
 garden, from which could be had a magnificent view 
 of the neighbouring lake. Rich foliage permitted 
 the slanting sunbeams to quiver through the bower, 
 and little birds, of a pert conceited nature, twittered 
 among the same. Martha Mild — the very embodi- 
 ment of meek, earnest simplicity, and still a mere 
 child in face though almost a woman in years — sat 
 on a wooden stool at Mrs. Frog's feet reading the 
 Bible to her. 
 
 Martha loved the Bible and Mrs. Frog ; they were 
 both fond of the bower ; there was a spare half hour 
 before breakfast-time; — hence the situation, as 
 broken in upon by Bobby. 
 
 "To England, Bobby?'' 
 
410 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 "To England, mother." 
 
 Martha said nothing, but she gave a slight — an 
 almost imperceptible — start, and glanced at the 
 sturdy youth with a mingled expression of anxiety 
 and surprise. 
 
 The surprise Bob had expected ; the anxiety he 
 had hoped for ; the start he had not foreseen, but 
 now perceived and received as a glorious fact! 
 Oh ! Bobby Frog was a deep young rascal ! His 
 wild, hilarious, reckless spirit, which he found it so 
 difficult to curb, even with all surroundings in his 
 favour, experienced a great joy and sensation of 
 restfulness in gazing at the pretty, soft, meek face 
 of the little waif. He loved Martha, but, with all 
 his recklessness, he had not the courage to tell her 
 so, or to ask the condition of her feelings with 
 regard to himself. 
 
 Being ingenious, however, and with much of the 
 knowing nature of the " stray " still about him, he 
 hit on this plan of killing two birds with one stone, 
 as it were, by briefly announcing his intentions to 
 his mother ; and the result was more than he had 
 hoped for. 
 
 " Yes, mother, to England — to London. You see, 
 father's last letter was not at all satisfactory. 
 Although he said he was convalescent and hoped 
 to be able to travel soon, it seemed rather dull in 
 tone, and now several posts have passed without 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 411 
 
 bringing us a letter of any kind from him. I am 
 beginning to feel anxious, and so as I have saved a 
 good bit of money I mean to have a trip to old 
 England and bring Daddy out with me." 
 
 " That will be grand indeed, my son. But will 
 Mr. Merryboy let ye go, Bobby ?" 
 
 " Of course he will. He lets me do whatever I 
 please, for he 's as fond o' me as if he were my father." 
 
 " Na ; he ain't that," returned Mrs. Frog, with a 
 shake of the head ; " your father was rough, Bobby, 
 specially w'en in liquor, but he 'ad a kind 'art at 
 bottom, and he was very fond o' you, Bobby — 
 almost as fond as he once was o' me. Mr. Merryboy 
 could never come up to 'im in that'' 
 
 *' Did I say he came up to him, mother ? I 
 didn't say he was as fond o' me as my own father, 
 but as if he was my father. However, it's all 
 arranged, and I go off at once." 
 
 " JS^ot before breakfast, Bobby ? " 
 
 " JSTo, not quite. I never do anything important 
 on an empty stomach, but by this time to-morrow 
 I hope to be far on my way to the sea-coast, and I 
 expect Martha to take good care of you till I come 
 back." 
 
 ''I'll be sure to do that," said Martha, looking 
 lip in Mrs. Frog's face affectionately. 
 
 Bob Frog noted the look, and was satisfied. 
 
 '' But, my boy, I shan't be here when you come 
 
412 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 back. You know my visit is over in a week, and 
 then we go to Sir Eichard's estate." 
 
 " I know that, mother, but Martha goes with you 
 there, to help you and Hetty and Matty to keep 
 house while Tim Lumpy looks after the farm." 
 
 " Farm, my boy, what nonsense are you talking ?'» 
 
 " 'No nonsense, mother, it has all been arranged 
 this morning, early though it is. Mr. Merryboy has 
 received a letter from Sir Eichard, saying that he 
 wants to gather as many people as possible round 
 him, and offering him one of his farms on good 
 terms, so Mr. Merryboy is to sell this place as soon 
 as he can, and Tim and I have been offered a 
 smaller farm on still easier terms close to his, and 
 not far from the big farm that Sir Eichard has 
 given to his son-in-law Mr. Welland — " 
 
 "Son-in-law!" exclaimed Mrs. Frog. "Do you 
 mean to say that Mr. Welland, who used to come 
 down an' preach in the lodgin'-'ouses in Spitalfields 
 'as married that sweet hangel Miss Di ?" 
 
 " I do mean that, mother. I could easily show 
 him a superior angel, of course, said Bob with a 
 steady look at Martha, but he has done pretty well, 
 on the whole." 
 
 " Pretty well 1" echoed Mrs. Frog indignantly ; " he 
 couldn't 'ave done better if 'e 'd searched the wide 
 world over." 
 
 " There I don't agree with you," returned her son ; 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 413 
 
 however, it don't matter — Hallo ! there goes granny 
 down the wrong path ! " 
 
 Bob dashed off at full speed after Mrs. Merryboy, 
 senior, w^ho had an inveterate tendency, when 
 attempting to reach Mrs. Frog's bower, to take a 
 wrong turn, and pursue a path which led from the gar- 
 den to a pretty extensive piece of forest-land behind. 
 The blithe old lady was posting along this track in 
 a tremulo-tottering way when captured by Bob. 
 At the same moment the breakfast-bell rang ; Mr. 
 Merryboy's stentorian voice was immediately heard 
 in concert; silvery shouts from the forest-land alluded 
 to told where Hetty and Matty had been wander- 
 ing, and a rush of pattering feet announced that the 
 dogs of the farm were bent on being first to bid the 
 old gentleman good-morning. 
 
 As Bob Frog had said, the following day found 
 him far on his way to the sea-coast. A few days 
 later found him on the sea, — wishing, earnestly, that 
 he were on the land ! Little more than a week after 
 that found him in London walking down the old 
 familiar Strand towards the city. 
 
 As he walked slowly along the crowded thorough- 
 fare, where every brick seemed familiar and every 
 human being strange, he could not help saying to 
 himself mentally, " Can it be possible ! was it here 
 that I used to wander in rags ? Thank God for the 
 rescue and for the rescuers !" 
 
414 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 "Shine yer boots, sir?" said a facsimile of his 
 former self. 
 
 " Certainly, my boy," said Bob, at once submitting 
 himself to the operator, although, his boots having 
 already been well "shined," the operation was an 
 obvious absurdity. 
 
 The boy must have felt something of this, for, 
 when finished, he looked up at his employer with a 
 comical expression. Bob looked at him sternly. 
 
 " They were about as bright before you began on 
 'em," he said. 
 
 " They was, sir," admitted the boy, candidly. 
 
 " How much ?" demanded the old street boy. 
 
 " On'y one ha'penny, sir," replied the young street 
 boy, " but ven the day 's fine, an' the boots don't want 
 much shinin', we gin'rally expecs a penny. Gen'l'min 
 'ave bin known to go the length of tuppence." 
 
 Bob pulled out half-a-crown and offered it. 
 
 The boy grinned, but did not attempt to take it. 
 
 "Why don't you take it, my boy?" 
 
 "You don't mean it, do you ?" asked the boy, as 
 the grin faded and the eyes opened. 
 
 " Yes, I do. Here, catch. I was once like you. 
 Christ and Canada have made me what you see. Here 
 is a little book that will tell you more about that." 
 
 He chanced to have one of Miss Macpherson's 
 Canadian Homes for London Wanderers in his 
 pocket, and gave it to the little shoe-black, — who was 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 415 
 
 one of the fluttering free-lances of the metropolis, 
 not one of the " Brigade." 
 
 Bob could not have said another word to have 
 saved his life. He turned quickly on his heel and 
 walked away, followed by a fixed gaze and a pro- 
 longed whistle of astonishment. 
 
 " How hungry I used to be here," he muttered as 
 he walked along, "so uncommon hungry! The 
 smell of roasts and pies had something to do with 
 it, I think. Why, there 's the shop — yes, the very 
 shop, where I stood once gazing at the victuals for a 
 full hour before I could tear myself away. I do 
 think that, for the sake of starving boys, to say no- 
 thing of men, women, and girls, these grub-shops 
 should be compelled to keep the victuals out o' the 
 windows and send their enticing smells up their 
 chimneys 1" 
 
 Presently he came to a dead stop in front of a 
 shop where a large mirror presented him with a full- 
 length portrait of himself, and again he said mentally 
 " Can it be possible !" for, since quitting London he 
 had never seen himself as others saw him, having 
 been too hurried, on both occasions of passing 
 through Canadian cities, to note the mirrors there. 
 In the backwoods, of course, there was nothing 
 large enough in the way of mirror to show more 
 than his good-looking face. 
 
 The portrait now presented to him was that of a 
 
416 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 broad-chested, well-made, gentlemanly young man 
 of middle height, in a grey Tweed suit. 
 
 "Not exactly tip-top, Al, superfine, you know, 
 Bobby," he muttered to himself with the memory of 
 former days strong upon him, " but — but — perhaps 
 not altogether unworthy of — of — a thought or two 
 from little Martha Mild." 
 
 Bob Frog increased in stature, it is said, by full 
 half an inch on that occasion, and thereafter he 
 walked more rapidly in the direction of White- 
 chapel. 
 
 With sad and strangely mingled memories he 
 went to the court where his early years had been 
 spent. It was much the same in disreputableness of 
 aspect as when he left it. Time had been gnawing 
 at it so long that a few years more or less made 
 little difference on it, and its inhabitants had not 
 improved much. 
 
 Passing rapidly on he went straight to the Bee- 
 hive, which he had for long regarded as his real 
 home, and there, once again, received a hearty 
 welcome from its ever busy superintendent and her 
 earnest workers; but how different his circum- 
 stances now from those attending his first recep- 
 tion 1 His chief object, however, was to inquire the 
 way to the hospital in which his father lay, and he 
 was glad to learn that the case of Ned Frog was 
 well known, and that he was convalescent. 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 417 
 
 It chanced that a tea-meeting was " on " when he 
 arrived, so he had little more at the time than 
 a warm shake of the hand from his friends in the 
 Home, but he had the ineffable satisfaction of leav- 
 ing behind him a sum sufficient to give a sixpence 
 to each of the miserable beings who were that night 
 receiving a plentiful meal for their bodies as well as 
 food for their souls — those of them, at least, who 
 chose to take the latter. None refused the former ! 
 
 On his way to the hospital he saw a remarkably 
 tall policeman approaching. 
 
 "Well, you are a long-legged copper," he mut- 
 tered to himself, with an irrepressible laugh as he 
 thought of old times. The old spirit seemed to 
 revive with the old associations, for he felt a strong 
 temptation to make a face at the policeman, execute 
 the old double-shuffle, stick his thumb to the end of 
 his nose, and bolt ! As the man drew nearer he did 
 actually make a face in spite of himself — a face of 
 surprise — which caused the man to stop. 
 
 "Excuse me," said Bob, with much of his old 
 bluntness, "are not you No. ^^^V 
 
 " That is not my number now, sir, though I con- 
 fess it was once," answered the policeman, with a 
 humorous twinkle of the eye. 
 
 Bobby noticed the word "sir/' and felt elated. 
 It was almost more than waif-and-stray human 
 nature could stand to be respectfully " sirred " by a 
 2d 
 
418 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 London policeman — his old foe, whom, in days gone 
 by and on occasions innumerable, he had scorned, 
 scouted, and insulted, with all the ingenuity of his 
 fertile brain. 
 
 "Your name is Giles Scott, is it not?'* he asked. 
 
 " It is, sir." 
 
 " Do you remember a little ragged boy who once 
 had his leg broken by a runaway pony at the West 
 End— long ago?'* 
 
 " Yes, as well as if I 'd seen him yesterday. His 
 name was Bobby Frog, and a sad scamp he was, 
 though it is said he 's doing well in Canada." 
 
 "He must 'ave changed considerable," returned 
 Bob, reverting to his old language with wonderful 
 facility, "w*en No. 666 don't know 'im. Yes, in 
 me, Robert Frog, Esquire, of Chikopow Farm, 
 Canada Vest, you be'old your ancient henemy, who 
 is on'y too 'appy to 'ave the chance of axin your 
 parding for all the troTible he gave you, an' all the 
 'ard names he called you in days gone by." 
 
 Bobby held out his hand as he spoke, and you 
 may be sure our huge policeman was not slow to 
 grasp it, and congratulate the stray on his improved 
 circumstances. 
 
 We have not time or space to devote to the con- 
 versation which ensued. It was brief, but rapid 
 and to the point, and in the course of it Bob learned 
 that Molly was as well, and as bright and cheery 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 419 
 
 as ever — also somewhat stouter; that Monty was 
 in a fair way to become a real policeman, having just 
 received encouragement to expect admission to the 
 force when old enough, and that he was in a fair way to 
 become as sedate, wise, zealous, and big as his father ; 
 also, that little Jo aimed at the same honourable 
 and responsible position, and was no longer little. 
 
 Being anxious, however, to see his father. Bob cut 
 the conversation short, and, having promised to visit 
 his old enemy, hastened away. 
 
 The ward of the hospital in which Bob soon 
 found himself was a sad place. Clean and fresh, 
 no doubt, but very still, save when a weary sigh or 
 a groan told of suffering. Among the beds, which 
 stood in a row, each with its head against the wall, 
 one was pointed out on which a living skeleton lay. 
 The face was very very pale, and it seemed as if the 
 angel of death were already brooding over it. Yet, 
 though so changed, there was no mistaking the 
 aspect and the once powerful frame of Ned Frog. 
 
 " I 'd rather not see any one," whispered Ned, as 
 the nurse went forward and spoke to him in a low 
 voice, " 1 11 soon be home — I think." 
 
 " Father, dear father," said Bob, in a trembling, 
 almost choking voice, as he knelt by the bedside 
 and took one of his father's hands. 
 
 The prostrate man sprang up as if he had received 
 an electric shock, and gazed eagerly into the face of 
 
420 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 his son. Then, turning his gaze on the nurse, he 
 said — 
 
 " I 'm not dreaming, am I ? It 's true, is it ? Is 
 this Bobby?" 
 
 " Whether he 's Bobby or not I can't say," replied 
 the nurse, in the tone with which people sometimes 
 address children, " but you 're not dreaming — it is a 
 gentleman." 
 
 " Ah ! then I am dreaming," replied the sick man, 
 with inexpressible sadness, " for Bobby is no gentle- 
 man." 
 
 " But it is me, daddy," cried the poor youth, almost 
 sobbing aloud as he kissed the hand he held, " why, 
 you old curmudgeon, I thought you *d 'ave know'd 
 the voice o* yer own son! IVe grow'd a bit, no 
 doubt, but it's me for all that. Look at me !" 
 
 I^ed did look, with all the intensity of which he 
 was capable, and then fell back on his pillow with 
 a great sigh, while a death-like pallor overspread 
 his face, almost inducing the belief that he was 
 really dead. 
 
 " No, Bobby, I ain't dead yet," he said in a low 
 whisper, as his terrified son bent over him. " Thank 
 God for sendin' you back to me." 
 
 He stopped, but, gradually, strength returned, and 
 he again looked earnestly at his son. 
 
 " Bobby," he said, in stronger tones, " I thought 
 the end was drawin' near — or, rather, the beginnin' 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 421 
 
 — the beginnin' o' the New Life. But I don't feel 
 like that now. I feel, some'ow, as I used to feel in 
 the ring when they sponged my face arter a leveller. 
 I did think I was done for this mornin'. The nurse 
 thought so too, for I 'eerd her say so ; an' the doctor 
 said as much. Indeed I 'm not sure that my own 
 'art didn't say so — but I '11 cheat 'em all yet, Bobby, 
 my boy. You 've put new life into my old carcase, 
 an' I'll come up to the scratch yet — see if I don't." 
 
 But Ned Frog did not " come up to the scratch." 
 His work for the Master on earth was finished — the 
 battle fought out and the victory gained. 
 
 " Gi' them all my love in Canada, Bobby, an' say 
 to your dear mother that I know she forgives me — 
 but I '11 teU her all about that when we meet — in 
 the better land." 
 
 Thus he died with his rugged head resting on the 
 bosom of his loved and loving son. 
 
422 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXX. 
 
 THE NEW HOME. 
 
 Once again, and for the last time, we shift our 
 scene to Canada — to the real backwoods now — the 
 Brandon Settlement. 
 
 Sir Eichard, you see, had been a noted sportsman 
 in his youth. He had chased the kangaroo in 
 Australia, the springbok in Africa, and the tiger in 
 India, and had fished salmon in I^orway, so that his 
 objections to the civilised parts of Canada were as 
 strong as those of the Ked Indians themselves. He 
 therefore resolved, when making arrangements to 
 found a colony, to push as far into the backwoods 
 as was compatible with comfort and safety. Hence , 
 we now find him in the v&t^y far West. 
 
 We decline to indicate the exact spot, because 
 idlers, on hearing of its fertility and beauty and 
 the felicity of its inhabitants, might be tempted to 
 crowd to it in rather inconvenient numbers. Let it 
 sufi&ce to say, in the language of the aborigines, that 
 it lies towards the setting sun. 
 
 Around Brandon Settlement there are rolling 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 423 
 
 prairies, illimitable pasture-lands, ocean-like lakes, 
 grand forests, and numerous rivers and rivulets, 
 with flat-lands, low-lands, high-lands, undulating- 
 lands, wood-lands, and, in the far-away distance, 
 glimpses of the back-bone of America — peaked, and 
 blue, and snow-topped. 
 
 The population of this happy region consists 
 largely of waifs with a considerable sprinkling of 
 strays. There are also several families of " haristo- 
 crats," who, however, are not "bloated" — very 
 much the reverse. 
 
 The occupation of the people is, as might be 
 expected, agricultural ; but, as the colony is very 
 active and thriving and growing fast, many other 
 branches of industry have sprung up, so that the 
 hiss of the saw and the ring of the anvil, the clatter 
 of the water-mill, and the clack of the loom, may be 
 heard in all parts of it. 
 
 There is a rumour that a branch of the Great 
 Pacific Eailway is to be run within a mile of the 
 Brandon Settlement; but that is not yet certain. 
 The rumour, however, has caused much joyful hope 
 to some, and rather sorrowful anxiety to others. 
 Mercantile men rejoice at the prospect. Those who 
 are fond of sport tremble, for it is generally sup- 
 posed, though on insufficient grounds, that the 
 railway-whistle frightens away game. Any one 
 who has travelled in the Scottish Highlands and 
 
424 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 seen grouse close to the line regarding your clank- 
 ing train with supreme indifference, must doubt the 
 evil influence of railways on game. Meanwhile, 
 the sportsmen of Brandon Settlement pursue the 
 buffalo and stalk the deer, and hunt the brown and 
 the grizzly bear, and ply rod, net, gun, and rifle, to 
 their hearts' content. 
 
 There is even a bank in this thriving settlement 
 — a branch, if we mistake not, of the flourishing 
 Bank of Montreal — of which a certain Mr. Welland 
 is manager, and a certain Thomas Balls is hall- 
 porter, as well as general superintendent, when not 
 asleep in the hall-chair. Mrs. Welland, known 
 familiarly as Di, is regarded as the mother of the 
 settlement — or, more correctly, the guardian angel 
 — for she is not yet much past the prime of life. 
 She is looked upon as a sort of goddess by many 
 people; indeed she resembles one in mind, face, 
 figure, and capacity. We use the last word advis- 
 edly, for she knows and sympathises with every one, 
 and does so much for the good of the community, 
 that the bare record of her deeds would fill a large 
 volume. Amongst other things she trains, in the way 
 that they should go, a family of ten children, whose 
 adoration of her is said to be perilously near to 
 idolatry. She also finds time to visit an immense 
 circle of friends. There are no poor in Brandon 
 Settlement yet, though there are a few sick and a 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 425 
 
 good many aged, to whom she ministers. She also 
 attends on Sir Eichard, who is part of the Bank 
 family, as well as a director. 
 
 The good knight wears well. His time is divided 
 between the children of Di, the affairs of the settle- 
 ment, and a neighbouring stream in which the trout 
 are large and pleasantly active. Mrs. Screwbury, 
 who spent her mature years in nursing little Di, is 
 renewing her youth by nursing little Di's little ones, 
 among whom there is, of course, another little Di 
 whom her father styles Di-licious. Jessie Summers 
 assists in the nursery, and the old cook reigns in 
 the Canadian kitchen with as much grace as she 
 formerly reigned in the kitchen at the " West End." 
 
 Quite close to the Bank buildings there is a 
 charming villa, with a view of a lake in front 
 and a peep through the woods at the mountains 
 behind, in which dwells the cashier of the Bank 
 with his wife and family. His name is Eobert Frog, 
 Esquire. His wife's name is Martha. His eldest 
 sou, Bobby — a boy of about nine or ten — is said to 
 be the most larky boy in the settlement. We 
 know not as to that, but any one with half an eye 
 can see that he is singularly devoted to his mild 
 little brown-eyed mother. 
 
 There is a picturesque little hut at the foot of the 
 garden of Beehive Villa, which is inhabited by an 
 old woman. To this hut Bobby the second is very 
 
426 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 partial, for the old woman is exceedingly fond of 
 Bobby — quite spoils him in fact — and often enter- 
 tains him with strange stories about a certain lion 
 of her acquaintance which was turned into a lamb. 
 Need we say that this old woman is Mrs. Frog ? 
 The Bank Cashier offered her a home in Beehive 
 Villa, but she prefers the little hut at the foot of 
 the garden, where she sits in state to receive visitors 
 and is tenderly cared for by a very handsome young 
 woman named Matty, who calls her mother. Matty 
 is the superintendent of a neighbouring school, and 
 it is said that one of the best of the masters of that 
 school is anxious to make Matty and the school his 
 own. If so, that master must be a greedy fellow 
 — all things considered. 
 
 There is a civil engineer — often styled by Bob 
 Frog an uncivil engineer — who has planned all the 
 public works of the settlement, and is said to have 
 a good prospect of being engaged in an important 
 capacity on the projected railway. But of this we 
 cannot speak authoritatively. His name is T. 
 Lampay, Esquire. Ill-natured people assert that 
 when he first came to the colony his name was Tim 
 Lumpy, and at times his wife Hetty calls him 
 Lumpy to his face, but, as wives do sometimes call 
 their husbands improper names, the fact proves 
 nothing except the perversity of woman. There is 
 a blind old woman in his establishment, however, 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 427 
 
 who has grown amiably childish in her old age, who 
 invariably calls him Tim. Whatever may be the 
 truth as to this, there is no question that he is a 
 thriving man and an office-bearer in the Congrega- 
 tional church, whose best Sabbath-school teacher is 
 his wife Hetty, and whose pastor is the Eev. John 
 Seaward — a man of singular good fortune, for, besides 
 having such men as Eobert- Frog, T. Lampay, and 
 Sir Kichard Brandon to back him up and sympa- 
 thise with him on all occasions, he is further 
 supported by the aid and countenance of Samuel 
 Twitter, senior, Samuel Twitter, junior, Mrs. Twitter, 
 and all the other Twitters, some of whom are 
 married and have twitterers of their own. 
 
 Samuel Twitter and his sons are now farmers! 
 Yes, reader, you may look and feel surprised to hear 
 it, but your astonishment will never equal that of 
 old Twitter himself at finding himself in that 
 position. He never gets over it, and has been 
 known, while at the tail of the plough, to stop work, 
 clap a hand on each knee, and roar with laughter at 
 the mere idea of his having taken to agriculture 
 late in life ! He tried to milk the cows when he 
 first began, but, after having frightened two or three 
 animals into fits, overturned half a dozen milk-pails, 
 and been partially gored, he gave it up. Sammy is 
 his right-hand man, and the hope of his declining 
 years. True, this right hand has got the name of 
 
428 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 being sjow, but he is considered as pre-eminently 
 sure. 
 
 Mrs. Twitter has taken earnestly to the sick, since 
 there are no poor to befriend. She is also devoted 
 to the young — and there is no lack of them. She 
 is likewise strong in the tea-party line, and among 
 her most favoured guests are two ladies named 
 respectively Loper and Larrabel, and two gentlemen 
 named Crackaby and Stickler. It is not absolutely 
 certain whether these four are a blessing to the new 
 settlement or the reverse. Some hold that things 
 in general would progress more smoothly if they 
 were gone ; others that their presence affords excel- 
 lent and needful opportunity for the exercise of 
 forbearance and charity. At all events Mrs. Twitter 
 holds that she could not live without them, and 
 George Brisbane, Esq., who owns a lovely mansion 
 on the outskirts of the settlement, which he has 
 named Lively Hall, vows that the departure of 
 that quartette would be a distinct and irreparable 
 loss to society in Brandon Settlement. 
 
 One more old friend we have to mention, namely, 
 Eeggie North, who has become a colporteur, and 
 wanders far and near over the beautiful face of 
 Canada, scattering the seed of Life with more 
 vigour and greater success than her sons scatter 
 the golden grain. His periodical visits to the settle- 
 ment are always hailed with delight, because North 
 
DUSTY DIAMONDS. 429 
 
 has a genial way of relating his adventures and 
 describing his travels, which renders it necessary 
 for him to hold forth as a public lecturer at times 
 in the little chapel, for the benefit of the entire com- 
 munity. On these occasions North never fails, you 
 may be quite sure, to advance his Master's cause. 
 
 Besides those whom we have mentioned, there 
 are sundry persons of both sexes who go by such 
 names as Dick Swiller, Blobby, Robin, Lilly Snow, 
 Bobbie Dell, and Little Mouse, all of whom are 
 grown men and women, and are said to have 
 originally been London waifs and strays. But any 
 one looking at them in their backwoods prosperity 
 would pooh-pooh the idea as being utterly pre- 
 posterous ! 
 
 However this may be, it is quite certain that they 
 are curiously well acquainted with the slums of 
 London and with low life in that great city. These 
 people sometimes mention the name of Giles Scott, 
 and always with regret that that stalwart policeman 
 and his not less stalwart sons are unable to see their 
 way to emigrate, but if they did, as Bobby Frog the 
 second asks, " what would become of London ?" 
 
 "They'd make such splendid backwoodsmen," 
 says one. 
 
 "And the daughters would make such splendid 
 wives for backwoodsmen," says another. 
 
 Mr. Merryboy thinks that Canada can produce 
 
430 DUSTY DIAMONDS. 
 
 splendid men of its own without importing them from 
 England, and Mrs. Merryboy holds that the same 
 may be said in regard to the women of Canada, and 
 old granny, who is still alive, with a face like a 
 shrivelled-up potato, blinks with undimmed eyes, and 
 nods her snow-white head, and beams her brightest 
 smile in thorough approval of these sentiments. 
 
 Ah, reader ! Brandon Settlement is a wonderful 
 place, but we may not linger over it now. The 
 shadows of our tale have lengthened out, and the 
 sun is about to set. Before it goes quite down let 
 us remind you that the Diamonds which you have 
 seen dug out, cut, and polished, are only a few of 
 the precious gems that lie hidden in the dust of the 
 great cities of our land ; that the harvest might be 
 very great, and that the labourers at the present 
 time are comparatively few. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 EDIWBTTBOH : T. AND A. CONSTABLB, 
 PBHTTEBS TO THB QUEEN, AND TO THE UNIVERSITT. 
 
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