n. CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library PR4989.M475P3 1899 Paved with gold; or, The SimmiMlfr' 3 19?4 013 523 489 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013523489 PAVED WITH GOLD Books Illustrated by "Phiz." The Novels of Charles Lever. Complete uniform Illustrated Edition. In sets only, price 10s. 6d. per volume. Prospectus on application. The Fortunes of Torlogh O'Brien. By J. SHBEIDA.N Lb Panu. Ts. Qd. Illustrated by John Leeoh. The Struggles and Adventures of Christopher Tadpole. By Albert Smith. 10s. &d. DOWNEY & C? L™ LONDON. Paved with Gold THE ROMANCE AND REALITY OF THE STREETS OF LONDON AUGUSTUS MAYHEW TWENTY-SIX ETCHINGS BY PHIZ DOWNEY & CO., Limited 12 YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON ^899 : CONTENTS. THE ROMANCE PEECEDING THE EEALITT. OHAP. I. A CROWD II. PBOZEN OUT III. THE REPTTGE IT. ADRIFT . T. THE RELEASE piox 1 5 11 20 26 ffiooft tbc affrst. YOUNG WOEKHOTISB AND FATHER PARISH. I. DRAGGED UP 29 II. THE PAUPER boy's new HOME 36 III. THE PAUPER SCHOOL 42 IT. FOUR YEARS AND THEIR CHANGES 50 T. THE RUNAWAYS 60 3Boo\i the Second. CHILDHOOD IN THE STREETS. I. THE START IN LIFE 66 II. THE WATERCRESS MARKET . . ... 69 III. CATEN-WHEELING AND HEAD-0TER-HBBL8 ... 80 IT. ON THE CROSSING 93 T. A NIGHT ON TOWN 103 TI. THE INTBRTIEW 119 Til. HAMPSTBAD 124 Till. ON TEE HEATH 187 IX. ETEET MAN HAS HIS FANCY . .... 142 X. FRIENDS AERITB ... 155 XI. CAPTAIN MERTON CROSIER AT HOME ... 171 V i CONTENTS CHAP. PAfiB XII. THE FIGHT FOE THE CHAMPIONSHIP .... 177 XIII. ALL WORK AND NO PLAT 188 XIV. SHOWING THAT CAPTAIN CEOSIEE HAD NO IDEA OF THE VALUE OP MONEY 191 XV. INTO THE PIEE ... . . . . 200 XVI. IN WHICH THE CAPTAIN DOES NOT CONDUCT HIM- SELF AS A GENTLEMAN 206 XVII. THE DERBY DAY. . . . . 211 XVIII. LOCKED UP . . . 220 XIX. BERTHA IN DANGBE . ... 225 XX. OUT NUTTING . 230 XXI. WHICH WILL PROVE THAT A CERTAIN FRENCH GEN- TLEMAN WAS NOT ONLY ALIVE, BUT STIRRING . 236 XXII. A HUNT AFTER PHILIP 239 XXIII. IN RE THE WINDING UP OF THE GRAND NATIONAL MARRIAGE INSURANCE AND UNIVERSAL MATRI- MONIAL BENEFIT COMPANY, CAPITAL ^6700,000, WITH POWER TO INCREASE TO ^67,000,000. A DEPOSIT OF 6d. PER SHARE TO BE PAID ON ALLOTMENT 244 asooh tbe CbtrO. THE EOAD TO EUIN. I. ON THE TRAMP 248 II. CAPTAIN CEOSIER NARROWLY ESCAPES BEING AN HONEST MAN 254 III. " ACCOMMODATION FOR TRAVELLERS " . . . . 263 IV. GREAT CARE IS TAKEN OP THE HAZLEWOOD FAMILY 269 V. STONEHENGE . . 277 VI. BILLY FORTUNE PROVES THAT HE CANNOT BE TRUSTED ALONE . 288 VII. IN WHICH WB BLUSH FOE THE CAPTAIN . . . 296 VIII. THE captain's PLOT 302 IX. HOW THE BEST YEARS OF PHIL'S LIFE WERE WASTED 310 X. BERTHA BEHAVES LIKE A WOMAN 313 XI. THE TRAVELLING CIRCUS ... . . 319 XII. THE CAPTAIN IS GUILTY OP WHAT HE CONSIDERS A GREAT WASTE OF MONEY 323 XIII. SOME OF THE ADVENTURES WHICH BEFELL MONSIEUR EMILB VAUTEIN DURING TEN YBAES OF HIS LIFE 337 XIV. CONTAINING MANY INCIDENTS WHICH OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN TOLD PAGES AGO, RELATING, AMONG OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES, HOW FATHER AND SON MET, THE CONVERSATION THAT ENSUED, AND IN WHAT MANNER PHIL FOLLOWED HIS PARENT'S ADVICE . . 344 CONTENTS vii OHAP, PAGK XV. liOVE AND VENGEANCE 351 XVI. VATJTEIN GIVES HIS SON PHYSIC AND ADVICE . . 357 XVII. SHOWING HOW PHILIP MADE VAST SUMS OF MONEY. 362 XVIII. IN WHICH A PATHBE, DRINKS AWAY HIS DATTGHTBK 373 XIX. PHILIP "GOES IN AND WINS" 380 XX. A MAKKIAQE WHICH WAS NOT EVIDENTLY MADE IN HEAVEN . . 383 XXI. CASSANDEA II 392 XXII. A WEDDING TBIP 397 XXIII. ME. VAUTEIN, JVS., VISITS THE CONTINENT . . 405 XXIV. A BED OF THOENS 408 XXV. ACCOUNTS AEB SETTLED . ... . 414 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. FAGX Engraved Title .... . . Frontispiece The Asylum for tlie Houseless . . 10 The Smash. ... . ... 24 Baby Phil in the Workhouse ... . . 33 Phil at the Pauper School ... .56 The Watercress Market .... . .73 Young Philip joins a School of Crossing- sweepers . . 99 The Doss . . 113 PhU tries a new walk in Life . .... . 133 A Midnight Pic-nic ... 141 The Great 100 Rat Match 153 Bertha mieets with many friends 175 The Prize-fight interrupted by the Police .... 187 The Forged Cheque . . ... .206 Epsom Races . ... 215 Phil's next venture . . . 233 The Tramps . . 251 The Captain for the first time in his life (he says) tastes perfect bliss . The meeting at Stonehenge The fight in the Vagrant Ward Phil wishes he was married .... Bertha is declared to have a remarkably small finger Phil is declared to be a most accomplished Youth Important Business The family of Nathaniel Crosier, Esq., aroused by an Thieves Nathaniel Crosier, Esq., passes a very restless night alarm of 277 291 311 321 335 381 391 395 409 PAVED WITH GOLD. THE ROMANCE PRECEDING THE REALITY. CHAPTER I. A CEOWD. A Kensington 'bus first pulled up, then a hansom, then a parcels delivery cart, then a Chaplin and Home's van, then a " Eoyal Blue," an " Atlas," and two perambulators. Her Majesty's police- van was the only vehicle that drove by, and the gentleman in uniform who daily takes the air in the open cupboard at the end, continued to read his penny " Morning Star " undisturbed by the stoppage and the crowd. The black windowless omnibus divided for a few seconds the atten- tion of the throng in the road and on the pavement. The Kensington driver asked the police coachman, " What's yer fare all the way, my proosshun blue ? " The Atlas cad shouted out to the police conductor, " Won't any of your inside gents be so good as to ride outside to oblige a lady ? " Not only was the roadway blocked, but the pavement was covered by a mob, huddled together as closely as rats in a comer. It was a bitter, frosty winter's day, with an easterly wind blowing, that, as you faced it, filled the eyes with water, and made them smart like hartshorn ; but, despite the cold, the black circle of the crowd seemed every moment to acquire an additional circumference of curious pas- sengers. Where the people came from was a marvel. They seemed to leak in from all sides. Tet hardly any out of the scores that had collected together knew why they were stopping, or could even get a peep at the principal object of attraction. " What's up, Jim ? " said one of the 'bus drivers to his conductor,. as the latter was retuming to his bracket after diving into the mob. " Is it cream o' the waUey or fits as has overcome the lady P " It was the dusk of the evening, and though the streets were thinned of their work-a-day traffic, the policeman had no sooner said to a woman seated on the door-step, " Kow then, this won't do ; you must move on, you know," than instantly every person who was pass- B 2 PAVED WITH GOLD ing the spot was brought to a dead halt. There were City gentle- men going home to dinner, and nm-ses wheeling the children home to tea ; clerks and linendrapers' assistants going back to business ; bricklayers with empty hods, ticket porters with their hands in their pockets, men about town, street boys, private soldiers, bill- stickers, return postmen, " roughs," and costers, and, indeed, the same incongruous mass that is always to be found in a London crowd ; for, as each person came drifting up the street, he seemed to be turned suddenly round by his curiosity, like a cork in a pent stream, so that ere long the mob appeared to consist of the same curious collection of odds and ends — human chips, straws, and rags, as it were — as is seen jumbled together in front of a miUer's dam. The most important business gave way to the excitement. There was a confectioner's man with an ice pudding in the green box on his head, and that pudding, so slowly thawing into liquor in the heated atmosphere of the mob, had been ordered for a neighboiaring dinner party, which had already eaten its way down to the game. There was an electric telegraph boy with his despatch-box at his side, con- taining a most important commercial message, which had just arrived by the submarine telegraph. There was a doctor's boy, with his little double-flapped market-basket, and he in a peevish voice was calling on the crowd to take care and " not go smashing his aperients." There was a miUiner's lad, too, with his oU-silk covered basket, in which was carefully packed an elaborate head-dress for a lady, who, attired for the theatre, was anxiously watching for the arrival of the messenger, and yet there he was, jammed in the crowd, calling out every minute, " Where are you a shoving to, stoopid ? " and " Now then, keep back there, can't you, or you'U be a squashing this here turband and feathers." And there was a host of other people besides upon equally pressing errands. But every kind of business and work appeared to have come to a standstill until each looker-on had been able to satisfy himself as to the cause why he, among a hundred others, was loitering there. A milkman who was near the centre of the crowd remarked to an elderly dame, as the policeman shook the wretched creature on the door-step, " She don't seem like an impostor, do she P " " Well, there's no telling, I'm sure," replied the lady ; " but, if you ask me my private opinion, I should say she's been foolish enough to allow herself to be overtook by liquor." " Gome, you mustn't be sitting here in the cold, do you hear ? Where do you live P " cried the ofilcer, as he took the woman i-oughly by the arm. She looked up with a vacant, sleepy expression, and muttered, " Nowhere." A carpenter, with a nut-basket of tools over his shoulder, here stepped forward, and asked, in a kindly tone, " Ain't you got no lodgings, my good woman P " " I was turned out of them two days ago," was the almost inaudible PAVED WITH GOLD 3 Teply, for she spoke in so low a tone that her interrogator had to put his ear down to her honnet to catch her words. " But haven't you got any friends, who'll take yoxi in P " continued the workman. " No, no ; I'm a stranger here." And her chin and under lip began to work with the rising sobs. A man in the mob said coarsely to his companion, " Oh, come on Bin, it's only a dodge." And the doctor's boy, seeing somebody quitting the crowd, suddenly thought of the powder he had in his basket for the baby in convulsions, and darted ofE at full speed. " Well, you know," said the policeman, " if you persist m stopping here, I must take you to the station." " Oh, thank you — anywhere," was the woman's reply. The policeman stood still, uncertain how to act, and the crowd began to discuss among themselves the merits of the case; some declared that she was " fairly starved down," others, " that she was only trying to excite compassion so as to get some drink out of it." A few of the more sensible, however, said she was ill, and that she ought to be taken to the doctor's directly. " If that young woman," exclaimed one, " were well fed and ■decently dressed, she'd be as tidy a looking girl as you could meet with in these parts." " Tou should take her to the workhouse," observed the carpenter ; upon which a man, with a pair of boot-fronts under his arm, burst out vehemently, saying, " It's the right of every true-bom Briton to have food and shelter give 'em, and I mean to say as it's a cussed shame that any poor creature should be left to starve like a dog in the streets, as this here party is." Then there was a cry among the mob of " Ah ! so it is indeed," as if the thought had only just struck them all. " I tell you they won't take her in at the Union," expostulated the policeman, in answer to a hundred and one directions, " and I can't charge her at the station. Here, come along with me, young woman ; the only place for you is the 'sylum for the houseless in Playhouse Yard." As she did not attempt to move, but was setthng down as if going to sleep again, the officer took hold of her arm to help her to rise ; hut the miserable woman was so weak and faint with the cold and starvation, that she was unable to stand, and staggered back on to the step. " Shame ! shame ! " cried the mob, growing indignant with the thought that she was to be dragged as a cruninal through the streets. " Why don't you go and fetch a doctor, Bobby ? " shouted a coster ; " you see the poor thing can't step it." One of the neighbours, who, with her shawl turned over her head, had been standing on the next door-step, patiently watching the whole of the proceedings, now made her appearance with a cup of steaming tea in her hand. 4 PAVED WITH GOLD " Here, my dear," she said, as she stooped down and held a saucerf ul to the lips of the poor soul, " drink this ; it'U do you more good than listening to a pack of men's talk." The wretched, fainting creature sipped at the hot diink, and, though she seemed to swallow with diffictdty at first, she said, in a short time, " Oh, thank you ! thank you ! that warms me a bit." And then, after a few more sips, she passed her hand over her forehead like one waking up from stupor, and, as she pushed the hair back, murmured, " I've had enough, I'm. obliged to you ; I can go now." The policeman led her off, grasping her firmly under the arm, and half pushing her along, as though he were taking a " drunk and disorderly" to the station-house. The woman staggered in her gait, and seemed so helpless, that many among the crowd, gazing after her, were still divided in their opinion as to whether she were in liquor or in want. A host of little boys and straggling men and women fol- lowed in her wake along the pavement, like the sympathizing crowd at the tail of an Irish funeral. " Ah ! she's seen better days, she has," said the kind-hearted dame who had brought out the tea, and who, with the cup still in her hand, was looking after her. " Her talk warn't like that of a common person ; and them hands of hern ain't done much work." A crowd of female neighbours began to coUect round the last speaker, and one observed, " I reaUy think, do you know, Mrs. Perks, she had nothing on but that black stufi: petticoat, and that she'd made away with the very gownd off her back. Why, it's enough to freeze all her blood to ice in such weather as this here." A thin woman, with a dry cough, observed, with a contemptuous toss of her cap, " Well, all I've got to say is this one remark : If she's so very genteel as you ladies would wish to implicate, why don't she go to her friends P Sm-ely they might help her at least to emigrand. But this I will say, if a piece of goods like her is to meet with rewards for miscondick— f or every mother of a family among you must have noticed the situation she was in, and not so much as a wedding- riug to be seen on her finger — why, where'd be the use of females remaining virtuous and being circumspicious in their behaviour, like ourselves ? " " Shame on yer, Mrs. Sparrar ! " ejaculated the dame with the tea- cup ; " I hope it may never be yovir lot to be so sittewated yourself and have a person to sit in judgment, jui-y and witnesses, on you, as you've been a doing to her, poor soul." It was, however, too cold to continue the discussion; so Mrs. Sparrow and the neighbom-s retired to their respective homes to talk the matter over with their husbands and feUow-lodgers. PAVED WITH GOLD CHAPTEE II. FROZEN OUT. It was a bitter winter's day. The snow had fallen thickly dm-ing the night, whilst all London was asleep, and the early waker in the suburbs, as he lay in his bed wondering what made the road so still and the morning light so bright, heard the song of the market carter, that without the rumble of a wheel he had traced creeping from the distance, cease suddenly, and followed by a cry of " Here, police ! come along, look sharp ! " Then, as his curiosity sent him shivering to the window, he saw in the dawn the black, steaming horse stretched at fuU length upon the white roadway, kicking up the powdei-y snow like foam, with the carter leaning on its neck, and the piles of green cabbages in the cart all dabbed with flakes of snow. On the other hand, the heavier sleeper in the town was roused out of his last nap by the sound of shovels scraping harshly on the pavement, as if a hundred knife-grinders were at woi-k in the street ; and others, who dozed still later, had their dreams abruptly cut in two by some dozen cadgers from the nearest low lodging-house, who, with a frost-tipped bit of green stuff raised on a pole, were all shout- ing together, at the top of their voices, " Poor froze-out gard'ners ! poor froze-out gard'ners ! " Truly there is hardly a more startling sight than to wake up and find the town, which yesterday was black with its winter's coat of soot and dirt, suddenly changed to a city of silver, seeming as if it were some monster capital at the Polar regions, glittering with its glacial architecture, and bristling with its monuments, pinnacles, and towers, like so many palaces and temples hewn out of ice. Evei-y house-top seems to be newly thatched with the virgin flocks, and every cornice striped as if with a trimming of the fairest down. All the verandahs are as white as a tent- top, and the railings look as if made out of pith rather than ironwork; every window-sill, and, indeed, the least ledge on which the foamy powder can lie, is thick and bulging with its layer of alabaster-like particles. On each door- step is spread the whitest possible mat, and each street-lamp is crowned with a nightcap of the purest fleece, whilst the huge coloured lamps over the chemist's seem gaudier than ever, and their blue and red buU's-eyes look like huge gems set massively amid lumps of frosted silver. 6 PAVED WITH GOLD The various signs over the tradesmen's shops are nearly blotted out by the drift that has clung to them. The monster golden boot above the shoemaker's is silvered over on the side next the wind ; the " little dustpans " are filled with a pile of white fluff ; the golden fleece, hanging over the hosiers' shops, seems to have changed its metallic coat for one of the purest wool; the three balls at the pawnbroker's appear to have been converted into a triad of gelder- roses ; and the great carved lions and unicorns between the first- floor windows of the royal tradesmen, have huge dabs of snow resting on their necks, like thick, white, matted manes. The surface of the earth itself is white as a wedding-cake. In the roadway, in the early morning, you can count the traffic by the ruts the wheels have made, for every one leaves behind it a glistening trail as if some monster snail had crawled along the way. What a change, too, has taken place in the tumult of the busiest thoroughfares ! The streets that formerly deafened you with their noise are now hushed as night, and eveiything that moves past is silent as an apparition. Even the big clots of snow that keep on falling from the copings and the lamps and trees, stai-tle you, from the utter absence of all sound, as they strike the earth. The wheels of the heaviest carts seem to be muffled, and roll on as if they were passing over the softest moss. The horses go along with their hoofs spluttering where the trodden ground has been caked into sHpperiness, and the drivers walk at their head, with their hand upon the rein, while the nervous, timid bi-utes steam with the unusual labour, and their breath g-ushes down from their nostrils in absolute rays of mist. It is at this period, too, that the ice-cart makes its appearance in the streets. The costermonger, who can no longer drive his trade at the green-markets, now looks to the pond for a living, and comes to town with a load of transparent splintery fragments, that seem like jagged pieces of broken plate-glass windows. The omnibuses have an extra horse put on when they reach the metropolitan lulls, for the snow in the roads has long before mid-day been roUed into ice, and the highways are like a long, broad slide. To accommodate the outsiders hay has been wound round the stepping-irons, and the gents on the " knife-board," along the roof of the first 'buses, appear with thick railway-rugs tucked round their knees, whilst, at the diffei-ent halting-places, the conductor jumps down and stamps on the pavement, as he does a double-shuffle to warm himself, flinging his arms across his chest, and striking the breast of his top-coat with the same energy as if he were beating a carpet. Snow or sunshine, work must be done ; but now the mechanics and clerks that you meet in the streets go along with their heads down and their hands in their jjockets, at a half-trotting pace. Their necks are bound round with thick wisps of comforters, and the tips of their noses, that overhang the worsted network, are red, as if tinselled, and all sniff and cough, as they caref aUy dodge by the round iron plates over the coal holes of the metropolis. The pave- PAVED WITH GOLD 7 ment in front of the bakers' shops is the only place from which the snow had entirely disappeared, and where the pedestrian can tread with safety. The whole town seems to swarm with boy and men sweepers, who go about from house to house, knocking at the doors, and offering to clear the pavement before the dwelling, according to Act of Parliament, for twopence. Everybody you meet has the breast of his great-coat and hat-rim dredged with white; and the policeman's shiny cape is, with its fur of snow, more like a nobleman's ermine tippet than the ordinary hard-weather costume of the force. How bright the air, too, seems with the light reflected from the snow. You can see to the end of the longest streets. There is a white cold look about the scene ; and everything is so black from the contrast of the intense glare of the ground, that even at noonday you might fancy that a silver harvest moon was shining in the skies, and that the snow itself, lying on one side of each object, was but the reflection of the pale brilliance of the white beams falling on them. The sky looks almost like a dome of slate, and the parks and squares like large new plaster models of countries without a single path or bed to be traced, except where the few passengers have worn a narrow dirty streak across them. The trees, too, are all ashy grey, and the objects in the distance seem to be twice as near as usual, while the dark specks of the people moving over the great snowy waste appear like blots on a sheet of paper. The statues throughout the metropolis have lost all artistic model- ling in their form, and strike one as being as rudely fashioned as if they were so many figures moulded by schoolboys out of snow. Some, however, are merely speckled with the, flakes, and have their Grecian draperies splashed over with white, like a plasterer's clothes. Sir Robert Peel, gazing down Oheapside, looks as if some miller had rubbed violently up against him. Old Major Cartwright, seated in his arm-chair in Burton Orescent, has at least a couple of pounds of snow resting on the top of his skull and dabbed over his face, and giving liim the appearance of having been newly lathered previous to having his head and cheeks shaved. The periwig of George III., at Charing Cross, has turned white in a night, like the hail' of Marie Antoinette. The mounted effigy of F. M. the Duke of Wellington, at Hyde Park Comer, continues, despite a spadeful of snow at the nape of his neck, to point with his baton — which is now white as a wax- candle — majestically in the direction of the White Horse OeUar, his patient steed having its hind-quarters covered with so heavy a deposit that his Grace seems to be sitting, like a life-guardsman, on a mat of bleached sheepskin. Now the water-supply of the metropolis begins to be almost as scarce as in Paris ; while the water-pipes of the more prudent of the householders are seen bandaged round with straw, like the wheel- spokes of a new carriage. The turncocks, with their shiny leathern epaulets, go along with their immense keys, like those of some monster beer-barrel, and erect taU wooden plugs for the temporary supply of 8 PAVED WITH GOLD the neighbours, who flock there with pails and pitchers, and wait in a crowd to take their turn at the tap, while the waste water gutters and hardens over the snow like so much grease. But if there be a scarcity of water the public-houses, at least, have determined to make up for it, for in the windows are printed placards announcing that " Hot Eldbe Wine " and " Hot Spiced Alb " may be had within. Taking advantage, too, of the " inclemency " of the weather, all kinds of warm comestibles suddenly appear on the street-stalls. The fish kettles, f uU of " hot eels " and " pea-soup," have a cloud of steam issuing from them, and the baked potato-cans are spirting out jets of a high-pressure vapour, like the escape-pipe of some miniature steam-factory. As you walk along the street, too, the nostrils are regaled by pleasant odours of baked apples and roasted chestnuts from the neighbouring stalls, at which sit old women in coachmen's many-caped coats, with their feet in an apple-basket, and a rushlight shade, full of red-hot charcoal, at their side — the fire shining in bright orange spots through the holes. The pert London sparrows seem almost to have disappeared with the frost, and the few that remain have a wretched half -torpid look, and have gone all fluffy and turned to a mere brown ball of feathers. In the suburbs, the robins are seen for the first time leaving little trident impressions of their feet on the garden snow, and their scarlet bosoms looking red as Christmas berries against the white earth. Then as the dusk of evening sets in, and you see in the squares and crescents the crimson flickering of the flames from the cosy sea-coal fire in the parlours, lighting up the windows like flashes of sheet- lightning, the cold, cheerless aspect of the streets without sets you thinking of the exquisite comfort of om- English homes. But if grateful thoughts of comfort ai-e suggested by the contrast of the snow, the same cause leads the more imaginative to think of the sharp, biting misery gnawing into the very bones of the luckless portion of London society. To those who can put on warm flannel, and encase their bodies in a thick great-coat, a sharp frost means only " healthy, bracing weather," and to such people the long evenings are welcome, from a sense of the happy family circle gathered round the bright cherry-coloured fire. To the well-bom young silver-spoonbills of the West End, Chi-istmas is a season of mirth and holiday games, of feasting, pantomimes, and parties. By the elder gentlefolks it is regarded as a time of good cheer, with its cattle-shows and " guinea- hampers," and presents of fat turkeys from the country ; for such as these, the butchers' shops are i^iled with prize-meat, coated with thick fat, and decorated with huge cockades — ^for such as these, the grocers' windows are di-essed out with dried fi-uits and spices, and studded with lumps of candied peel; and Oovent Garden is littered with holly, laurel, and mistletoe, and fragrant with the odours of bright-coloured fruits. But how, think you, must the cold be welcomed by those whose means of living cease directly the earth becomes like cast-iron with PAVED WITH GOLD 9 the frost. How men-y must ChriBtmas appear to those whose tattered «lothes afPord no more protection than broken windows against the hleak, stinging breeze. How pleasant and cosy must the long evenings be to such as have to spend them crouching under the dry arches ; and how delicious the sight of the teeming markets to poor wretches who, to stay their hunger, must devour the refuse orange-peel lying about the stones there. Some readers, maybe, wiU fancy that such winter's misery is far from being common among our people ; but they should remember that in the lottery of life the prizes, as in other lotteries, are but the exception, and that the greater proportion of the chances are dead against those entering the lists, so that where one adventurer gets a lucky cast, thousands are doomed to end the game as badly as they began it. Readers should bear in mind, too, that with the luckless, the winter is especially the season when the .wants are not only greater, but employment is scarcer, and, therefore, life harder than «ver. Not to speak of the really destitute and the outcast, the well-to-do in London are surrounded by thousands whose labour lasts only for the summer — such as bricklayers, market-gardeners, harvest-men, and the like ; besides multitudes of others, such as navigators and ground-labourers, who can ply their trade only so long as the earth ■can be made to yield to the spade and the pick ; and others again, as the dock labourers and long- shore men, who depend upon the very winds for the food and fuel of themselves and families. The geography of the Asylum for the Houseless is somewhat difficult to make out to those whose knowledge of London extends no farther eastwards than the Royal Italian Opera House, or even Exeter HaU. There are some streets that even the most experienced cabmen have to descend from their box half a dozen times, in order to ferret out the road to ; and Playhouse Yard — the locality of the refuge — is one of these. The way lies up a long, narrow street, rendered stiU narrower by a double flank of stalls trestled along the kerb. At the comer of every turning hereabouts is a gin-palace, with a monster lamp sus- pended over the entrance, and a long shell-fish stall in front of the •door, set out with a trefoil arrangement of pen'orths of oysters, as big as muffins. Outside the bakers' shop-windows are stuck large biUs, always announcing the grateful intelligence that bread is " Down Again to Even Monet " ; and at the tea-dealers' there are comic placards, designed and coloured by ticket- writers, setting forth either the advantages of joining their " pudding club," or the dangerous strength of their " gunpowder tea.'' Pawnbrokers, too, abound in the neighbourhood ; and at their door hang blankets and patchwork counterpanes, suspended from one comer, as in auction- rooms, while the watches, ranged in the windows, are as big and thick as the bull's-eye to a dark lantern. Nor is there any lack of coal and j)otato sheds ; and at these the current price of fuel is always 10 PAVED WITH GOLD quoted in chalk on a board at so mucli " per cwt." Here, too, on every Sunday in the summer season, the light spring van, which at other times is used for enabling the neighbours to indulge in that exciting lunatic sport known as " shooting the moon," puts on curtains, and starts with a party of pleasure and a beer barrel for Hampton Court. The yard christened Playhouse is a lane that it is ridiculous to dream of entering in a cab. Accordingly, two or three street-stalls have to be disarranged, in order to allow your vehicle standing-room, and never was such commotion among the coster trucks and apple- stalls as when your hansom endeavours to draw up to the kerb. As you turn the comer, you enter even a poorer district than before. Here pawnbrokers will not flourish, and " dolly-shops " are found to prevail instead, where even the pledges which have been refused by the ■■ cruel uncle " are not rejected by those ebony " babes in the wood " that swing over the door as signs of the Black DoU. The baker's shop, the grocer's, and the coal warehouse have severally disappeared, and been rolled into one omnium-gatherum store in " the general line." The old Fortune Theatre stood in this same Playhouse Yard some two centuries and a half ago, and never was more pathetic di-ama performed there, under the auspices of the blind goddess, than that which is nightly represented at the Asylum for the Houseless ; for rightly viewed, the scenes and changes enacted there are but a, portion of the great play of fortune, and the ragged crowd within the walls but the wretched mummers to whom Pate has cast the sorriest parts. It is impossible to mistake the Asylum if you go there at dark, just as the lamp in the wii-e cage over the entrance door is being lighted : for this is the hom- for opening, and ranged along the kerb is a kind of ragged regiment, drawn up four deep, and stretching far up and down the narrow lane, until the crowd is like a hedge to the road- way. It is a terrible thing to look down upon that squalid crowd from one of the upper windows. There they stand shivering in the snow with their thin cobwebby garments hanging in tatters about them. Many are without shirts ; with their bare skin showing through the rents and gaps, like the hide of a dog with .the mange. Some have their greasy garments tied round then- wrists and ankles with string to prevent the piercing wind from blowing up them. A few are without shoes, and these keep one foot only to the ground, while the bare flesh that has had to tramp through the snow is blue and livid- looking as half -cooked meat. You can pick out the different foreigners and countrymen in that wretched throng by the different colours of their costume. There you see the black sailor in his faded red woollen shirt ; the Lascar in his dirty- white calico tunic ; the Frenchman in his short blue smock ; the countiT-man in his clay-stained frock, with the bosom worked all ^/ (Z '/^U'c PAVED WITH GOLD 11 over like a dirty sampler; and the Irish market-woman with her faded straw bonnet, flattened by the heavy loads she has borne on her head. It was to this refuge that the policeman referred when he said to the woman whom he found half -frozen on the door-step, " The Asylum for the Houseless is the only place for you." It was to this refuge that the officer and the faint and weary creature were on their way — so faint and weary, indeed, that Heaven only knows what wretched fate would befall her if the bare hospitality of the place should be denied to her. CHAPTER III. THE BEFTIGE. Some gentlemen had called at the Asylum that day to see the place, and the class of persons usually admitted there. The superintendent was busy, before the opening of the doors, explaining to them, in the office at the side of the passage, the rules and customs of the insti- tution. The bare whitewashed entrance was so like that to the stage of some minor theatre, and the little office, with its wicket window giving into the passage, reminded one so forcibly of the room occupied by the stage-door keeper, that you might almost have fancied it had formed part of the old Fortune Playhouse. In a comer of the office itself stood several square bread baskets, as big as sea chests, piled with little blocks of cut-up loaves, resembling both in size and colour so many fire-bricks. " We give each person, on coming in at night," said the superin- tendent to the visitors, " half a pound of the best bread, and a Kke quantity on going out in the morning ; and childi-en, even if they be at the breast, have the same, which goes to swell the mother's allowance. That gentleman," continued the officer, pointing to the clerk who was standing at the high desk beside the wicket window, " enters in this ledger" (it was as thick as a banker's) "the name, age, trade or profession — for we've all classes here, I can assure you — and place of birth of the applicants, as well as where they slept the previous night." The strangers glanced their eyes down the several columns of this striking catalogue of destitution. The entries under the first three divisions showed, as we have said, that the asylum was the refuge for the outcasts of all ages, callings, and countries, but the last division was that which told the saddest tale of all ; for as the eye ranged down the column indicating where each applicant had passed the previous night, it was startled to find how often the clerk had had tO' 12 PAVED WITH GOLD write down, " in the streets " ; so that " ditto," " ditto," continually repeated under the same head, sounded as an ideal chorus of terrible want in the mind's ear. As the superintendent and the visitors walked round the wards a messenger from the outer o£5ce approached the oflBcial, and said, partly aside to him, " There's a policeman, sir, at the gate, has brought a woman along, whom he says he found half frozen on a door-step. She seems a better kind of person." " Very well," answered the head officer ; " take her name down, as usual, and let her go upstairs to the chapel ward, and I'll see her directly." " The policeman says, sir, he thinks she wants food," continued the messenger. " Indeed," replied the officer ; " then you had better tell the matron to give her a basin of gruel directly, and not wait for the doctor's seeing her." " Now there's an instance of the good we effect, gentlemen," he added, turning to the visitors. " What would a poor creature like that have done if it hadn't been for some such charity as this ? " The chapel ward is the place whither all fresh applicants are sent to be examined by the doctor, previous to admission for the night- This ward was a long, bare, and binned-off apartment which, owing to the pile of forms used for divine service on the Sunday, as well as the academy -like tall desk near the stove in the centre of the i-oora, had much the look of an empty day-school. The only evidence, however, of the ecclesiastical character of the place was a clumsy brown pulpit, as rude as if it had been made by a packing-case maker. Here, on forms, sat the fresh cases of that evening, the males on one side of the room and the females on the other, whilst the doctor stood at the desk with his minute-book open before him. " Now then, the male cases," he said; and the men advanced in single file. His assistant at his side cried, " Gome along, show the back of your hands and open yoiu' fingers well ; " and immediately afterwards he held a lighted candle close to the skin of each, as they stretched out their arms for examination. " Now then, the women, come along ! " called out the assistant. And instantly the long line of wretched outcasts rose as suddenly as if a hymn had been given out. At the end of the foi-m the woman who had been brought there by the policeman had been sitting — as far apart from the others as the limits of the bench would admit of. When the signal was given for them to come forward, she rose a minute or two after the rest, for she had been roused from brooding over her misery only by the noise of her neighbours' feet. And when she stood up she hung her head so that none could see her face. Presently it reached her tm-n to approach the desk. She held out her hands methodically as the others had done. The quick eye of PAVED WITH GOLD 13 the doctor noticed how thin and spare they were, for the whole mechanism of the fingers seemed to be visible under the transparent skin. He tool:: her by the wrist, and as he kept his fingers on her pulse, looked first at her face, then glanced at her figure, and said, " My good woman, this is no place for you — are you married ? " He had asked the question rather abruptly — in the ordinary way of business — and he was somewhat surprised to see the colour mount to the poor thing's cheeks with shame at the question. She, however, replied plaintively, as she sighed and shook her head, " I wish I was not." " I didn't mean to wound your feelings," continued the doctor, in a kindly tone, " but I saw no wedding-ring on your finger." She shrugged her shoulders, and replied, " I was forced to part with that long ago." The doctor called the superintendent, and drew him aside to talk with him in private. After a time the oflicial returned to the woman, and said, " My good soul, it's against the rules of this institution to receive anybody in your condition. I'll tell you what we must do with you. We shall give you a shilling, as we do others like you, so that you may obtain a night's lodging somewhere, and then you will have a settlement and a claim on the parish where you slept." The woman grew blanched as she heard the words, and she stag- gered back ia utter despair. Poor thing ! she had already applied at one Union, and they had told her that she must go back to where she had been bom, for her settlement was there ; and she had heard that at the Asylum for the Houseless cases were received which the work- house refused, and now she learnt that the last refuge was denied her, and she felt that nothing was left her but to die in the streets. "If your case was veiy urgent we should send you to the hospital," added the official, soothingly ; " but as it is, you had better rest here awhile and have another ration of bread and some more warm gruel, and then you'U be able to find a lodging for yourself." The wretched creature thought what was to become of her when that little shilling was gone, and she hid her face in her hands as she sobbed convulsively. The strangers, who had been watching the woman for some little time, now stepped forward, and inquired the cause of her grief. " Have you no friends or relatives living P " asked one of them. But the woman made no answer, and looked proudly at the speaker, as if questioning his right to pry into her misery. Then she buried her face in her hands once more. " We would serve you if possible, my good woman," continued the stranger; "so pray teU me, since you are married, where is your husband ? " She answered bitterly, as if stung by the remembrance of the Ul- treatment she had sufEered, " He has deserted me after robbmg me of all I had." And then, as if fancying she had committed herself, she added, " Ask me no more— ask me no more, I beg of you ! " 14 PAVED WITH GOLD The superintendent tere interposed, sajdng, " We had a case much like this last year — a very nice girl, who had run away and got married against her family's consent, but we wrote to her friends and got them to take her back again." The woman shook her head as she heard this, and smiled at the wrong guess they had made as to the cause of her misery. " But you've quarrelled with them at home, I know," said the official. "Come, now, give me yom* parents' address, and let me write them a nice, dutiful, and penitent letter for you." " And let them know that their daughter is in rags, and begging for a night's shelter at the Asylum for the Houseless ! " And her lips worked convulsively in scorn at the proposal. " Are your friends in a position to assist you if they choose ? " asked one of the strangers. The woman grew impatient at the continued questionings, and looking at her interrogator said, reproachfully, " Oh ! can't you understand that when decent persons are driven here they wish to keep their misery as secret as they can ? If I had wanted to publish mine, I could have gone round the town, from door to door, with a petition filled with the whole particulars." The gentleman was taken aback by the answer. He stammered out some excuses, such as, " Really, you mistake me. Indeed, I am the last man to — " Here the doctor and the superintendent drew near, and the latter observed, " She stated at the door that she has passed three entire nights ui the streets — that she belongs to no trade or occupation — that she's twenty-three years old, and that her name is Katherine Merton." " I gave my mother's name," she cried, looking up as she heard the last words. The officials and visitors retired a short distance from her, and consulted together. It was at last agreed, at the doctor's suggestion, that the poor woman should be placed under the cai'e of the house-matron, who should make her a cup of tea, whilst the doctor prepared for her a stimulating draught to recruit her sinking powers. In a few hours afterwards the noise and chattering of the boys below, and the gossip of the women above, as well as the squealing of the beggar-children in the nursery, had aU ceased. The more tidy of the women, who had remained darning their gowns after they had taken them off for the night, had put their work away, and stowed their letters and other humble treasures in the locker under the wooden pillow at the head of their " bunks." The men had quitted the warm fire and crept one after another to their berths, where, rolled round in the leather coverlids provided in place of blankets as being strong and durable and not retaining vermin, they were sleeping as sound as squirrels in the winter. The buckets of chloride of lime had already been placed at intervals in the gangways to PAVED WITH GOLD 15 fumigate the wards ; the fires had been banked up for the night, and the gas-lights had been lowered, so that in the half light, as you moved about the silent, solemn place, and saw the rows of tightly-bound figures, brown and stifE as mummies, it seemed like wandering amidst some large catacomb. The stillness was broken only by the snoring of the sounder sleepers and the coughing of the more restless. It was a marvellously pathetic scene to contemplate. Here was a herd of the most wretched and friendless people in the world, lying down close to the earth as sheep; here were some eight score of outcasts, whose days are an xmvarying round fof suffering, enjoying the only moments when they ai-e free from pain and care — life being to them but one long, painful operation, as it were, and sleep the chloroform which, for the time being, renders them insensible. The sight set the mind speculating on the beggars and the out- casts' dreams. The ship's company, starving at the North Pole, dreamt, every man of them, each night, of feasting ; and was this miserable frozen-out crew now regaling themselves with visions of imaginary banquets? — ^were they smacking their mental lips over ethereal beef and pudding ? Was that poor wretch, whose rheumatic limbs rack him each step he takes — was he tripping over green fields with an elastic and joyous bound, that in his waking moments he can never know again ? Did that man's restlessness and heavy moaning come from nightmare terrors of policemen and treadwheels ? — and which among those runaway boys was fancying that he was back home again, with his mother and sisters weeping on his neck ? The next moment the thoughts shifted, and the heart was over- come with a sense of the heap of social refuse — the mere human street-sweepings — this great living mixen, that was destined, as soon as the spring returned, to be strewn far and near over the land, and serve as manure to the future crime crops of the country. Then came the self -congratulations and the self -questionings ; and as a man, sound in health and limb, walking through an hospital, thaooks God that he has been spared the bodily ailments, the mere sight of which sickens him, so in this refuge for the starving and the homeless, the first instinct of the well-to-do visitor is to breathe a thanksgiving, like the Pharisee in the parable, that " he is not as one of these." But the vain conceit has scarcely risen to the tongue before the better nature whispers in the mind's ear, "By what special virtue of your own are you different from them ? How comes it that you are well clothed and well fed, whilst so many go naked and himgry ? " And if you, in your arrogance, ignoring all the accidents that have helped to build up your worldly prosperity, assert that you have been the " architect of your own fortune," who, let us ask, gave you the genius or energy for the work ? Then get down from your moral stilts, and confess it honestly to yourseK that you are what you are by that inscrutable grace which decreed your birthplace to be a mansion rather than a " padding-ken," or which granted you 16 PAVED WITH GOLD brains and strength, instead of sending you into the world a cripple or an idiot. It is hard for smug-faced respectability to acknowledge these dirt- caked, erring wretches as brothers, and yet, if from those to whom little is given little is expected, surely, after the atonement of their long suffering, they will make as good angels as the best of us. That night the superintendent, whilst going round the wards for the last time, said to the matron, " By-the-bye ! about that young woman whom the poKceman brought here ; how was she when she left? Better— eh?" " Oh, yes, she was much better— getting on very nicely, I may say," was the answer. " She had a comfortable hot cup of tea and a good warm beside the lire in my room — for I took her there, poor thing, she seemed so decent like. I gave her the shilling to get her bed with ; but she's as helpless as a child, and knows nothing about London ways." " Did she tell you anything more about who she was P " asked the superintendent. " Tes, poor simple thing, she did," answered the dame ; " when she got well warm, she had a good cry at being in such a place ; and as I told her not to take on so, and that this world was only one of trial, she Tsegan to talk away as if her heart was full to bursting, and she was glad to find some one that she could tell her troubles to." " Well, and are her parents well off ? " asked the male ofiB.cial. " Oh dear, yes," replied the dame ; " from all I could make out they seem to be very rich and very proud — a good deal like that black-haired girl's case that was here last winter — you know, the one that had gone off with the play-actor fellow. But she didn't seem to like to speak much about her home ; and do what I would I couldn't get the address out of her. AH the time she was talking about her father's pride, I was saying to myself, ' Tou don't know it, poor thing, but you're every bit as proud youi'self ' — a chip of the old block, as the saying goes— for she kept on protesting she'd rather die of starvation in the streets than ever go home again." " It's vei-y shocking to think of the pride of some people," observed the superintendent. " Ah ! " sighed the dame, " we can none of us see the beam in our own eye." Then she went on, " I only got her story from her by bits, and all of a jumble like ; but what I gather is this : She was married when she was very young to an Indian officer, and when he died she came home a young widow thing, and had a good pension — enough, indeed, to keep her quite independent like of her friends, though she went to live among 'em." " Well, what has she done with it P " asked the superintendent. "Wait a bit!" expostulated the dame; "you see this is how it came about, as far as I can guess. After she had been home some little while, she got to find the time hang heavy with her, and so began to take lessons in Fi-ench of one of those refugee fellows who PAVED WITH GOLD 17 had come and settled in her neighbourhood ; and then she got listen- ing to the Frenchman's palavering when she ought to have been minding her learning, and the end of it was, there was a secret mar- riage between 'em, quite unbeknown to her friends." " Ah, I see ! " cried the superintendent. " He was beneath her station, and she was afraid to let her family know the imprudent match she had made." " No, no ! you're too quick by half," said the matron. " That was only a small part of the reason, let me tell you, for her saying no- thing about the wedding. Tou see the pension she was entitled to as an officer's widow would have ceased directly it became known that she had married again ; so, naturally wishing to preserve her indepen- dence — for she knew her husband was too poor to maintain them both — she would not let even her most intimate bosom friend know of the marriage, lest it should creep out, and her pay be stopped at the India House." " And I suppose somebody found it out and went and informed the authorities P " speculated the superintendent. " No ; nothing of the kind," expostulated the dame. " Now you really must allow me to tell the story my own way. "Well," continued the lady, sucking her mouth dry as if making ready for a long ora- tion, and crossing her forefingers, " things went on as I have told you without anyone so much as dreaming of what had took place, until the poor dear found she was likely to become a mother, and at last it got to be beyond the power of cloaks and shawls to hide her condi- tion. Then there was a tremendous to do ! " " Dear me ! dear me ! I see it all ! " cried the superintendent. " They turned her into the streets and shut their doors against her. "Wasn't that it^-eh ? " " Do have a little patience — ^pray ! " interrupted the dame, annoyed at having the story " taken out of her mouth." " Tou shall know all in good time. Her father seems to have been as hasty as he was proud, and took up rash notions without inquiring whether they were true or not. Seeing her in the situation she was, and of course know- ing nothing of the man-iage, he began abusing her, and then and there called her a shameless hussy, and threatened to turn his back upon her." " But what a silly girl ! " exclaimed the officer. " "Why didn't she show the certificate of her marriage, and set it aU straight at once ? " " How you talk ! Didn't I tell you she was afraid of losing her pension if her marriage got abroad ? Besides, she was as proud every bit as her father was," answered the dame ; " and, what is more, she seems to have been quite as hasty, too ; for when he called her harsh names, her spirit was up. So, as she knew she had been properly married at the altar, and had a feeling that she was independent of her family so long as her pension wasn't stopped, she packed up her things, and off she went, and lived with her husband, leaving her relations to think just what they chose." C 18 PAVED WITH GOLD " Bless my soul ! " exclaimed the superintendent, " what mad things a person's silly spirit will lead one to do ! And she might have cleared it all up by one little word. And just see what it has come to, now. Of course the French fellow iU-treated her after all P for such matches seldom turn out well." " Ah ! poor dear, she's been punished enough for her headstrong doings," sighed the pitying matron. " What strange romances do turn up in this place, to be sure ! Well, as I was saying, she lived with her husband away from home, putting up with the jibes and taunts of the world for the sake of the man and the money that was to keep them from starvation ; for when I tell you she had been his only scholar, you may fancy his teaching business didn't bring in much to the home." " I should think not ! " exclaimed the officer. " Why, we've had plenty of foreigners here who would have been glad to give lessons in their language for a meal." " Well, it soon came 'out, poor thing ! what the Frenchman had married her for," mournfully added the matron. " Of course Mr. Mounseer had heard my lady had got a pension at her back, before ever he thought of making love to her ; and though, before the mar- riage, she had explained to hira that she would lose every ha'penny she had if it ever came out that she was no longer a widow, yet they hadn't been man and wife a week before she got to see plainly enough that the fellow didn't believe a word of what she had said to him, and fancied she had made up the story just to keep the money in her own hands. Even before she left her father's house, this man kept on worrying her to let him go down and draw some of the money ; and he told her right out that he knew that as her husband he was entitled to whatever property she possessed. However, so long as she was at her father's he was a bit afraid to appear in his true character, and he was kept quiet by a sovereign now and then ; but no sooner had the noise took place and she gone to live with him entirely, than he threw of£ the double-faced mask of caring for any- thing but her money, and plainly said to her, in French, ' I ain't going to be bamboozled, my lady ! ' So what do you think P why, he takes all the money there is in the house at the time, and comes up to London, and walks straight to the India House, and there, showing the marriage lines as proof of his being her husband, demands that the pension should be paid only to him in future." " The mean hound ! " the superintendent could not refrain from exclaiming. " But the fellow bit his fingers nicely, of com-se ; for such a step naturally put a stop to all money from that quarter." " Think, though, of what a blow it must have been to her, poor thing ! " said the matron. " I'm sure I thought her heart would have broke before me, as she told me how she had given up father, home, and friends, for that man's sake, and how for him, too, she had put up with taunts and suspicions that are the hardest of all for a woman to bear ; and then for him to go away from her and leave her directly he PAVED WITH GOLD 19 found that his selfish blunderings had made a beggar of her ! I dare say, too, he was a good bit ashamed of himself, and didn't like to face her after what he had done." "Ah! not only that," interrupted the officer, "btit it is clear enough he married her only for her money, so as soon as he found that there was none, why, of course my gentleman went off." " If you had only heard her teU it all to me, it would have made your eyes smart to see how she took on about the vagabond," said the Irind-hearted matron. "The sUly thing must have loved him, of •course, or she wouldn't have made the sacrifices she had done on his account. Well, when she foxmd he didn't return home, she began to think all sorts of things, and to get half crazy with his neglect of her, especially in the situation she was. Still she wouldn't allow herself to think bad of him, though she could hardly keep down the •suspicions that came up in her mind. Well, she waited and waited, watching day and night for him to come back, and writing to him all manner of imploring things to get him home again, until at last she was fairly worn out ; and, as it was just upon the time for her to draw her pension, she borrowed a few shillings, and came to London herseK." " And found out how she had been used by the fellow," guessed the superintendent. " Tes, indeed ! " continued the dame, tossing her head. " She hunted for him everywhere she could think of ; she went to all the places she had heard him talk about; but he was nowhere to be found. Then when quarter-day arrived, she set off to the India House to receive her pension ! and then, poor soul ! what a thunderclap the clerks had got to hnrl at her. They taxed her with being married, and said they were surprised at her boldness in coming there when she knew that her pension was forfeited." " Bless me, it must have been a blow to her to lose both money and husband the same afternoon, as it were," soliloquized the super- intendent. " But at least it had the effect of opening her eyes to the true character of the man." " When a woman takes to a man, it's wonderful how slow she is to think badly of him," moralized the matron. " This poor thing stayed in town, still hoping to meet with him somewhere, for she couldn't bring her mind to believe he had abandoned her. She lived on her things, one going after another, as we well know is the case with half the poor creatures who comes to us here, until at last aU was gone, and she was turned out of her lodgings for rent." " Oh ! I've no patience with such foUy," the officer exclaimed ; ■" why didn't she write home ? " " How can you say that, when you know we have had scores and scores here, who would sooner suffer all the agony of the sharpest hunger and cold, rather than humble themselves by confessing the degradation their folly and self-will had brought them to ? It's the fear of being taunted that does it." 20 PAVED WITH GOLD " And their own stupid, worldly pride, too," added the officer. " But if you come to think of it," remonstrated the dame, " it must be a dreadful struggle for those who have been well to do, to bring themselves to wi'ite home to their friends and confess they are starving in the streets. To have to put an address to a letter is a terrible trial to stiff-necked people, even though they be in rags. Do all I could — though I'm sure I talked, and begged till my tongue was sore — I could not get that young woman to promise me she'd write as much as a dozen words to her friends. ' No, that she wouldn't,' she said, ' not even if it cost her her life ! ' I never set eyes on such stubbornness of spirit in all my boi-n days." " Well, such people must pay the penalty of their own obstinacy," exclaimed the superintendent. " But did she say anything about calling again in the morning ? for those gentlemen that were here to. day seemed to take great interest in her case, and wished to know what could be done for her." " Indeed, I couldn't get her to make any regular promise," was the answer ; " for though she didn't say she wouldn't come, still I'm sm-e she is too much afraid of our finding out who she is ever to show her face inside this asylum again." CHAPTER IV. ADEIFT. What a silent, dismal, deserted place is the City of London on a Sunday! It reminds one of Defoe's description of the metropoHs during the plague, when every shop and house was closed and barred and the citizens had fled to the suburbs. Tou can teU now how few of the large blocks of houses are used as dwelling-places by the citizens, for there is scarcely a wreath of smoke issuing from the crowded stacks of chimneys, and the air is clear and unfogged with the sooty fumes, so that you are startled to be able to see from one end of Cheapside to the other, and wonderstruck to find that the roadway— which the day before was so blocked up with cabs, omnibuses, and vans, that you could almost have run along their roofs like a line of housetops— is now nearly as open to the view as a railway cutting. The pavements, too, that were yesterday black with their jostling, hurrying crowds, are now scarcely speckled by the few stragglers that saunter along them, whilst the one omnibus that creeps lazily on its journey has hardly a passenger in it, and has the whole sti'eet to itself as clear as a race-course. At the Old Bailey, where, on other days, the carts of the suburban carriers stand opposite the inn-yard, drawn up like a row of bathing- machines, the cocks and hens are out in the roadway scratching up PAVED WITH GOLD 21 the litter as in a farm-yard; and farther down, in front of the Criminal Coitrt, where, at other times, the entrance-door and the neighbouring public-houses are thi-onged with troops of witnesses and suspicious-looking prisoners' friends waiting the results of the trials within, now the pigeons walk unscared along the causeway, pecking the dust as they strut along ; neither is there any longer here a smell of hot boiled beef, nor a cloud of steam issuing through the area-rails of the adjoining eating-house, for the shutters are up there, and the linen-jacketed man that, in a state of perpetual perspiration, carves the ruddy rounds— big as biitchers' blocks— behind the window, is now away airing himself, maybe, in the river's breeze upon the half- penny boat. Where ai-e the colonies of clerks that yesterday you noted filling the dining-rooms in Bucklersbury, or feasting on their " haJf steak " at Joe's, Ned's, Sam's, or any other of the familiar tribe of Christian- named ohophouse-keepers ?— where the army of porters and ware- housemen that worked at each block of buildings round about St. Paul's, peopling every floor as thickly as sailors do the decks of a merchantman P — ^where the colony of bankers, merchants, factors, and brokers that gobbled theii- soup at Birch's, or took their sandwiches and sherry at the South American, or teased their stomachs with the cream-tufted tarts at Puroell's ? The Bay -tree, too, is closed, and not a City man stands eating his shilling snack " hot with vegetables " at the counter ; the Lombard Street taverns, moreover, with their por- tions of pink pickled salmon spotting their pewter bars, have put up the chain and locked their doors, whilst the proprietors have driven out in their light " shay " traps to drink tea at Hampstead, Kew, or Harrow. It is almost impossible to recognize Thames Street again, for the wharves along the river-side have the gates all closed, except where the little wicket is left ajar ; and down the yards of some of these yoTi can see the huge empty waggons, with their thick shafts turned back and pointing high in the air. Here, too, the cranes, that on a week-day project like iron gibbets from every floor, are turned on one side, in the same manner as the crutch for the bottle-jack is bent back to the chimney-piece when the roast- ing has ceased. The carts no longer block the road, nor are there huge bales dangling, like monster money-spiders from a thread, and swinging in the air. At the Coal Exchange, the only thing stirring is the weathercock, and the office desks, seen through the windows of the floors above, look as deserted as those in a schoolroom during the holidays. On the other side of the way. Billingsgate is lonely and empty, and has a dreary, cloister-like stiUness about it ; and where but lately the air rang with a positive Babel of voices, you can now hear a whistle echo against the metallic roofing of the broad, expansive shed. The benches and stalls are packed on top of one another, like old discarded tables in a lumber-room ; and as you look down into the basement through the square opening in the paving. 22 PAVED WITH GOLD that seems like the hatchway to a ship, you see the huge empty shell- fish tubs, giving the place the look of a large laundry out of work, rather than being the periwinkle and whelk portion of the market. Now step down to the floating-pier and see what a change the day of rest has made in the traffic of the river, as well as the shore. So doubly silent is "the silent highway," that the birds ohirpiag among the Old Exchange statues at Nicholson's wharf sound as noisy as the aviary at the Pantheon. There is not the flutter of a paddle-wheel, nor the roar of the escape-pipe to a newly-arrived steamer to be heard ; but the rushing of the tide chafing against the bridge piers gm-gles in the ears, broken only by the barking of the curs — noisy as alarums — that are left alone on board the lighters to guard such as are moored close to the shore. There is " no admission for visitors,'' at the docks on Sunday, and the big gates are closed, so that the little side door alone is left ajar for the ingress and egress of seamen, whilst the alphabetic warehouses seem still, moody, and closely barred as hulks ; and in the unfrequented roadway outside the walls, a gang of young thieves from the purlieus of Rosemary Lane are playing " chuck ha'penny " with the chance of a passing waggon to interrupt their game. Even money, too, seems idle on the day of rest. The Bank of England, squat as a cash-box, looks positively as if it were " to let," and you expect to see bills posted up at the various comers announc- ing the forthcoming sale of " the valuable effects." The coffers of the world now seem to be closed as a worked-out niine, and you wonder whether the great draining engine of five per cent, has ceased work- ing or not. Who passes his Sunday within this citadel of wealth ? If you were to pull the bell, would anybody answer it ? Who ever saw the Bank of England servant takings in the milk P or a butcher's cart or baker's truck waiting at the area gate, even on a week day P Is the man who guards the building on the Sunday twin-brother to the keeper of Bddystone Lighthouse P and is he, too, left there for four weeks at a time to wander alone about the desolate place P Where have the silver-haired, prim-looking bankers of the deserted Lombard Street flown to ? and where are the Exchange men that but yesterday crowded the quadrangle P Look through the iron gates and you vrill see the poor statue of Queen Victoria as lonely as a scarecrow in a corn-field, and the whole place as desolate as ruins after a fire. Then London Bridge, the main duct of all the metropolitan traffic, where policemen, like dyke inspectors in Holland, are stationed to see that the great commercial tides setting in from Middlesex and Sui-rey flow on quietly without breaking down the restrictions of the City ; this immense thoroughfare is now so clear of vehicles that fathers walk with their children in the roadway ; and on the other side of the water, so completely has the business of the week ceased, that a street-seller has erected her stall on the entrance-steps of " HiBBBNiA Ohambbbs," and the piled-up oranges, ranged in little pyramids, like golden cannon-balls, rest against the closed massive PAVED WITH GOLD 23 doors ; for the hop-merchants that rent the offices of the palatial building have forgotten all about their " pockets " for a time, and left the chances of " cent, per cent." to the fruit- woman. As you enter the narrow passages of Leadenhall Market, you startle maybe some bone-grubber, carrying a rush hand-basket, and who seems to have been taking advantage of the solitude of the Sabbath to purloin a slice of meat from the two or three carcases that are left hanging in the open space. Here, too, the long rows of unoccupied butchers' hooks seem like the hat-pegs at a bankrupt railway hotel, and the narrow arcades of shops, with their shutters up, have the appearance of some deserted Indian bazaar. Not a footf aU is heard upon the pavement, and the piamo at the licensed game-dealer's, jingling forth the 100th Psalm, fills the place, like an empty room, with its sounds. Indeed, go where you will— to Whitechapel shambles, or the Temple — walk down Cannon Street, Barbican, or Bishopsgate — or visit the busiest of the public offices, such as the Post Office or the India House — all is as quiet and deserted as if it were some two or three hours after midnight, rather than only an hour or two after noon; so that you might fancy you were wandering through the sleeping city of the fairy tale, and that aU. the bankers, merchants, and brokers, as well as their attendant army of clerks, shopmen, and porters, were slumbering in their chambers, as if spell-bound with the magic trance. But if the streets appear thus desolate to those who welcome the Sabbath as a day of rest and home retirement — ^how fearfully lonely and sad must the City seem to the poor creatures who, without a shelter to hide in, are forced to wander out the day, waiting impa- tiently for the night to come and screen their wretchedness with its darkness. On this day, when even the humble manage to put on clean linen, and unshorn beards have entirely disappeared, how shame-stricken and heart-broken do those wretched beings seem who have to shuffle along the pavements in their every-day rags, wearing the one dust-coloured suit of tatters that even on the week day made the passers-by shrink from them with the fear of contact. There was one miserable soul who crept along the forsaken path- way, seeking only those streets where the warehouses lay the thickest, and glancing down each turning before she entered it, to make cer- tain that she would meet with none better clad than herself. Occa- sionally she rested for awhile in the comers of gateways or crouched on steps with her head on her knees, remaining motionless as if in a deep slumber. After paying for her night's lodging she had eked out what was left of the shilling she had received at the Asylum, eating only when her hunger grew painful, and allowing herself scarcely more than the rations dealt out to a shipwrecked crew. She felt hourly that her strength was failing her, and that both reason and body were giving way with her pangs. 24 PAVED WITH GOLD In the early morning — for the night had been passed dozing in a coffee-shop — she had crawled about the West End ; but as the day advanced, and the cleanly-dressed people began to stir abroad, she had gradually crept away before them, and so reached the lonely City. Whilst the crowds were flocking to church she hid herself down mews, and when the beUs had ceased ringing she slunk forth again, and stole cautiously into one of those odd, out-of-the-way City churches, with a burial-ground like a back garden up a court, and whose congregation is always about as numerous as the audience to a scientific lecture at a mechanics' institution. Here she slided to the least conspicuous of the free seats and tried to pray, but the place was warm to drowsiness, and tired and faint as she was, the hum of the organ lulled her to sleep. It had thawed during the day, but as the night came on, the sky grew clear and starry and the air keen and frosty,' so that in a few hours the pavements were a sheet of glass, and the lumps of mud as hard and sharp as the slag of a foundry. The street slush had during her Sunday's pilgrimage oozed through the gaps and holes in her burst boots, and as the cold of the night returned, her wet stockings froze to her chilled feet and wounded them at each step she took. Now she had not even a penny left to pay for the cup of coffee that would have entitled her to a short slumber at the night-houses with her head upon the table. She counted each hour through the night, as does a sick person restless with a fever, and heard the hundred steeples of the City chiming the time, in the darkness and chill of the early morning, imtil she thought the sunlight would never come again. As the air seemed to gi'ow colder than ever at the fag-end of the night, and the streets had long been rid of the few remaining brawlers, leaving her the only wanderer through them, she grew more wretched and desperate than ever. Driven by the policeman from door-step to door-step, and finding that she was not allowed to sit, much less sleep, in the thoroughfares, she began to think it better to end such a life as hers, and satintered on, shuddering, towards the river. But when thei-e, the water was like a sheet of steel, and looked so witheringly cold as her mantle flew open in the nipping breeze, that her timid resolves took flight, and she felt she lacked the courage, even though heart-broken and half -frozen as she was, for such a death as that. So on she wandered again, half sleeping as she walked, and trying to find some hidden comer where, unseen by the policeman, she might doze against the wall, until at length the reviving bustle of the market carts roused her from her stupor, and she was filled with hopes, almost as faint and comfortless as the cold morning light, that some lucky accident might happen to her in the coming day. How that day was lived through it is difficult to tell. The poor soul had already been thirty odd hours adrift in the streets without food or sleep, or even rest. Still, while the daylight lasted, and V^ vj PAVED WITH GOLD 25 London was alive with the rattle of its traffic, she staggered along, home faintly tip hy the continual excitement of the passing throngs, and feeling still a half presentiment that she would meet with her hushand somewhere among the crowd. But when she saw another night beginning to dusk the air, and the lines of street-lamps starting one after another into strings of light, she felt no longer faint ajid torpid, but grew positively furious with the frenzy of the thought of passing another such a time in the streets. Moreover, the sky was overcast, and the half -melted snow- flakes feU now in a shower of sleet, that, as it beat against the face, stung the skia with the sharp splinters of ice mixed with the rain. Then, more terrible than all, she began to feel that another life besides her own was at stake, and to be roused with all the madness of maternal instinct lest any danger should befall her child. Whither could she crawl to hide her head at such an hour P What place would open its doors to receive her P She had been turned from the workhouse, and dismissed with a shilling from the last haven of all — the Asylum for the Houseless. It was no time for seeking shelter as a charity ; she must have it, even though it be adjudged to her as a punishment. It had been refused her as an act of mercy to herself ; it should now be forced upon her as an act of justice to others. The first thought was to do as she had read of women doing' when rendered as desperate as herself ; and, ^ung by the anguish of the moment, she seized a stone from the newly-macadamized road, and was about to fling it at the first street lamp. But then came the thought that perhaps the authorities might take pity on her for so trifling an ofEence ; so, tm-ning round, she flung the stone with all her remaining strength at the first brilliantly-lighted window that caught her sight, and shattered a huge sheet of plate glass — as big ah a masquerade posting-bOl— that adorned the showy front of a neigh- bouring shawl and soaantle warehouse. At the sound of the crash and rattle of the glassy fragments, a crowd of shopmen rushed into the street ; and on the woman confess- ing herseK the offender, it was but the work of a moment to hand her over to the police, whilst the enraged proprietor vowed " that if it cost him a hundred pounds, she should have three months of it." And the tradesman was true to his word. 26 PAVED WITH GOLD CHAPTER V. THE EBLBASB. " What, Simcox, my boy, who'd have thought of seeing you P " " Bless my heart ! why, it's Mr. Nathan, as I live ! " These gentlemen met outside Tothill Fields Prison. Mr. Simcox,. of the firm of Simcox, Son, and Nicholls, had his hand on the prison knocker, ready to lift the two hundred-weight of metal, when the approaching figure of Mr. Nathan, of Lyon's Inn, startled him from his purpose. " This is the very last place where I should have thought of meeting you ! " exclaimed that ornament to his profession,. Simcox. " And I certainly never expected to see you here," returned the buckish Israelite. " If it ain't impertinent, may I ask what brings you to these parts P " " Well, do you know, I was just going to put the same question to you." " Oh, I've come about a poor woman who has got into ti'ouble." '■ Ha, ha ! and my case is with a female too." " The giii I've come about is here in the name of Katherine — Katherine — let me see — what's her other name P " " It isn't Merton, is it P Por that's the one I want." " Dear me ! this is strange. That's the very party I'm after, sure enough." " How remarkably odd ! If it's a fair question, who are you con- cerned for P " " Oh, certainly — without prejudice, you know ! I come here on the part of the husband." " The husband ! He's a Frenchman, isn't he P Used to teach languages, I think P Well, I'm instructed by the family — very old clients of mine, and highly respectable people." " And what do they want to do with the girl P " " I really don't think I should like to go so far as to answer that question." " I don't see that it can prejudice your case at all, for I am quite decided as to the course I shall pui-sue." " I tell you what," proposed Simcox, '' you teU me, and I'll tell you — that's fair." " Without prejudice, of com'se P " " Certainly ! Well, I have come here to pay the fine, and release her." PAVED WITH GOLD 27 I'Tou surely must be joking— that's just my errand." " Bless my heart, you don't say so ! And what do you propose to do with her when you get her out ? " " WeU, as we are to be frank, the husband wishes to have her sent over to France to him. He has taken a singing cofCee-house-a ' cafe shontong,' as they call it— and— " " Ah, I see ; and he thinks, as Katherine is a pretty girl, she'd look weU sitting behind those portions of lump sugar, and taking the money for him." " And what does the father mean to do with her, eh ? " " Why, I am to send her down to an aunt of hers in the country, and I believe she is to be despatched to Australia." " Tou speak as if you were sure to have her. You forget the hus- band has a prior claim." " We deny the marriage ! " And we are in a position to prove it. I have a copy of the cer- tificate among the papers that my client has sent me." " Nonsense ! that fellow was villain enough to forge any docu- ment." " I tell you it was a bona fide marriage." " Pooh ! pooh ! " ■' I intend to claim the woman on behalf of the husband." "And I shall go in with you and serve the prison authorities with notice, that if they deliver her up to you, they'U do so at their peril." " WeU, well, we needn't quarrel about it here.'' And so saying Mr. Nathan gave a heavy knock at the door. In a moment the ponderous gateway was open, and the two solicitors were ushered into the clerk's office at the side. Both, in their impatience, began shouting at the same time, '' I've called to pay the fine — " " One at a time, gentlemen," interfered the steady-going clerk. "In the case of Katherine Merton," said Mr. Simcox, "I give you notice that you do not hand over the body to Mr. Nathan here — " " And I have come to give you similar notice not to part with her to this gentleman ; I claim her on behalf of the husband." " And I deny that there is any husband at all, and come here on the part of the father." " Come, gentlemen, you needn't quarrel about it," said the clerk,, solemnly ; " neither husband nor father can claim her now." " She hasn't been released ? " asked the lawyers in one breath. The clerk answered gravely, " She was buried this morning." " Good Heavens ! " cried Mr. Simcox, starting back. " Dear me ! what an awful thing ! " said Nathan, turning pale. " We have no power now, Simcox, so we had better go and have a glass of sheiTy together, for the shook has made me feel quite faint." They were about to quit the office, when the clerk called after 28 PAVED WITH GOLD them : " By-the-bye, gentlemen, there's a baby— a little boy— that Katherine Merton has left behind her. What are we to do with him F " " Boy ! " they both exclaimed, as they stared at one another. Then Simcox said : " Oh, he belongs to the husband, clearly ! " " Husband ! " exclaimed Nathan. " Why, you denied the marriage just now. He had better be sent home to his mother's family. Couldn't be in better hands, I'm sure." " Well, gentlemen," said the clerk, " settle it amicably between you ; which shaU we hand the infant over to ? " " Oh, I've no instructions on the matter." " And I'm sure I've none." " I am certain my clients are of too high standing in the world to countenance any child of sin bom under such disgraceful circum- stances ! " exclaimed the moral Simcox. " And I expect my client,' tittered the wily Nathan, " will be only too glad to get rid of the burden." "But will you leave the addresses of your clients, gentlemen," asked the clerk, " so that we may communicate with them P " Both the lawyers seemed to consider such a proceeding perfectly unnecessary, and precipitately left the prison. Now what fate, reader, think you, would be likely to await a being bom under such circumstances, and in such a place ? To what end is such a beginning likely to lead P Is such a one likely to find the streets of London " paved with gold " P Booft tbe ifirst. TOimG- WOEKHOUSE AND PATHEE PARISH. CHAPTER I. DBAGGED TTP. An individual, costumed in a fashion which partook of the conjoint characters of the police-inspector, the railway-guard, and the half -pay officer, jerked at the long dangling bell puU beside the gate of a large building, the architecture of which was of that non-omate, govemment-estabUshnient, contract style peculiar to hospitals, prisons, mad-houses, factories, and barracks. That individual was a prison-warder, and that building a work- house — the workhouse of " St. Lazarus Without." " The House " — as all the poor in the neighbourhood called it, speaking of it as if there was no other house in the entire parish worthy of consideration, and always prefijdng the definite ai-ticle to it, as merchants talk of " the bank " when referring to any of the places of business belonging to Messrs. Ooutts, Drummond, Hoare, Twining, Rogers, and Co. — the House, we repeat, was of the true parochial pattern, such as may be seen in almost any quarter of the metropolis. Had it not been for its high outer wall, it might have been mistaken for an hospital; but for its want of bars before the windows, it might have been supposed to be a prison ; if it had only had a tall chimney-shaft, the stranger in London might have come to the con- clusion that it was an extensive factory; or a couple of sentries pacing in front of it, and a few pairs of regimental trousers drying outside the windows, would have convinced the visitor from a garrison town in the country that it was some barracks. The little square wicket in the gate was opened, and a round, red face appeared behind the gridiron-like bars. The eyes of the face twinkled again as they glanced at the prison arms on the warder's stand-up collar, and the mouth was seen to expand into a grin as its owner said, — so PAVED WITH GOLD " Now, then, what's up P Ton a'n't come after any of our chaps, have you P " The prison officer felt somewhat piqued that the " parish " should presume to address the " county " in so trifling a tone, and answered as sharply as if he had been on drill — " Letter from the guv'nor." The gate was unlocked, and, when the warder had passed through, a woman carrying a child was about to follow, whereupon the work- house porter thrust her back, saying : " Now, young 'ooman, where's your order P " " A' right ! " cried the turnkey, with true official elision. " One of our female warders. You're to receive the body of this here baby," he added, as he nodded at a long roll of clothes that the woman was Carrying under her mantle. Now, if the male official had been roused at the porter's want of proper respect for his superiors, the female one — who wore the full uniform of blue-trimmed bonnet and green-plaid cloak distinctive of a prison-matron — gi-ew positively crimson with indignation at the idea of being mistaken for an applicant for relief. She felt, however, that it was beneath her as an " officer,'' who had been " many years in the service," to bandy words with a workhouse porter, much as she might have been inclined to tell him " a bit of her mind." Inside the workhouse gate the Union character of the place was as unmistakable as the Union Jack itself. Close beside the gate- way was the little square cottage of a porter's lodge, placed there like a huge dog-kennel to guard the entrance. The big, brawny old soldier who did duty as gate-keeper, had evidently been chosen with a view to the overawing of "sturdy vagrants;" and though displaying but little softness in his nature, exhibited an odd fancy for pigeons and singing birds ; for against his door-post a lark hopped about upon a few square inches of turf, and the room inside the lodge was as chirrupy as a barber's shop with its cages of linnets and goldfinches, whilst the pigeons strutting about the large, bare, gravelled court-yard — as pompous and gorgeous as beadles — belonged also to the official. Across the yard was the big entrance-hall, where rows of black leathern fire-buckets dangled from the ceiling, as at an insurance office ; and once within this, the true character of the building was made apparent to every sense. The nose could snifE pauperism in the smell of bread and gruel which pervaded the air. The eye read helplessness and poverty- stricken dependence in the crook-backed old figures, tottering about, as if palsied with weakness, in their suits of iron-grey ; whilst the ear recognized the same tale in the mumbling, wheezy voices, the asthmatic coughs, and the occasional shouting of the hale officials into the ears of the half -fatuous inmates — for all about the place were " so hard of heaiing " that they had to use their hand as an ear-trumpet when spoken to. To cross that workhouse tha-eshold was to step, as it were, into another country, peopled only by beings in their second childhood ; PAVED WITH GOLD 31 and the sight of such a multitude of old creatures, toddling along with aU the ricketiness of hahyhood, set the mind wondering how so many shaky gi-eybeards — for all were f ai- older and weaker than any seen abroad in the streets — could ever have been collected together. It was, indeed, a perfect museum of old age, where every variety of de- crepitude might be noted and studied. A few of the inmates went staggering across the sanded floors, propped on two sticks, others sat out on the yai-d benches in the spots where the son fell, hoping to add a little heat to their expiring fires ; and many of these had white night-caps showing under their hats, as though they were always ready for sleep, and fully prepared for the last long nap of aU. The prison officials were ushered by a trembling old pauper '" mes- senger" — who, by virtue of his office, had been promoted to the dignity of an entire suit of cords, and looked not unlike a super- annuated charity boy — into the deserted board-room, where they were left for a while to scan the " regulations concerning disorderly and refractory paupers," or to study the " dietary tables," or else to pore over the maps that hung round the room as thickly as show-boards at a railway station. They had also time to contemplate the portrait of " Margaret Fleming," who, as the inscription said, " died in this workhouse, aged 103 ; " as well as to reckon, by the number of mahogany chairs drawn up in single file along the walls, how many guardians were in the habit of sitting, on full board days, round that ample green-baize-covered, horse-shoe table, which, with the high- backed chair standing alone at the upper end of it, seemed to fill the entire place. In a few minutes the master entered with the governor's letter open in his hand. He looked at the baby, whose little chin the female warder was now busy tickling, in the hopes of coaxing it into a smUe, and said, — " Oh, that's the child, is it ? It seems healthy enough ! No skin disease, eh ? " " It's as beautiful a baby as ever was born, bless its little heart ! " answered the female officer, as she continued to fondle the infant ; " and has all its limbs straight, thank goodness." "The governor tells me here that its name is Philip Merton," proceeded the master, glancing at the note. " Tes ; Merton was the name the mother was in by," replied the woman ; " and an exceedingly weU-condueted person she was." The master went on reading the letter, speaking aloud as he did so, — " ' The mother died in prison of puerperal fever,'— ah !— very good— ' four days after the birth of the ohUd,' — dear me ! sad case — very good — ' can't say whether married or not,' — hem — ah ! very good — ' reason to suppose the relations of the mother are well off,' — so — so, indeed— very good — ' but no clue as to their name, or where- abouts,' — tut ! tut ! how unfortunate ; well, we must see whether we 32 PAVED WITH GOLD can find 'em out, and make them pay for the maintenance of the child." Then opening the door, he cried out, — " Here Hogsflesh, ask the matron to be good enough to step this way." When that lady made her appearance, a conversation took place as to whether any of the mothers then in the Union could be found willing to nurse the child in addition to her own. The matron ran over the names of several, and at last said, — " There's Mary Hazlewood ! I'm sure her little Bertha is no drag upon such a strong, healthy woman as she is ; and she'd be glad enough to take the boy, I dare say, for the allowance of beer and meat she'd get by it." The conversation was suddenly brought to a close by Hogsflesh again appealing at the door, and saying, as he thrust his head in, — " Please, there's three ounces of wine wanted for the infirmary — and quick, please." It was, therefore,* rapidly settled that the proposition should be made to the before-mentioned strong and healthy woman, and the female warder took her parting kiss at the plump cheeks of the unconscious little outcast, prattling to it in childish language the while ; and even though it was fast asleep, telling it that they would all come and see it, and bi-ing it some nice playthings as soon as it was old enough to use them. In a short while afterwards the hungry little Philip was butting his head like a young lamb against the side of Mary Hazlewood, whilst his pauper foster-sister was put to suck her fist and sprawl m the workhouse cradle at the foot of the woman. His prison baby- clothes had been exchanged for the blue-and-white-sti'iped frock and the duster-like checked pinafoi'e composing the workhouse infant suit. The life of a workhouse infant has as little variety connected with it as that of a lighthouse keeper. The days of little Philip Merton came one after another, and were as similar in appearance as those in a new diary, without an event worth noting to fill up the blank. Even the old mill -horse is said to have enjoyed the pleasing relaxa- tion of turning the other way on the Sabbath, but to the Union babies Sunday brought no difference to the week's monotony of periodical pap and gruel. True, Sunday was white pinafore day, and there were no clothes then hanging to dry in the exercising yard ; and the workhouse chapel organ, too, might be heard droning across the yard, about as loud as the hum of a bumble-bee among the flowers ; but although the mothers told the children to " listen to the music," they none of them, poor things ! knew what music was— for not even an itinerant hurdy-gurdy was ever heard within the walls of St. Lazai-us Without ; nor had they ever seen a bumble-bee ; nor, indeed, a flower (as nothing grew in that small Sahara of a gravelled Nil PAVED WITH GOLD 33 yaxd) ; neither was any living animal seen within the Union gates, beyond the tabby cat out of the " old women's ward." Bnt the workhouse babes could not even enjoy the sports peculiar to infancy, such as thrusting in their dolls' eyes or sucking the tail of a sucking-pig ; for in St. Lazarus's Union the dolls' eyes were stitched in black thread upon the rag faces ; and such delicacies as sucking-pigs have never been heard of as forming part of the work- house rations— even within the memory of Margaret Fleming herself, who died, as we have said, aged 103. Mary Hazlewood, with her two infants, had so much to do, that the days passed anything but slowly with her. By the time night came round, and she had the children cleanly dressed for bed — for the washings were as regular as the meal hours— and cuddling one another in their cradle, she was glad to sit down quietly beside them, and dam their tiny workhouse clothes ; and then, as she saw their hair mixing together on the pillow, she would declare that she was getting to like that dear Phil almost as much as her Bertie, though it wasn't doing right to her own flesh and blood. The woman, indeed, belonged to a better class. Her husband had been a seafaring man, and had gone out one morning — after a few words, when rather the worse for liquor — to look for a ship, but had never returned ; and whether he had deserted her, or stumbled over the dock's side, she had been unable to learn. The birth of her child had forced her into the workhouse ; but here she had conducted herself so much to the satisfaction of the matron that, on the death of the old woman who looked after the children in the upper nursery, she was installed as nxirse to the family of little two-year-old out- casts. By the time Philip had reached his second year, and had been transferred to the upper nursery, he had, thanks to his foster-mother, grown into a plump, healthy-looking chUd, and so fat, too, that he had mere creases for joints and dimples for knuckles. His hair was light- brown, while his skin was pinky and transparent, so that it had often been a debate with the mothers in the ward as to whether he would grow up fair or dark. He was stiU too young for his features to have any distinct mark about them ; nor did they bear as yet any trace of his father having been a foreigner ; though, perhaps, he was quicker in his temper and more sudden in his afEeotions than any of his little playmates. He was a great favourite among the women, from his pretty fresh colour ; and the matron, in her rounds, often pinched his cheeks as she went by, and called him her little pet, with the long, dark eyelashes. The occasional visits, too, of the female warders from the prison served to throw, not only an importance, but a sympathy, about the little fellow ; for it soon got bruited about that his mother had once been " a lady," and had died in prison after days of destitution in the streets. Thus he got to be the most petted of all the pauper children ; and if ever he toddled to the other side of the yard, and D 34 PAVED WITH GOLD paid a visit to the old women's ward, there was almost a quarrel among the aged crones there as to who should have him on her knee, or hold the oat for him to stroke and pull about. And even when he went over there with " sister Bertie," as he was taught to call her, the ounce papers of brown sugar allowed to the poor old creatui-es were brought out more as a grand feast for " Phil " than to please the little girl. There were some fifteen wretched little pauper children in the nursery. There was little Annie Inwards, who had neither father nor mother — and there was Susey Collins, whose father had been killed at the railway — and Billy Thompson, whose three little brothers were in the Union also, but had been sent to the infirmary for iU-health — and Tommy Liddle, whose aunt wouldn't keep him any longer — and ten or eleven others, aU with some wretched story, which afEected evei-ybody but themselves almost to tears. But among the number there were two for whom little Phil had very different feelings. The one was Emma Dixon, a big girl of eight, whose mother wasn't " right in her head," and wouldn't let her go to school ; and her the little fellow was almost as much afraid of as he was taken with poor blind Willie, who had come out of " Pancridge Union,'' as the women called it, and who had no other name that they knew of. But this one, after sister Bertha, he loved better than all the rest — though he hardly knew why. When a mere baby, Phil had been attracted towards the blind boy by the strange, wandering, upturned look of his dead opaque eyes, and next to the cat, Willie's eyes were the most curious sight for him in the place ; so he would sit and watch the restless, useless eyeballs, and as they seemed to turn back into the head, ask a thousand childish questions of the aiflioted little orphan. For thi-ee years Phil stopped in the workhouse, till in his httle mind it was not only a home but an entire world to him. Seldom did his walks extend beyond the limits of the exercising-ground, so that he had no knowledge of nature, or hardly of mankind. So en- tirely had his little life, indeed, been hemmed in by the Union walls, that he grew up with a notion that there were only two classes of people in the world — paupers and guardians ; and, consequently, when he and the other little ones were allowed, as a great treat, to o out for a walk with Nurse Hazlewood, he would call every well- dressed man that passed " a guardy," whilst every respectable dame he pointed at as a " matey " — the nursery name for matron. Nor had the little fellow any more vivid idea as to the necessity of working in order to live. He had seen day after day go by and some three or four hundred people regularly supplied with food without the least exertion on their part ; and he had got to fancy that nature sent breakfasts and suppers in the same way as she did light and darkness. The only work of which he had any notion was washing and cooking ; for he had often been into the laundry on one side of the yard, and it was a f avom-ite amusement of his to peep down into PAVED WITH GOLD 35 the kitohen and watch the big cauldrons of gruel being stirred. Ac- cordingly, the men he had seen working when out on his walks he had fancied to be playing. Though, too, he had never asked himself or any one else where bread or gruel came from, it is almost certain that i£ he had been hard pushed on the subject, the boy would have s hown there was some vague idea lingering in his mind that quartern loaves were obtained in the same manner as the paving stones he had seen dug up out of the roads ; whilst gruel, no doubt, he thought to be as easily collected in tubfuls as the rain-water they caught for the washing. As for money, he had never even heard the chink of it, and had a shilling been shown to him, he would probably have taken it for one of the Union metal buttons. When little Philip had turned his third year, it came to the time when he must quit the Union for the pauper farm-schools in the s uburbs. Little Bertha was to go with him, but blind WiUie and Nurse Hazlewood, or " mother," as he called her — his only other friends in the world — were to stay behind. The two children were hardly aware that they were about to be taken away " for good ; " and as they were being dressed for their departure, they were full of glee, under the idea that they were going for a short time outside of the old brick walls ; so they laughed and clapped their hands, whilst Nurse Hazlewood was sobbing so that she could hardly see to tie their clothes for the tears that were in her eyes. She knew that she could stop the leaving of her daughter, but over her foster-boy she had no power; and then came the idea that even if Bertha did remain with her there inside those four high walls, she would grow up half silly, like Emma Dixon, the crazy woman's child. The poor thing sobbed and moaned as if her heart were breaking, but still she was determined, for the child's sake, to bear up against the agony of the parting. And when the time came for leaving, and she saw the two uncon- scious children eager to quit her, she flung her arms round them and pressed them to her till all the clean clothes she had been so busy arranging were crumpled and soiled with her afEection. They had at last to tear the children away by force, and as they did so, she cried aloud, " I can never let them go, matron ; oh ! don't take them from me." In kindness the little ones were hurried away from her, and as the door closed, the poor pauper mother flung herself on the table, and, bursting into a convulsion of grief, called God to help her, crying aloud, " All's gone from me ! all's gone from me now ! I'm a lone woman — lone — lone ! " 86 PAVED WITH GOLD CHAPTER II. THE PATJPEK BOT's NEW HOME. ToTTR true Londoner seems to have as little affection as a bird for the place of his hirth — the prevailing desire among Cocfciieys being to get away from their parent metropolis, and settle down in some civic country-cousin of a suburb. A statistical quidnunc has laid it down as an ethnological law that scarcely a Londoner can ti'ace a pure Cockney descent for three generations, urging that if the great- grandfather of a family had been born within sound of Bow Bells, the great-grandson seldom remains in the capital to inhale smuts with his air, but retires to end his days in the land of pure milk and fresh-out vegetables. We cannot say whether there be any general truth in the statist's views of Cockney genealogy, but certain it is that London is becoming more and more a city of warehouses, chambers, wharves, offices, and shops, rather than dwelling-houses and lodgings. Now that the metropolis has been transformed into a huge spider's web, with rail- way fibres radiating from its centre, the citizen, like the round-beUied insect itself, builds up a little retreat on one side of the great web, and is only seen to dart along the lines when there is anything " alive and stirring " that promises a " good catch " for him. It is this yearning for a mouthful of country air that sends the Londoner — yellow and smoke-dried as a Tinnie haddock — gasping down to the sea-side every autumn, and it is a like craving to see more of the earth and its vegetation than the disc of mangy turf within the railings of a square that has caused the miishroom towns, with their colonies of lath-and-plaster villas and tiny stucco mansions, to spring into existence around every suburban railway station. By means of fast "business trains," Brighton is now scarcely farther from the capital " by rail " than is Hampstead " by 'bus ; " and the longitude of Windsor, measured by time, is hardly greater than that of St. John's Wood computed by the " City Atlas." And 60 it comes that moi-ning and evening trains, as long as sea-serpents, rush up and down the line with each joint of theii- monster tail closely packed with season-ticket-bearing merchants. Near one of these small and new out-of-town towns was situated the pauper school to which our hero was consigned. The town itself was as yet only in the bud, for many of the cai'cases of the houses had hardly had time to blossom into viUas. Every patch of ground had a board up, announcing, " This eligible site to be let on a BTJILDING lease." Of the residences already erected, the larger majority were stUl unfinished, the works having been brought to a sudden stoppage by the evident bankruptcy of the speculating builder. PAVED WITH GOLD 37 and of these the " desirable caecases " were advertised for sale ; whilst the few tenements that had been completed and rendered fit for habitation were in the excruciatingly genteel style of compo- grandeur, and in the " florid Cockney order " of architecture. They had all palatial porticoes, and a double importance had been given to them by the cunning of the architect, who, by building them in pairs, had succeeded in imparting to two small houses the dignity of one large one. Each couple of vUlas, too, had a carriage-drive, big enough for a pony-chaise between them, and the little shrubs and delioate trees in the strips of gardens were evidently only just out of the nursery. Dotted aU abont was a thick sprinkling of public-houses, showing that the place was a favourite resort for Sunday excur- sionists from London ; and every one of the taverns had a grand balcony, fitted with benches, at the first floor, besides a flat roof, furnished with tables and a flag-staff for the accommodation of Cockney smokers. The St. Lazarus Industrial School was a long building, as plain in its architecture and set with as many windows as a contracting builder's factory. It was of red brick, with white trimmings, and cocked-hat like pediments to the wings, that gave it a thorough British regimental look ; and it stood on the top of a hill, surrounded by its own groimds, and with an enormous central shaft rising above its roof like a lanky lighthouse. It had nothing of the look of a school, for there were no rows of white-curtained beds to be seen at the windows ; so that you expected, as you went by, to hear the whir of wheels and the clatter of hammers rather than the hubbub of children at play. On approaching the walls of the play-ground, however, the hum of himdreds of voices burst on the ear like the roar of the sea heard inland, and you saw hovering over the huge quadrangle behind the building a multitude of paper kites of all shapes and sizes, that seemed like so many birds poised in the air. The branches of the trees, too, around the wall were garlanded with the tattered remains of kite tails and bodies that had got entangled among the twigs, and made them look, with the bits of paper and string clinging to them, as untidy as old brooms. In this building were housed some seven hundred children, who, like yo\mg Phil, had been thrown upon the parish for support. They were of aU ages ; some so young that they could hardly walk steadily, and others almost strong and expert enough to get a living for themselves ; and they were of all casts, too. A few had fathers and friends ; though such parents were hardly worth the mentioning for the assistance they could afford their offspring in the world, for they were mostly paupers, like the children, whom poverty had stripped of home and cut off from the claims and ties of kindred. Fewer still had relations who were in a position to visit them, and bring them small tokens of remembrance— petty offerings that had been squeezed out of the out-door relief, and yet were prized and envied as much 38 PAVED WITH GOLD as any hamper of good things ever received at the most " select " academy for young gentlemen. The majority of the paviper pupils, indeed, were the mere waifs and strays of the world — social drift- wood and salvage, cast upon the shores of London from the many wrecks of the stormy city. Some of these were foundlings, wretched little beings picked up on a door-step, for whom even parochial vigilance could not trace a pedigree. Others were orphans in the prof oundest sense of the word, with only parish guardians for a step- father, and who could never remember any home, nor, indeed, the inside of any house but that of the Union. A large proportion, moreover, bore the ironical stigma of being " love children," though these had known so little of love in the world that once got rid of by their " unfortunate " mother, they had never seen her face or heard her voice afterwards. The pauper school was the rag-fair of life, whither was brought the refuse of society — the "things" that had been discarded as so much hunber ; and, as in the old-clothes' market the mind wonders what is the history of the left-ofB coats, trousers, bonnets, and gowns collected there, as well as what possible use they can be hereafter put to, so, in this assemblage of infant cast-ofe, one cannot help speculating as to the origin and ultimate destiny of the poor living rags and tatters that others have flung aside as being utterly worth- less to them. Of course, little Phil, mere babe as he was, was no more aware of the misery and degradation of his position in the world than a lord- ling in long clothes is conscious of the peculiar good fortune that has befallen him. Toung Phil sipped his gruel from the iron spoon with an appetite as keen as that with which the sprig of nobility sucks his " soojee," from his sUver pap-boat; for such undeveloped palates have not yet learned to discriminate between the vulgar and refined flavour of the different metals in the mouth. Neither had the little lad the faintest sense that the house he lived in was iu any way different from that of other people ; for, could he have expressed his ideas on the subject, and generalized upon the iTdes of life, he would as surely have laid it down that all children are bom in workhouses, as a savage would that blankets and rum are the perfection of human luxury. Consequently, had Phil been made to understand, while on his way to the St. Lazarus Industrial School, that he was going to spend the next ten years of his life at a pauper academy, he might have burst into tears at the tidings ; still, his sorrow would have been caused by the thought that he was leaving " home " and Mammy Hazlewood for good ; for the Union was linked in his little mind with all that made life dear, while the workhouse women, who had shared their ounce packets of sugar with him, seemed to his purblind vision the most admirable and favoured of human beings. The old pauper who drove the workhouse covered cart in which Phil and Bertha were being taken to the school was an object of no PAVED WITH GOLD 39 slight envy and importance in tlie little community of St. Lazarus, getting, as he did, extra rations of meat and heer for the duty. He was remarkable for the peevishness of old age, and, from a half -idea that he was earning his living, had grown to have a contempt for his fellow-paupers, as well as to treat them with all the tyranny of petty authority. He seemed disgusted with the playfulness and restless- ness of the children on the journey, for when they came near him, and shouted " Gee, gee ! " to the horse, and touched the reins, or wanted to handle the whip, he grew as growly as as old lapdog at the tricks of a kitten, and cried out, " Lie down, or I'll give you a crack." Nor was he more inclined to listen to then- wonderings and prattle by the way ; for when they beheld a fashionable footman for the first time in their lives, and — taken with the bright colours of the livery, a,s the man strutted, cane ia hand, after his ruistress — inquired if he was not a beadle, the old pauper grew more surly than ever at the mere mention of that despotic functionary, and, shaking the children's hands ofP his shoulders, said, " Cuss all beadles ! — don't bother me." On reat'hing the suburbs, and seeing the cows grazing in the fields, little Bertie, whose knowledge of natural history did not extend beyond the cat in the old women's ward, clapped her hands and jumped about, as she called out, " Puss ! puss ! " " Go back'ards, will you ! " snarled the old driver, angry at being roused out of his half-doze over his pipe. Then came a young ladies' school, with the little girls walking two-and-two, and the tall mistress behind, whereupon both the children seemed to fancy that the governess occupied the same position as Mary Hazlewood had to them, for they exclaimed, at the top of their little voices, " Nursey ! nursey ! " " Confound yer, keep quiet ! " snapped the tetchy old fellow, as he knit his shaggy eyebrows at the little ones, tiU he looked as grim as a Skye terrier. At the St. Lazarus Industrial School, the new comers were shown into no handsome reception-room, nor was any cake or wine had up to stop the tears of the fresh pupils ; neither was Phil taken between the knees of the master and patted on the head, nor told he would one day become as distinguished a gentleman as his father. Not that the children were ill-treated on their arrival at the pauper schools, but rather they were received in the regular way of business, and little or no heed given as to whether they oared about coming there. Poor Phil and Bertie, indeed, were handed from the workhouse cart as unceremoniously as parcels from a railway van, and the same ticket given with them in. acknowledgment of their receipt. PhU heard the superintendent read the piece of paper, beginning, " Please to receive the following children," and saw him stare first at himself and then at Bertie, as he muttered, " Au orphan, and one other child ; " but the poor boy could hardly tell what it all meant. He felt 40 PAVED WITH GOLD fi-igliteiied at the sight of the new faces and the big building, but still he had no definite idea that the place was to be his home for many a year to come, or that he was about to be separated from his foster-mother. When, however, the grumbling old driver had mounted into the workhouse van again, and the children heard the wheels cranch over the gravel drive on its way back to the Union, both the little things- understood for the first time that they were to be left behind, and struggled to get to the door, screaming the whUe, " Mamma, come to me ! Mamma, come to me ! " A chUd's fears are always excessive, and seem to grown people, from their intensity, like the caricatures of emotion, for with the very young there is no judgment to check the imagination, and fright once raised outruns all probability where there is no experience to check it. Little Phil and Bertha trembled and sobbed as if they had a confused notion that they were about to be killed. Every face they saw seemed to be of the ugliest possible character to their minds, for no matter whether it came smiling or frowning to them, they screamed and roared as if it belonged to that ideal enemy of all children, " Old Bogie " himself. If they had ever heard of fairy tales — and among the illiterate paupers such nursery-book lore is unknown — the little things would assuredly have fancied they had got into the castle of the Ogre in Hop-o'-my-Thumb, or into the stronghold of the Giant in Jack and the Bean-stalk, and that all the children whom they saw were intended to be eaten up alive. First of all, they were half frightened to death by a tall woman, who dragged them through long passages and up steep stone stairs to a room, where their workhouse clothes were taken off, as if they were really going to be murdered on the spot ! and they made certain that such was to be the case, when, despite their screaming and cries for Nurse Hazlewood, they were plunged into a bath full of hot water, and there scrubbed till their skins and eyes smarted again with the friction and the soap. Nor was their confidence in any way restored when, dressed in the school costume, they were taken into the infant play-ground, where a hundred little things were playing about ; for as soon as the new comers entered, the others left ofE their games, and drew round them in a circle, staring at them like so many sheep at a dog. Phil and Bertha did nothing but cling together and cry, for they were too young even to say a word of consolation to each other ; theif little minds indeed being filled with a duU blank of grief. At supper they left their slice of bread-and-butter and mug of milk-and-water un- touched, for then they were scared by the sight of the fifty little ones gathered together in the nursery for the meal, and they had never seen so many children assembled in one room before. Everything they saw and heard, too, was so strange and difEerent from the work- house nursery, that they sat with their fingers in their mouths,, looking timidly and wildly about them. PAVED WITH GOLD 41 "When the bell rang for bedtime, and they were taken up into the infants' dormitory, where, instead of Nm-se Hazlewood, a strange woman came to undress them, their little senses once more noted the difEerence of their situation, and their tears showed that they felt they were never to see " dear mother " again. Then as they cuddled together in one of the dumpy little iron bedsteads that crowded the large sleeping-room, they twined their arms about each other's necks as if they had really laid themselves down to die, like the babes in the wood ; and there they sobbed away tiU their tears formed a wet patch about their heads, so that the black lines of the tick could be seen through the moistened pillow-case. Before a week had passed, however, Phil had forgotten all the miseries that had so nearly broken his little heart on entering the school ; and ere long he had grown as attached to the place as he had been to his former home, so that had anybody attempted to remove him from his new one, he would most likely have felt the separation as keenly as he did his departm-e from the Union. He soon became, indeed, one of the merriest of the children there, for he made friends among his little toddling companions, and slowly grew to be as fond of his new nurse as he had been of his old one. His first year was spent in the babies' room, and here he was the biggest of the boys, for some of the others scarcely reached above the nurse's knee, whilst he was just tall enough to look over the iron bars of the nursery fender. His life in this part of the establishment had little to distinguish it from that in the workhouse, with the exception that at the in- dustrial school the child's days were not utterly toyless — playthings not being wholly unknown to the infants there. Over the mantel- piece in the dormitory was kept the humble stock of pauper play- things — a curious collection of broken penny articles and bits of gilt paper, which, poor as it was, was yet more than the workhouse itself could boast. There was a Noah's Ark hardly bigger than a baby's shoe, and a wooden money-box, like a miniature trunk, but contain- ing a few beads instead of coins : and there was a cardboard cottage, decorated with pith, and a cat without a head, besides a few lids of old soap boxes, embellished with varnished pictures and gilt borders, together with a little tin grate and a baby dustpan. But the grandest toy of all was the wooden horse, about as big as a pet spaniel, which the chaplain had given the little things. To ride on this was the great treat of the infants' room, and one which none but those who had been " as good as gold " were allowed to enjoy. A year's playing with the tin plate, stamped with the alphabet round the rim— a year's rattling the beads in the money-box, with a few rides on the chaplain's wooden horse, and Phil had become old enough to be moved down into the " infant boys' room," to take his first lessons in the infants' school, as well as to share in the games in the infants' play-ground. His seat during school hours was on the lowest stair of the broad flight of wooden steps that constituted a 42 PAVED WITH GOLD Irind of gallery for the little pupils to be ranged upon during their lessons. The play-ground, too, was a fine place to jump about in, and it had no clothes hanging to dry in it, like the exercising-yard at the workhouse, so that he and Bertha could run and gambol in it without having the wet linen flapping in their faces. The superinten- dent's wife, too, had given Philip a penny battledoor and shuttlecock, and this was so precious a treasure that the little fellow, on first receiving it, wanted to carry it to bed with him at night, and nearly had it taken away because he screamed and kicked on not being allowed to do so. Wretched little pauper schoolboys ! We who can remember the sums that were spent in the toys of oui- youth — the Chiistmas-boies, and school money, and birthday gifts that were laid out with the old cake-woman of the school, or at the counters of that fairyland of our holidays, the bazaar — such as we may, perhaps, wonder how so poor a plaything could cause such great happiness as Phil's penny present jfielded him. But to those whose babyhood is comparatively toyless, who hardly ever know even the childish luxury of a sweetmeat, and who are content to amuse themselves with a piece of paper fluttering at the end of a thread ; to them— lower as they are in the scale even than they who get an occasional "farthing to spend " — the present of a penny toy is an event in their young pauper lives to be remem- bered and dated from. CHAPTER III. THE PArPBE SCHOOL. Time was when your pauper schools were little better than pauper pens for pauper cattle to be kept in until they were old enough — according to law — to work their way, slowly but surely, from the workhouse to the prison, and thus shift the burden from the parish to the county. In such days the maintenance of the young pauper herd was put up to competition, and he who bid the lowest figure had the job. Nor was it until some violent fever had broken out and threatened a pestilence among the ratepayers, or until the expenses of the parish fimerals had amounted to unwieldy sums which no nicety of finance could conceal, that guardians began to trouble their heads about the fate of the miserable wretches to whom they had consented to act as deputy fathers. Luckily for Phil, he had begun his career in life at a time when the outcast children of the land were no longer fed and trained by con- tract. It had already been discovered that the best means of putting a stop to the habitual pauperism which infested our workhouses as thickly as rats do a sewer, was by training the young parish outcasts PAVED WITH GOLD 43 to some calling which would enable them to keep clear of the Union for the future ; and it is this discovery which has called into existence a class of institutions which are at once the noblest and most useful ia the land— the Pauper Industrial Schools. The school at which Phil had been placed differed but little from those now scattered about the suburbs of London. It was a little self-supporting community, the children being taught to do almost every office that was needed for themselves and their fellows. The boys worked upon the farm and the farm-yard, growing the fodder for the cattle that yielded the milk, which the girls made into butter and cheese for the parish scholars. AgaiQ, the linen on their backs, as weU as their clothes and shoes, were all made in the parish-girls' needle-room or the parish-boys' workshops. The school steam- engine, moreover, was stoked and tended by young pauper engineers, and even the repairs of it wrought by young pauper smiths, whilst the mangles and washing-machines which the steam set in motion were managed by young pauper laundresses, who did all the washing for the little colony. Thus some seven hundred childish creatvires were taught to live with all the economy, regularity, and beauty of a hive. The bread they ate was kneaded and baked by their own young hands, the meat cooked by them, and the place cleaned ; whilst even the gas which lighted the building young paupers had helped to manufacture. Indeed, there was hardly a want in the place that was not supplied by the same young labourers. There were boy carpenters to build or repair, as well as boy painters and glaziers to colour the woodwork and mend the windows, together with boy bricklayers to whitewash. Ajid yet, while the hands were being taught the mind was not left untrained ; and so sound was the teaching, that some of the more apt of the pauper pupils were being educated to become the future masters of that or some similar institution. It was a sad day for Phil when his time came to be removed from the " infants' " side to the " boys' " portion of the school buildings. The change was like going into a new world again, for he had to leave all his little friends with whom he had been associated for so long a time. Moreover, the boys in the upper play-ground were aU strangers to him, and so much bigger than himself, that he felt the same fear of going among them as he had done on first coming to the school itself. But though he was now old enough to be ashamed of showing such a feeling, still the thought of being separated from Bertie, whom he had got to love as a real sister, caused him more grief than he had artifice to conceal. The little girl, however, had no check upon her son-ow, and, as they sat apart under the shed in the play-ground, she whimpered and rubbed her eyes with her knuckles until her tears were coloured with the dirt off her hands, so that she seemed to have been weeping Indian ink. But Philip was just little man enough to know that the big boys he was going among would laugh at him if they saw his eyes were red with crying; so he 44 PAVED WITH GOLD swallowed his sobs, and endeavoured to persuade her (and himself at the same time) that " there was no good in fretting, for it wasn't as if they were going to be shut up away from one another, as he would still be able to see her at meal-times and at chapel on Sundays, and he would take care and nod to her every day even if he couldn't One marked difference that existed between the infants and the boys at the Industrial School was that the younger children had not yet sense enough to speculate as to their origin or the condition of their parents ; whereas the elder boys were continually puzzling their brains with the mystery of their existence. No less than two hundred out of the three hundred lads who thronged the upper play-ground were orphans in the fullest sense of the word, and even the parents of the less destitute children were either in the Union or in the receipt of out-door relief. It was reckoned among the boys at that school as extraordinary a circumstance for a lad to have a father living, as it is at other seminaries remarkable for a youth to be with- out one. At the generality of academies for young gentlemen, there is some one pupil, whose parents being out in India, or who, having only a guardian to look after him, is left at the school during the vacation, and such a one is always an object of pity among his com- panions, and sympathized with even by the servants of the establish- ment. At the pauper school, however, there wei'e no holidays at all, simply from the fact that there were no homes to go to, nor even with the larger proportion of the seven hundred little outcasts were there any mothers or fathers to receive them. When Phil, in his skeleton suit of corduroy, was turned into the big play-ground, the " new boy " was soon spied out ; and as the news spread round, the games were stopped, and the lads at the fai-ther end of the ground left off swinging round the gymnastic pole, whilst those who had been making kites, or indulging in " fly the garter," came streaming out of the " play-room " to have a peep at the fresh comer. They stared at him at first as strange animals gaze at each other, until at last began the round of boyish questions touching his private histoi-y and condition. " What's your parish P " was the first question, and which came as naturally to the orphan scholars as the inquiry concerning the parentage of a new pupil is common among other schoolboys. The speaker was the big boy of the school, who, by virtue of his size, had been promoted to a cord jacket, vice a skeleton suit resigned. Phil gave no answer, for he felt that if he said a word he must burst into tears. " Are you an orphan ? " asked another, who was not, and was always glad to show off a bit before his less lucky schooMeUows. Phil nodded his head, on which he was told to " speak up, and say at once whether he had got a father and mother, or not." " Nurse Hazlewood, please, is the only mother I've got," stammered Phil. PAVED WITH GOLD 45 At this there was a shout from several boys who belonged to St. Lazarus Without, and who instantly exclaimed, " Why, she's the Union nurse, spooney ! " A lad with a crutch, anxious to befriend little Philip, here ob- sei-ved: "He means perhaps she's his foster-mother "—for all the boys at that school understood the most minute relations of orphan- age, so that terms that would have been as Greek to more favovired children were naturally comprehensible to them. The speaker, however, was set upon by the united boys belonging to St. Lazarus, all of whom shouted, " What can you know about it? you came from St. Job the Martyr ; so just shut up ! " It was curious how the boys at the Industi-ial School were divided into little cliques, the lads from the different parishes making cronies of their fellow-parishioners just as those fi-om the same county become friends at other seminai-ies. " Are you a foundling ? " inquired another lad. " Come, young'un, you needn't be timorsome over it, for there's a joUy lot of us here." Almost the only thing that young Phil remembered concerning his origin was having heard Nurse Hazlewood once tell one of the guardians, while going his rounds of inspection through the work- house, " that he was the boy whose mother had been a lady, and died in prison ; " he remembered it well, because the gentleman had patted him on the head, and given him his first halfpenny at the time. So Philip paid no heed to the question, but turned away from the speaker. " Come, don't sulk,'' cried one of the boys ; and, pointing to another, he continued : " This chap, here, was tied in a fish-basket to the relieving officer's knocker." " No, I wasn't," retorted the other, in the midst of the laughter. " My mother's a washerwoman, and has two-and-sispence a week and two loaves, out-door relief, on account of her rheumatiz." The examination-in-chief was then taken up by the lad with the crutch, who said : " Cheer up, don't be afraid to teU us chaps here. Tou were deserted, I suppose, and haven't got any friends ? " "I've got Nurse Hazlewood," Philip answered, simply, as if he thought that was everything in the world. " She ain't the sort of friend we mean. Ain't you got no relations, such as will give you a red comforter like we've got P " The comforter here referred to was the great mark of distinction between those boys who could boast of some kindred and those who were utterly friendless in the world. The parish allowance, by way of neck-tie for the scholars, consisted merely of a piece of black shoe- ribbon, to fasten the shirt-collar; and the bright-coloured worsted cravat, to keep the chest and throat from the cold had come to be a regular sign in the school that the wearer had somebody to care about him : so that, as the eye glanced over the play-ground, it could pick out the children who were not utterly destitute as easUy as corporals can be distinguised from privates by their stripes. 46 PAVED WITH GOLD " Don't you know where you were bom, and how you came to have a settlement in St. Lazanis ? " was the next inquiry. Philip shook his head; for though he had often heard the word " settlement " used in the Union, and knew that it was looked upon by the inmates as a kind of indisputable claim or birthright to the place, still he had not yet got to understand what it meant so clearly as his questioners. " "Well, tell us how you became chargeable P Was your father an able-bodied or in- doors man ? " " Please, I've heard mother Hazlewood say my real mother was a lady." A shout of laughter burst from the boys at the reply. " Ho, ho ! " roared one, " here's another gentleman's son come ! " as if it was usual for the foundlings to fancy they were bom of distinguished parents. One lad, called Billy Fortune, had evidently been in- dulging in such a dream, for somebody cried out, " I say. Bill, here's one of your sort ; you say your father was butler in a nobleman's family, and I shouldn't wonder now if this young un' had bounce enough to tell us his mother had been cook in the same place." Philip could restrain his tears no longer, but turned his head round to the wall, and, as he hid his face against his arm, wished to himself that he had never been taken away from the infant side of the school, but allowed to pass his life near sister Bertie. At this moment, the newly -finished large kite, that had been the talk of the school for weeks, was brought out of the play-room, and as it was known to have exhausted the pocket-money of six of the richest boys, who had " gone partners " to buy the fourpenny ball of string for it — even though the engineer had made them a present of an old twopenny newspaper to cover it with — all the boys instantly quitted Phil, and ran off to the new toy, the same as if a Punch and Judy's call had been heard chirruping them away. The only one who stopped behind was the boy with the crutch. He said nothing, but remained quietly listening for a while to Phil's whimpering. Presently he tapped the little fellow on the shoulder, and said, " Don't take on like that, for if the chaps see you they are sure to call you ' cry-baby.' " There was another pause, and when at last Phil brightened up sufficiently to turn round, the lame boy added, " If you'll be my crony I'll be yours. I haven't got any fellow I care much about, for I can't join in their games on account of my leg." As he mentioned the affliction, the boy stuck out a mere stump of a Umb, which had been taken oil so close to the hip that the poor fellow seemed all lop-sided, and made one fancy that he couldn't even stand, much more walk, if it wasn't for his crutch. Phil was so taken with the sight that he could hardly remove his eyes from the mutilated limb, whilst the cripple, taking advantage of the silence, ran on with a kind of introduction of himself as the best beginning to their friendship. PAVED WITH GOLD 47 " My name is Ned Pui-cliase. My mother died in the hospital, and I belong to St. Vitus-in-the-Pields. I don't remember my father, but he kept a beer-shop in Newcastle-on-Twine, and paid rates for ever so many years. I'm called Goosey here 'cause I've only one leg." " Were you bom like that ? " asked Phil, pointing to the stump. " No, it was took off for a white swelling at the Free Hospital by Surgeon Sharp. Who was your parents ? " " Did it hurt ? " " I can't remember it now, for I wasn't above four year old. Do you recoUeot your father P " " Ton can't do anythiug without a leg, can you P " " Oh, can't I though ! " answered Ned Purchase, who, like all afflicted persons, was rather vexed than pleased with the continual itei-ation of pity to which his misfortune daily subjected him. " Why, I ain't half as bad as Tom Lett here — ^he's lost his right arm — for I can work at a trade, and he can't do nothink but run errands if he don't get to be a pupil teacher, which he won't, for he ain't haK quick enough. Then there's Mike Saunders, poor chap, his backbone is injured, and there he has to go about bent double as if he was down at leap-frog. He'll never be able to do nothink at all, but will have to remain in the Union till he dies. Ah ! we've got a lot of chaps here Kke that — heaps ! " The two new friends then made the round of the play-ground. It was a large gravelled court-yard, two acres in extent, set with gym- nastic poles at the end by the long shed, under which the boys played in wet weather. On one side was a series of cottage-like buildings ; and these were the shops where the various trades were taught to the pauper pupils. Thither Phil was led by his lame companion, and told to look through the wirework protecting the windows. He saw a lad busy planing at a bench, and the long ourUng shavings twisting about his hands, whilst another was busy knocking together with his mallet the framework of a door. Phil, as he gazed at the result of the boys' handiwork, lookiag so clean and smooth, could not help exclaim- ing with delight, — " I'll ask them to let me be a carpenter." " You'd better leave it alone," answered Ned Purchase, " and make up your mind to go to farm-work, for that's what you'll have to do, 'cause you're strong." The next window they peeped through was at the tailors' shop, and there Phil saw some twenty boys seated cross-legged on the shop- board, with their coats and jackets off, and stitching away at the stiff, new corduroy suits of the school. " How would you like to be a tailor? " asked Ned, with a look of glee. " It would not suit me at aU to sit like that aU day long," replied Phil. " It's going to be my trade," said Ned, proudly ; " you see my leg won't be missed when I'm sitting down in that way." 48 PAVED WITH GOLD Then they glanced at the shoemakers' miniature factory, and saw the little fellows in their leathern pinafore-like aprons, jerking out their arms as they pulled the waxen thread through the shoe-leather or hammering big, square-headed nails into the soles. Phil cried, — " Well, I'd rather go to farm-work and be out in the fields than be stuck down to that sort of thing." "Ah! would youP" responded Ned, with a sneer; "you'll tell a different tale when you've been here a few years. AH the shoemaker chaps get into a place and begin doing something for themselves in no time, but the farm-boys stick on hand, and can't be got off no- how ; many of them, too, after all, have to be sent back to their parishes, to be bound to a chimley-sweep or a butcher, maybe." From this they passed to the boiler-house, and watched the great engine flinging its brazen arms up and down, whilst a little feUow, scarcely bigger than Phil, passed his hand between the network of moving mechanism, as he poured oil into the joints as calmly as if he were feeding a lamp. Philip felt his heart swell as he thought how he should like to be able to manage such an enormous machine as that ; but his dream was interrupted by Ned Purchase saying to him, " Ah ! there's lots of boys would give anything if they could get put into the engine-room, but there's no chance, for there's only two ever wanted there." By this time the kite had been raised high into the air, and nearly all the boys were collected in a circle round the happy lad who held the string, so Ned Purchase thought it a good opportunity for taking Phil into the play-room. This was a long, empty outhouse, and against the walls hung the skeletons and bodies of kites, in every stage and style of manu- facture. Some were only bits of brown paper cut into the shape of a heart, with a thread and tadpoley tail hanging to them. Others were mere frameworks, ranged against the wall like an armoury of infantine cross-bows ; and others again were half covered and like a patchwork counterpane with the various bits of paper out of which they had been formed, and among which the eye recognized now a page of a penny London journal, and now a leaf of an old copy-book, with a round-hand lesson upon it, and line after line repeating, " England WAS ORIGINALLY PEOPLED BY — " Thus it was that Philip and the lame boy made friends ; and that evening was passed in telling stories one to another of all they could remember of then- early history, and all that they knew of the work- house where they had been brought up. They compared the dietaries, too, of their different Unions, and asked innumerable questions as to whether they had ever heard of this and that pauper (for the boys seemed to fancy all the poor must be acquainted with each other, in the same manner as even educated people imagine that anybody who has been to India must have been intimate with every Englishman out there). They chatted, moreover, about the guardians who had PAVED WITH GOLD 49 taken notice of them, or— more memorable than all— that had ever given them a penny. Long before the bell rang for bedtime, the two boys were sitting together with their arms twined round each other's neck, talking the wildest romance that, like hope and dreams, is the heritage of even pauper youths in common with all others. It was then duly arranged that Ned Purchase was to marry sister Bertie ; and when Phil's father — who it was at last settled must have been some grand gentleman^ was found, they were all three to live together, and do nothing but ride on ponies all day, and have pudding for dinner every day in the week. " Ah, don't I wish I was as rich as a guardian — that's all ! " said Phil. " How much money do you think a guardian has got— a hun- dred pounds P " " Much more than that, you silly," answered Ned, " or how could they pay for the keep of such a lot of people as they do— more like five hundred pounds." " Five hundred pounds ! " exclaimed the thunderstruck Phil, lost in the immensity of the sum. " I wonder how much that makes iu farthings ? I only wish we had got it, we wouldn't wait for father's coming back then ! " "But God won't let all be rich," answered Ned, moralizing. " Though, as the chaplain says, there's the same God for the rich as the poor." Phil looked down thoughtfully on the ground, and murmured : " Why should God like the rich better than the likes of us, I wonder, and give them such a lot, and leave hardly anything for the poor ! " " I can't tell, I'm sure," said the simple Ned ; " but the chaplain says we are to have our reward by-and-by when we die, and that a rich man might as weU try to squeeze himself through the eye of a needle as to get into the kingdom of Heaven." " WeU, but," inquired Phil, " if only the poor are to go to Heaven, what a number there will be up there ; and if there ain't to be any guardians, who will take care of us then ? " " Why, don't you know that God is the great guardian of aU P " said Ned, who, workhouse orphan as he was, had learnt to regard the Deity in that character rather than as the gi-eat Father of all. " And didn't He make the world and all the money that is in it, thousands and thousands of years ago ? " " Thousands and thousands of years ago ! " murmured Phil, half ta himself, " why, that was when I was nothing." 50 PAVED WITH GOLD CHAPTER IV. FOTJE, TEARS AND THEIB CHANGES. The history of one day at tlie pauper school was so like that of another, that to describe the daily routine was to record the events of the last four years that Phil passed at the place. The changes in the week days were hardly known to the boys by the names they bore, but rather by the alteration they brought in the diet ; for what are ordinarily called Tuesday and Thursday were spoken of at the Industrial School as " meat-pudding days," whilst Sunday, Wednes- day, and Friday were " suet-pudding days," and Saturday " soup- day," instead of being styled after the usual nomenclature of the almanac. To those under eleven years of age the school itself presented little or no variety, whilst to those above that age it afEorded the relief of working in the shops or on the farm every alternate day in the week. With these slight exceptions, the life of the pauper seminary was as much a matter of driU, order, and regrdarity, as if the establish- ment had been some infantry rather than infantine barracks. Every morning at six the bell in the courtyard rang with the same clatter as for a departing steam-boat, and instantly all the dormitories, which a few seconds before had been almost as quiet as hospital wards, were alive and bustling as a ship's company in a sudden squall. The dormitories themselves were long, bare, but cleanly wards, with a row of iron bedsteads ranged down either side of them, whilst in one comer was a compartment partitioned ofE as a separate berth for the pupil teacher. The only thiugs that broke the monotony of the white walls were the large placards of Bible texts placed over the doors, some impressing the precept, " Speak not evil one op ANOTHER," and others bearing the words, " Set a watch, O Lo bd, before mt motjth, keep the door of mt lips." A minute or two after the bell ceased ringing the lads were up and partly dressed, with their bedclothes turned back, and ready waiting for the order of the pupil teacher to " face their beds." Then came the command " Kneel down," and in an instant all was silent again, with the youths bent in prayer at the foot of the iron bed- steads, and inwardly breathing their supplications to Heaven. At such times even the most callous might have been touched by the solemn sight of the wretched fatherless creatures appealing to their spiritual Father for care and protection throughout the day. The next minute the boys had taken their jackets from under their pillows, and, drawn up in file before the dormitory door, were PAVED WITH GOLD 51 awaiting the signal of " forward," to pass from the room and get their shoes from the nest of pigeon-holes in the lohby outside. Then came the calling over names, and the washing in the lava- tories at the side of the play-ground ; and this done, the whistle of the driU-master was heard, and the boys were drawn up in rank and file for inspection. All was now ready for breakfast and family prayer, but long before the meal the boys and girls who helped in the kitchen had been busy ranging along the tall, narrow benches that served for tables, and made the diniug-hall look like a huge writing academy, the seven hundred cans of milk-and-water, and the seven hundred thick lumps of bread and butter, that formed the provision for the morning's repast. And when the large hall, big as an assembly- room, was filled for morning prayers with every soul in the place, except the youngest of the infants — of&cers and servants, as weU as boys and girls — the eye was enabled to comprehend the extent of the bounty feeding such a host of mouths that must otherwise have gone ■without a crust. Nor could the visitor help contrasting the cleanly and tidy look of the destitute little throng with the filth and rag- gedness of other poor children, who are thought to be better ofE in the world than those who are driven to the parish for support. When, in answer to the three taps on the table, the entire multitude stood up to say " grace," the clatter of their sudden rising was like the shooting of a load of stones, and as they remained with their eyes shut, half-intoning the supplication for a blessing on their food, they seemed like a legion of blind mendicants, aU uttering the same petition for charity. The boys were delighted with the drill that formed part of the summer exercises ; for it was not only like playing at soldiers, but, from its half gymnastic character, had all the excitement of an athletic game. The old drill-master, too, who had served at Water- loo, was as pleased with the work as the lads themselves, and evidently felt the same enjoyment at the mimic military evolutions as veterans are said to experience when teaching their grandchildren to shoulder their crutch. Phil Uked the drill much better than the schooling, and, indeed, had already made up his mind to be a soldier directly he was tall enough to '"list;" and when he heard that one of the boys had taught himself to play the flute so well that the superintendent had got him to be taken into the Guards as a fife-player, he thought it the greatest good luck that could possibly befall a human being, and every night made it a special request in his prayers that Heaven would be equally kind to him. With the " pupil-teachers " Phil bore the character of being a dunce, but with his companions in the play-ground he was considered to be one of the sharpest among them. He was generally at the bottom of his class, though at gymnastics he could mount to the top of the pole quicker than any other ; at arithmetic even the smallest 52 PAVED WITH GOLD boys on his form could jump over him, but at fly-the-garter he could take the " five foot leap," and clear a back, without even " toeing the line," far easier than boys double his size. Im.mediately the summons was given for assembling for school, his animal spirits seemed to leave him ; and no sooner did he enter the big schoolroom, with the different classes divided ofE by red baize curtains, and the leoture-hall-like seats, ranged gallery fashion, one above another, than his heart sank within him, and he sat lumpishly in Ms place, staring at the maps hung round 'the walls — first glancing, half -vacantly, at the chart of " The travels of the Apostle Paul," then wandering away to the " Land of Promise after its conquest by the Israelites." Nor did he wake up from his reveries even when the big blackboard, hung like a cheval-glass, was wheeled in front of the class, and the pupil-teacher chalked the simple addition sum upon it ; for when the boy -master asked the lads how many 6 and 8 made, Phil thrust out his hand mechanically with the others as a sign that he could tell, though, on being bidden to do so, the guess of twenty -two showed that his little mind was far away, wondering what Asia was like from the map, and hov long it would take him to walk there. At reading aloud from the " daily lesson book " he made as sad a mess as at figures ; and even though the twenty boys bef ox'e him had all repeated the exercise of " The Bird's Nest," drawling out the little verse, God taught the bird to build its nest Of wool, and hay, and moss j God taught her how to weave it best, And lay the twigs across. Nevertheless, when it came to his turn, he stammered over nearly every word, and had to spell half the syllables, so that it was uttes-ly impossible to get any sense out of the simple rhyme. But what Phil hated worse than all, and what he fijmly believed was nothing but an ingenious torture devised by some demon peda- gogue, for the express purpose of won-ying little boys, was the exer- cise called " Dictation " — especially that upon " words spelt differently but having similar sounds," so that he was fairly driven out of his wits when he had to write down such a sentence as the following : " Ton are right in saying that rite means a ceremony and wright a maker, as the marriage rite and a wheelwright, but it is diifioult to write them all rightly, so pray write this sentence, ' Mr. Wright's marriage rites gave the wheelright's daughter — so she writes — all the rights of a married woman.' " A stranger visiting the Industrial School with the knowledge that at least two-thirds of the little pauper boys were orphans, would doubtless have been startled to find them playing about the gravelled quadrangle as merrily as if they had the kindest and best of parents to take care of them ; such a one would have come to the conclusion PAVED WITH GOLD 53 that others felt their destitute condition more keenly than the boys themselves. Nevertheless, there were moments when even the most thoughtless of the orphan lads were roused to a sense of their terrible loneliness in the world, and these occmTed principally when any of the more lucky boys were visited by their friends ; for then a kind of wretched envy seemed to seize upon the most destitute, as the convic- tion forced itself upon them that they might stop there for years and years without the chance of any friend ever coming to see them. Sometimes, when all the little fellows were playing together, laugh- ing and jumping about, the cry of " Hodge wanted," or " Cumber visited," would echo through the play-ground ; then all the games ceased, and as the happy Cumber or Hodge was seen scampering to- wards the combing-room, where the friends visited the boys, the others would creep up to the door and try to catch a glimpse of that great rarity — a friend — and afterwards slink away to talk moodily together, about either what they remembered as to their own father or mother, or else what they had merely heard about them. But what seemed to lacerate their little hearts more sharply than all was when the self -same fortunate youths, some half -hour after- wards, reappeared among them, their faces red and glowing with delight, and carrying in their hands the peg-top or the orange that had been brought them. Then all would gather round, and twenty voices ask at once, " Who had been to see them, and what they had given them ; " while the sight of the halfpenny or even the farthing they had received, would cause many and many a sigh, and wish they had such rich friends to visit them. Some, too, would follow the lucky lad about the ground, and watch him as he rolled his orange roiand and round in his hands " to make it juicy," and beg, as he ate it, for even a bit of the peel. For the remainder of that day, too, there was a general depression throughout the school, and nothing else was talked of but Hodge or Cumber and his grand friends, and numbers wished they were only like him. Phil had two friends who sometimes came to see him — the one Nurse Hazlewood, and the other the principal matron of the prison in which he had been born ; but though the latter, when she called, gave her true name of Miss Perriman, still, for the boy's sake, she was anxious that neither he nor any one else should know who she was. The visits of Nurse Hazlewood, however, were but little thought of among the schoolboys ; for as she was known to be in St. Lazarus Union, and she generally asked, when she came, to see many of the other boys who had been imder her care, scarcely any excitement was pro- duced by her presence at the school. Moreover, the poor old woman hadn't the means to give such costly tokens of her love as halfpence or oranges to each of her nurselings : and the half -pint of nuts which she usually brought with her appeared so little when it came to be doled out among them all at the rate of six to each, that Phil was rather taunted than envied during the two days in the year on which 54 PAVED WITH GOLD his foster-mother came. But to do the little fellow justice, he cared far more to see his workhouse mother than the grand lady with her velvet mantle and parasol, who gave him sixpence every time she called. The old nurse, when he entered the visiting-room and ran to throw his arms about her neck, would seize hold of " her own Phil," as she always called him, and hug and kiss him as much as she did sister Bertie at her side. And there they would sit for more than an hour together talking about the " house," and she would tell him of the changes that had taken place in it since he left, while they would listen with the same interest that others do to the tales of home. She would chat to him, too, about blind Willie, and when she had brought the little fellow vividly back to Phil's mind again, he would ask all kinds of questions about the poor lad, and what he and Will used to do when they were in the Union together. There was one question, however, that was always uppermost in. Philip's mind. He had heard the orphan boys so often sit specu- lating by the hour as to their parentage, and others telling tales of what they had known of their family, that a craving had come upon him to learn something about his own — more particularly about his mother, of whom he had heard so little, and yet that little implied so mrich. Accordingly, whenever Nurse Hazlewood made her appearance at the school, he was sure to ask her how she knew that his mother had died in prison. The answer was invariably the same, " Tou mustn't ask me, child. I can't tell you anything more than I have." " But Ned Purchase says it's only wicked people who are sent to prison," continued Phil. " Was mother, then, wicked ? " Poor Nurse Hazlewood was shocked at the words, and exclaimed, as she threw up her hands, " Heaven forbid, boy, that I should ever live to say such a thing to a child of its poor dead parent ! " " Ned Purchase declares she couldn't have been a lady if she died in prison," continued Phil, sorrowfully. " But she was a lady — wasn't she P " " Tell Ned Purchase not to go bothering his head about other people's mothers," the nui-se would reply. " But, nursey," coaxed Phil, creeping up to the old woman, " who was it told you she was a lady ? There, don't shake youi* head, but try and recollect — do, please — for me, nursey. You'll leai-n aU about it, won't you, now, by the next time you come ? " And every time she came the same questionings and answerings went on. Phil's other visitor produced a far greater commotion among the boys : for whenever she paid her yearly visit, it was instantly buzzed over the school that the gi-and lady had come to see Merton again j and as she always gave him a silver sixpence on leaving, she was PAVED WITH GOLD 55 classed by the poor pauper lads as being among the most wealthy in the land. No sooner, too, was the visit at an end, and Phil among his com- panions again, than aU crowded emdonsly round him, to hear what the lady had said. " She says she knew mother," Phil would exclaim, boastingly, and not a little proud that his mother should have had such a friend. " Did she though ? Then I shouldn't wonder if your mother was a real lady, after aU ! " one of the boys would reply. "Tes, she says mother stopped at her house some time," the elated Phil would go on. " It's no use trying to cram us," one of the less credulous would exclaim. " If she was a friend of your mother, why did she let you become chargeable, eh P " There was a laugh of derision among the boys, and Phil, in dudgeon, turned upon his heel, and retired to talk with Ned Purchase alone. " It's all true that I said just now, Ned — it is, upon my word and honour ! " he would proceed, for he was as excited with what he had heard during the visit as he was angry at having the story doubted. " She told me what mother was like ; and I'm sure she's seen her, and knows a lot about her too. She eays she had dark hair and eyes, like me ; and that she has some letters of hers. She saw my mother, Ned, just before she died." " And is it true, then, she died in prison ? " inquired Ned Purchase, who knew aU Phil's secrets. " Why didn't you ask her what she was in for P " he added ; for the workhouse is so close to the gaol, that lads reared in the one are mostly acquainted with all the details of the other. " So I did," answered PhU, fuU of what he heard, and gaspiug out the words in his excitement ; " but aU she would tell me was that mother had been treated dreadftil, and that she had been drove to do what she did." Phil became more of a dunce than ever, for, though when out iu the play-ground the excitement of the games roused his boyish spirits, no sooner was he seated on the form of his class than his mind was away speculating as to what " the lady " had told him, and building up hopes upon the flimsy foundation of his father being still alive ; so that when it came to his turn to answer the sum that the master had chalked on the blackboard, " If a boy had sixty plums to eat in ten minutes, how many must he eat per minute P " Phil, who was dreaming of his mother, replied, " Just five-and-twenty when she died." Then as all the class burst out laughing, and the master thought PhU had meant the reply for a joke, he had to stop in school that afternoon for the blunder. When it came to Phil's time to be put to a trade, it was agreed that farm labour was the only thing suited to him, for he was 56 PAVED WITH GOLD naturally loutish, they said, and tlierefoj-e the work couldn't have the same blunting effect upon his intellect as it was found to produce upon quicker lads. The out-door work did Phil some little good, for he had less time to brood over his dreams, and the exertion of turning up the earth served to put an end to all his romantic fancies ; for digging-in manure and cleaning out pigsties are occupations which contribute but little to the development of the imagination. The agi'icultural portion of the Industrial School covered an estate some sixty acres in extent, and reminded one of a model farm, for the grounds were tilled with the greatest care, and the fields laid out almost with the same regularity as garden-beds. All trees had been cleared from the ground, and hedges replaced by invisible fences, so that the estate had more of a foreign than an English look about it, for the pasture-land seemed to be undivided from the arable, and even the kitchen-garden and the sprouting orchard were hardly distinguish- able from the farm itself. Par down at the bottom of the sloping land ran the channel of the railway, hidden by the depth of the cutting, so that the rattle of the carriages, and the gusts of white steam that seemed to issue from the earth, as well as the working of the arms of the tall signal-posts hard by, were the only evidences of the passing trains. The boys, in gangs of some half-dozen, with the bailiff at their head, tilled the earth by manual labour ; and often as a train rushed past, Phil would rest upon his fork to gaze after the engine as he saw it appear in the distance and lose itself among the hills ; and he would wonder to himself whither it went, and what the earth was like there, and whether he should ever be carried over the land by one of those quick darting things. This ooc\irred day after day, and a craving at length fastened upon him to get out into the world and see the country and the towns of which he knew so little ; for as yet his travels had never extended beyond his ride in the cart from the workhouse, and an occasional walk out with the school to have a game of cricket on the neighbour- ing common. Working in the same gang with Phil was Billy Fortune, one of the biggest boys in the school, who had been at farm labour so long that he had grown weary of waiting to be put out in the world, and was always grumbling at seeing those who had been taught trades easily provided with situations, whilst he remained on hand to dig and dig day after day as he had done for years before. " I wish a cove could only get away to sea," he'd say, sulkily, to Phil, when the bailiff was not near, " wouldn't I precious soon hook it. Where's the good of a fellow stopping at this work and never getting a haKpenny for hisself ? I want to be earning something, and if they won't help me to it, why, I shall save them the trouble some of these fine days." Then BiUy Fortune would proceed to tell Phil about ships, and / / O//^/' /' , // ///, • . \/ry////, ■: r . Ji '//'/ '' '-^ PAVED WITH GOLD 57 Tiow jolly the life of a sailor was, and give Mm sucli accounts of foreign lands as he had been enabled to gather from the school geography, until his little companion thought if it wasn't for Bertie and Ned Purchase, he, too, would like to go seafaring. The tie, however, which held Philip to the school, and which made it seem like a home to him, was destined shortly to be broken. Sister Bertie, who had grown to be a big girl, had risen so high in the estimation of the schoolmistress, that she had been promoted to the post of waiting-maid to the superintendent's wife. She had become, too, such a favourite with the chaplain, that he had promised to place her out in the world as soon as possible, and to get her a good situa- tion. Phil, when he first heard of the promise, had half prayed that it might never be realized ; so when he was told that the situation had really been obtained, and that the day was even fixed for his sister's departure, he hardly slept that night for crying ; for though it was seldom that he could speak to the girl, yet every day at meal times he could nod his head to her and see her smile in return. Some- times, too, he was allowed to have half an hour's interview with her in the passage between the girls' and boys' play-grounds ; consequently, he had never felt utterly alone in the place. When the time, however, arrived for the parting, and Bertie, dressed for her journey, had come to the play-ground door to say good-bye to her foster-brother, Phil was half surly in the selfishness of his grief at losing her. " Why, PhU, isn't it better, now ? " said sister Bertie, consolingly to him. " I am to get ^65 a year, after the first year, and only think what a help that will be to mother and you." " Well, I don't know what you want to go at all for," grumbled PhU, " and leave a fellow all alone here. I wouldn't have done it to you." " I am going, Phil, to a sick old lady's," continued Bertie, playing with his hands, " who wants a girl to read to her ; and only suppose if any of her friends should have a place for a boy, why, I should speak up for you of course, and then, perhaps, we might be near one another again." Phil pretended to treat the notion with contempt, but stiU he smiled with inward pleasure at the care of his sister for him. " Come, don't be angry, dear Phil," pleaded Bertie ; " you know the chaplain visits once every three months all those who have got situations, and you can always hear of me from him." PhUip could not bear to look at the girl, so he turned his shoulder round, and she, thinking he was still angiy, clung to him as she cried,— " Oh, Phil, don't be cruel now ! you'U never let me go from you in such a way." The appeal was more than the boy could bear, and half -choked with his sobs, he stammered out, — " It isn't that, Bertie ; but you can't tell how hard it is for a chap to lose his only friend in such a big place as this." 58 PAVED WITH GOLD For some time after sister Bertie's departure, Phil bore up with the hope that perhaps her words might come true, and he he sent for to come and live at some friend of her mistress's ; but when week after week went by and no such happy message arrived, the only con- solation left the boy was to waylay the chaplain on his rounds and ask him whether he had seen or heard of Bertie lately. At such times the minister would tell him either that "she was going on very satisfactorily indeed," and that he had "every reason to be gratified with her conduct ; " or else he would kindly take him into his room and read him the remarks he had written in his report-book,, after his last visit to the girl. " There, Merton, you see. Bertha Hazlewood has one of the best characters in my reports," he would say, patting Phil on the head, as he spread the book out before him. " Her conduct, you perceive, is. exemplary — rises early — obeys cheerfully — works hard and willingly — is regular at her devotions, and, altogether, her moral and reUgioua deportment of a very pleasing and consoling character." The effect of Bertie's absence, however, soon began to show itself on PhU, by the daily increasing impatience that he felt to be out in the world like his sister, doing something for himself ; and whenever he heard that some of the boys in the tailors' or shoemakers' shop, who had entered the school after himself, had been apprenticed and " put out," he and BiUy Fortime would grumble together, and vow that they woiddn't stop there farm-labouring much longer. About this time, too, it so happened that the guardians of St.^ Vitus-in-the-Pields discovered that Ned Purchase had no legal settle- ment in their parish — that indeed he belonged to some union in the north of England, and that they had been keeping him unlawfully for the last eight years. In a few hours everybody in the school knew that Ned Purchase had been found to have another parish, where- upon the young paupers were all busy, like so many little parochial authorities, discussing the niceties of settlement, and arranging how he was to be " passed " to his new union. When Phil and Billy Fortune returned from farm labour in the afternoon they found a crowd of lads round the cripple boy, who was half crazy at the idea of being torn away from what had grown to be a home to him, as well as terrified at the doubtful character of the new place he was to be sent to. And, indeed, it must be hard to such as him to find, when long associations have twined the affections round the haunts of their boyhood, that the ardent friendships of youth are to be severed with the signing of a discharge-paper; and that they themselves are so utterly powerless and unheeded in the world, that directly it is discovered the bm-den of their keep can be legally shifted, they are moved from one " farm " to another as rapidly as cattle sold at a fair. The day after the news had been made known that Ned Purchase was to be passed to his legal settlement, he and Phil were seated in PAVED WITH GOLD 59^ one comer of the play-ground shed talking earnestly with Billy Fortune, and with their heads so close together that they had evidently some profound secret among them. _ " I teU you," said Billy, " there it is printed, and I read it myself— it's in the old newspaper we had give to us to cover the big kite with, and it says he was a poor cabin boy, that got aboard a ship at Ports- mouth, and he went over to the Ingies, and now he's come home with whole shiploads of money, and has got made a member of Pai-liament in consequence. If you like you can see it all yourselves— just at the bottom near the tail of the kite ; there's the very speech as the gentleman made at a slap-up dinner he was asked to." " Whereabouts is Portsmouth P " asked Phil, for he had not the least idea whether it was in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America. " Oh ! it ain't far off," answered BiUy, who had a vague notion that it was somewhere near London Bridge ; " we could easily walk it and get a ship there, in less time than you can catch a tittlebat." " I should Hke to get out to India," observed Phil, " and go riding in castles on elephants' backs, and shooting tigers, like it says in the history of ' Warren 'Astings ' that's in the library." " But they wouldn't take me as a cabin-boy, would they ? " nervously asked the poor cripple. " Why not. Goosey ? " inquired BiUy Fortune ; though presently a sudden thought seemed to strike him, and he exclaimed, " Oh, you mean 'cause of your leg ! Pooh ! lots of fellows have told me that half the old sailors at Greenwich have got no legs at all, and Lord Nelson, in his portraits, I know is always drawed with only one ai-m." Whereupon the youngsters settled among theijiselves, and proved to each other's satisfaction, that a seafaring life was just the business for a cripple like Ned Pm-chase, as all that a sailor had to do was to puU ropes and steer the boat. Besides, as they very cogently urged, there couldn't be much walking about to be done on board such a small place as a ship. " And once out in India," continued BiUy Fortune, " you'll be quite at home. Goosey ; for in every pictm-e I've seen, there the kings and princes is sitting cross-legged like tailors, and you've been brought up to that business here, you know." The rest of the day the boys passed in the most out-of-the-way places about the building, plotting how their escape was to be managed. If anybody stopped near them, they instantly moved ofE to some more deserted spot. " Tou see," said Phil, " Saturday's half -holiday, and that's our time to be off, just after the names have been called over ; for then, you know, we're allowed to go about the grounds where we Hke. Besides, we shall have a clear start all Sunday, for they can't well come and look after us during church-time." " I vote," said the cripple, " that we walk out into the farm-fields, just as if we were going to fly our kite, and then we can sneak off round by the stables, and be through the hedge into the wood, at the back here, in a jiffy." 60 PAVED WITH GOLD " But when we're in the wood, how are we to get anything to eat P " asked Billy, who was of rather a hungry disposition. " We can't sell our clothes to get any money, you know, for, as they belong to the parish, they might have us took up for stealing." " "Well, that is good ! How do you think Robinson Crusoe lived, that we were reading about only the other night in the bedroom P " cried Phil. " And if he could do it on an uninhabited island, surely we can manage it in a wood, where there's plenty of prime black- berries. What's nicer than them I should like to know ? " And at the thoughts of the fruit Phil uttered the boyish exclamation of " Golly ! " and rubbed his waistcoat up and down as expressive of intense delight. It was then ultimately arranged by the young runaways, after long deliberation, that they were to save as much bread as they could from their meals, and immediately after the Saturday's dinner they were to take their last farewell of the school, and then, making the best of their way to the Thames, walk along the banks of the river till they came to Portsmouth — which Bill Fortune assured them he knew was somewhere in that neighbourhood. GHAPTEE, V. THE EUNAWATS. The little pauper rebels, having made up their urchin minds to decamp from the Industrial School, became inseparable companions, and passed every moment of their playtime in maturing their boyish plans. They had theia- secret meetings in the most out-of-the-way places and obscurest coraers, where they held solemn debates in mysterious whispers, at the same time keeping a sharp look-out on the monitors and the drill-sergeant. If their privacy were disturbed by any stray school-feUow, the whole character of the assembly was instantly changed ; and so as to remove all suspicion of its unlawful object, the moment the signal of " somebody coming" was given, one of the conspirators would begin to whistle loud and boldly, whilst the others broke out into noisy conversation, or commenced romping together. So totally were the poor boys absorbed in their plottings, that, like tme conspirators, they were nervoiis and uneasy unless in one another's society. Feeling rather timid as to the success of their plans, nothing appeared to give them so much courage as treating the possibility of a failure as an absurdity. Whenever Philip felt that his fears were overcoming him, he invariably made a point of accusing Billy Fortune with " being afraid and wanting to back out of it," and the indignant denials and energetic manner of that bold PAVED WITH GOLD 61 young pauper never failed to inspirit the meeting and restore con- fidence. Before two days had passed, the little rebels had, by then- altered manner, attracted the notice of the whole school, and but for the speedy execution of their plans they would certainly have been found out before a week had elapsed. Had they been three Roman patriots arranging the overthrow of Tyranny and Ambition, their general behaviour could not have been more mai-ked and singular. Did any lad invite the stem Philippus Mertonus to join in the giddy delights of " hop-scotch," or " leap-frog," he answered with a haughty sneer, such as would have become a Brutus spurning the ofEers of a CsBsar. Twice on the Friday was BiUy Fortune discovered drawing ships on his slate instead of " doing his arithmetic," and when threatened with punishment he tried to look as defiant as he could, for he was saying to himself, " To-morrow at twelve I shall be miles away." Each of the three boys, whenever they met for consultation, always managed to bring with him some article or other which he had pilfered during the day, thinking it would be likely to prove useful dirring then* stay in the wood. " I've got some lucifer matches," said Ned Purchase, at one of their rendezvous. " I collared them out of the tailor's shop. Won't they be joUy useful making fires ? " " Ay," cried BiUy Fortune ; " and I think I knows where there's a potato-field, and if one thing is primer than another it's baked ' murphies.' " " Here's my bread ; I didn't eat a bit at dinner on purpose," said Phil, puUing out a big slice from his jacket pocket. " Have you saved anything, Billy P " "No, I eat my bread," answered the fat conspirator, "but I've prigged this string from Tom Close's kite. It will do first-rate for tying branches together when we make ovu" cave." When Friday night came, and the three boys were sleeping in their school beds for the last time, as they thought, they could none of them close an eye for thinking of the step they were about to take on the morrow. Phil felt almost ready to cry with depression, for however " jolly " he may have called the scheme when chatting it over with the others, yet something within himself warned him that he was about to take a foolish step in life, which would plunge him into the imcertainty of the world's struggles before he was fitted to encounter them. BiUy Fortune was of too brutal and coarse a nature to bestow two thoughts upon anything that he did. He only thought that he desired a change of scene, and running away was the easiest mode of gratifying hi m self. With Ned Purchase, however, the case was very different. The poor cripple knew that he had only to choose between being sent away from the place which he had grown to love as a home, and leaving it of his own accord. 62 PAVED WITH GOLD Sotool hours were over, and the Saturday's half -holiday had begtm. The three boys, with their pockets bulging out with the pieces of crust they had saved, crept round by the kitchen-garden, crouching against the wall, until they reached the hedge that divided off the wood ; when, dashing through an opening in the fence, they plunged into the thicket, and ran off like frightened hares into the darkest part of it. Now all their boyish dreams of a merry forest life were soon to be dispelled. Now they were to learn that Robin Hood had not been the most favoured of mortals, and that most likely, if the offer had been made him, he would willingly have quitted the romantic delights of the " greenwood shade " for the more solid enjoyments of a well-roofed dwelling. For the first time they were to learn by experience that Robinson Crusoe on his desert island led a life of privation, compared with which a workhouse existence was one of luxm-y and enjoyment. After running for at least an hour, and darting through briers and underwood till their hands and faces were torn with thorns, the three young scamps came to a halt. The first thing they did was to hunt for a place to pass the night in, and great was their surprise to find the ground wet and soddened with the past rains, so that even the pressure of the foot brought the water up to the surface like squeezing a sponge. " I say, I don't half like this," said Phil, with a disappointed look, and turning to Billy Fortune, he added, " I thought you said there was lots of dry moss here ? " "So there is, you silly, when you've di-ied it," retorted Master Fortune. Ned Purchase stammered out something about going back again, but was soon silenced by the redoubtable Billy. " Tou may go if you like," he said, " only it's all found out before this ; and won't you get a licking— rather ! Tou'U have to take our share and your own too, I can tell you." The runaways tried to light a fire, and one by one the lucifers were held to the decayed leaves, but without success. To console them- selves, they sat down on a bent bough, and tried to raise their drooping spirits by planning the delicious future that awaited them as soon as they dai-e leave the wood and start for Portsmouth. Already they were on shipboard, pulling at ropes, and letting out sails ; or else they were catching flying-fish, or watching the changing colours of the dying dolphin. Now they were landing on some island where they were all received with the greatest kindness by the black inhabitants, and even welcomed by the king himself. After feasting on sugar-cane and delicious fruits, they were to return to their own country laden with presents consisting chiefly of diamonds the size of eggs, and lumps of gold as big as quartern loaves. " Catch me giving that old diill-master any, that's all," cried PAVED WITH GOLD 63 Billy Fortune, as earnestly as though his dreams had been realized. "When the twilight came, the truants ate the bread they had brought with them, but it had grown so hard with being kept in the pocket that it broke like biscuit. Neither was there enough even to take the " edges " off their appetites. " Oh, I've got such a pain here," said Billy Fortune, pressing his stomach ; " I never felt so hungry in all my life. It's the running's done it ! " " Chew some leaves, they're just like spinach," suggested Fed Purchase to the disgusted William. " Ton said we should find blackberries and birds' eggs," exclaimed Phil, reproachfully. They found some amusement in imagining to themselves the sensation their absence had created in the school when the name list was called over at night. From the place where they were sitting they could hear the big school-bell ring for supper, and afterwards for bedtime. They watched all the lights in. the different windows of the building, trying to find out by them which was their dormitory. Then came wonderings as to what " So-and-so was •doing," or " what the head-master had said," and whether any search would be made for them that night. At last Billy Fortune declared he could stand his " awful hunger " no longer. He vowed he was starving, and that as he had often read that was the worst death possible, he was determined to do something desperate rather than dwindle slowly to a skeleton. When his companions saw him jump up from the ground as if he meant to leave them, they both began to charge him with being the ■cause of their present suffering, and the first to " turn tail." " That's all you know about it," shouted BUI, brutishly. " I shall be back again in an hour, oidy I can't stand this beastly hunger. I've got a plan for freeing us all, I tell you. I'm only going back to the school to get some grub. I know the place where it's kept, and there's a window quite handy in the wall. AU a feller's got to do is just to put in his arm and help MsseM. So just keep your hearts up and never say die, and I'll be back in less than no time with some joUy new bread, which is the primest eating in the world, to my fancy." And, despite their entreaties that he would not run so great a risk, off went the stubborn lad. • " Do you think he'U blab if he's caught P " said Phil, nervously, as if he half suspected the answer. " Tes," replied Ned. Now that they dare neither of them go to sleep for fear that the marauder should be detected and their hiding-place hunted after, it was as much as they could do to keep their eyes open. They knew it was far in the night by the long time since it had been dark. They grew nervous, too, thinking of robbers — poor workhouse lads ! 64 PAVED WITH GOLD Neither of them had spoken a word for more than an hour— and, indeed, each had imagined the other to be asleep — when Ned suddenly cried out, — " What's that, Phil ? Did you hear anything P " Phil answered " No ; " but he spoke in a whisper, for he had heard the whistle plainly enough. Before another second had passed, Ned Purchase, breathless with fear, pointed to some lights moving in the wood not a hundred yards off. Phil was on his feet in a moment. " That sneak, Fortune ! " he muttered ; " he has gone and blabbed where we are. Oome on, Ned ; let's cut as hard as we can." Ned Purchase was nearly frozen, and the stump of his leg was aching with the cold. " I can't stir, PhU," he said. " Tou go ! Good-bye. We shall meet again some time." Phil gave the cripple his crutch, and seized hold of him to help him up. " Do you think I'd leave you ? " he cried. " Quick ! Jump up like a man. I'll help you on." " No, let me be, Phil," said Ned, with the tears streaming down his cheeks. " How could a one-legged chap like me get clear off ? Hark ! they've got dogs with them. Cut ! cut ! Do, Phil ; I should only die if I followed you. Run, run ! here they are." Phil looked round, and among the dark trees he saw the lights moving about like monster fire-iiies. He could hear the rustling of the bushes being pushed aside, and off he darted, shouting out a " Good-bye, dear Ned," as he bounded in the black wood. The street-lamps had just been lighted when a boy wet through with the rain, and dragging his feet after him as if he had hardly strength to raise their weight, crept along the pathway leading to the Elephant and Castle. Then coming suddenly to a halt, he stood staring aboiit him as if dismayed at the sight of the several roads branchiug off in front. It was such a night that no one who had a home to go to would think of loitering about. Even those who had umbrellas ran along the pavement to escape as fast as possible from the rough weather. But though the rain came down with a force that made it splash up again from the stones, there the lad stood, looking down the long vista of bright lamps, and staring before him almost as intently as a sailor on the look-out at sea. Poor PHI ! he was his own master at last ! He was free to go where he liked and do what he pleased, and yet, with aU the world before him, he dared not trust himself to advance afoot lest it should lead him into evil and suffering. PAVED WITH GOLD 65 And now what is to become of liini P The streets of London make, at tie best, but a stony-hearted parent, the ^tter forming but a sorry cradle for foundling babes to be reared in. The " back slums " of the metropolis are poor academies for youth, and moral philosophy is hardly to be picked up under " dry arches " and in " padding kens." Book tbe Secont). CHILDHOOD IN THE STREETS. CHAPTER I. THE STAET IN LIFE. " Herb, my coveys,'' cried a suspicious-looking youth, as he entered the kitchen of one of the low lodging-houses near the Mint, " I've caught a young flat what's been and hooked it from the House at Nor'ud. He didn't know where to stall to in the huey. I found him out in the main toper, and told him to step it along with me, for I was going into a ken in the back di-um. Just twig his bunch of fives, Oonkey " (this was said to a gentleman with a peculiar bottle-nose). " S'elp me ! if a mauley like that there ain't worth a jemmy a day to a kenobe at wiring. Why, they're just made for hooking a fogle out of a clye." Poor Phil Merton, to whom the above unintelligible jargon referred, stood in the centre of the wretched room trembUng with fright at the strange and dismal character of the place, as weU as the savage- looking ijeople he had just been introduced to. The ijurport of the above communication, though incomprehensible to most people, was not so to one who was known among the gang as Van Diemen Bill, and who sat by the fire, swathing his bare ulcerous feet in a long roll of rags. He, however, was sufficiently well versed in " cant " to know that it meant to say that the strange boy couldn't tell where to get a lodging in town, and that " Buck " (the name of the lad who had brought Phil to the house) had found him in the high road, and told him to come with him, as he was going to a lodging-house in one of the by-streets. He knew, moreover, that Buck had drawn his friend Oonkey's attention to the delicacy of the boy's hand, declaring that such a one was worth a sovereign a day to a thief at picking pockets, and adding that Phil's fingers were made expressly for hooking out handkerchiefs. The speech, however, had hardly been finished before Van Diemen BiU had suddenly slipped on the old shoes at his side, and, going PAVED WITH GOLD 67 towards Buck, said, as he folded Ms arms and looked at him surlily in the face, — " Shut up, will you— shut up, now ! I tell you, you ain't a-going to make a gun (thief) of this here young flat; it's a bad game, you know as well as I do, and I won't stand by and see a mere kid like this here put in the way of being lagged or scragged (transported or hanged), as he is sure to be at last if he goes on the cross like us. Tou knows. Buck, as well as I do, that we leads the life of dogs. Am't we all on us spotted here P and ain't the Bobbies at our heels directly we stirs a foot, so that we can't even do a kingsman (silk handkerchief) in a day, let alone a skin or a soup (a purse or watch) ? Stand back ! " he shouted, as Buck appeared to make an advance towards the lad, " and leave the kid alone, or I'll put out my Ohalk Farm (my arm) and give you a wi-ap with my Oliver Twist (fist) over your I suppose (nose) that'll flatten your chevy chase (face) for you! " he added, menacingly, between his teeth, as he shook his clenched hand in the air. Then stooping down to the scared lad, he said, in as tender tones as he was capable of, — " Come with me, young 'un, this ain't no place for you ; they're all on the cross here ; and you must keep square, my lad — keep square, whatever you do ! " And so saying, the old thief seized Phil by the arm and led him out of the house — much to the astonishment of the yotmger and less squeamish rogues infesting the place. Nor was there anything very extraordinary in such an act ; for let us say, for the honour of such characters, who are generally con- sidered to be utterly dead to every kindly feeling, that we ourselves have had honest boys brought to us by old returned convicts, and that solely from a disposition to save the lads from leading the same life as their own, for none ;but the very basest of thieves seem to wish others to be like themselves ; and it is by no means uncommon for a person to hear, when some one of the fraternity says he has made up his mind, Eind is " going to square it " (live honestly for the future), the others, one and all, exclaim, " WeU, I'm glad on it ; I only wish I could do the same ! " To say the truth. Van Diemen Bill had led such a life of suffering and crime that now, in his advanced age, when he found himself no longer capable of the more daring exploits by which heavy " swag " could be obtained, and too closely watched by the police to be capable of any of the minor thefts, he felt angry at the thought of any young lad being trained to a life Kke his. It was impossible, as he said, for such as him to get work, and neither could he steal — indeed, it was only by continued "friendly leads" among his old pals, and the gathering of the few bits of rag and bones from the muck-heaps in the streets, that he was enabled to eke out a living at all. Phil was no sooner in the street than the man led him hurriedly away to a low public-house in the neighbourhood ; and there, entering 68 PAVED WITH GOLD the little tap, that was so dark that the gas was always kept burning during the day-time, he said, — " Come, lad, have a bit o' scran, and I'll stand a shant o' gatter, I've got a teviss here ; " and then, suddenly remembering that he was no longer talking to one of his own fraternity, he added, " I meant to say, have a bit of this here vitals, and I'll pay for a pot of beer, I've got a sixpence. A party as is kind to me on my rounds gave me some broken bits and an old j acket this morning, and I sold the j acket to the dolly-man for a bob. So come, eat now, boy, you needn't be afraid of me ; for, though I'm a thief, I wouldn't harm the hair of your head — that I wouldn't." Phil looked up in the old convict's face, and in the comer of his eye he could see a bright tear drop shimmering against the swarthy skin. Had the boy been more knowing as to the lives and characters of such people, he might have guessed that some recollection of his early home, or a dead parent's advice, had suddenly flashed across his mind ; but the soft thief's hand! was rubbed hastily over the brow, and the ugly memory shaken out of the brain with a half shudder and toss of the head. The sight of the tear, however, inspired Phil with some little faith in the humanity of his companion, and assiu-ed him more than any words could do that the man really had some feeling for him. In a few minutes the handkerchief of broken victuals was spread upon the table, and Phil was eating heartQy, for the first time that day, and sipping occasionally at the half -pint of threepenny ale that his kindly, if not honest, friend had supplied to him. Nor was it long before the convict had learnt from the runaway workhouse lad his whole story, and more especially how, as he stood loitering about the Elephant and Castle, the lad Buck had accosted him, and finding him without a lodging, had promised to provide biTin with one if he would follow him to his home. The story ended, Phil could hardly help giving way to his feelings, and sobbed aloud in his alarm at the danger he had been in. " There, there, boy," said Van Diemen Bill, " you must keep your pluck up whatever you do. Come, now, I'U tell you what I mean you to try. All I can give you, my good lad, is a sixpence ; and if it hadn't been for the old coat I got this morning I couldn't have done that. Howsomever, the sixpence you're welcome to, and thank God it was honestly come by for your sake. Well, you see, twopence of it will find your bed to-night, and with the other foui-pence you must begin a-trading upon. Tou may stare, but at the place where I'm going to send you to, there's many a poor soul whose stock money is only a penny, and yet they can manage to keep themselves out of the workhouse, or the gaol too, by turning that small sum over and over again. Ah ! in that place twopence is enough to keep a lad like you for a year or two, and there's many an old couple has lived on even less for a much longer time. WeU, I'U tell you," said the man, " f or I see you're aU eyes to know what it is, — it's the water-crease market PAVED WITH GOLD 69 I means to send you to. I'll get you an old tin tray at the ' DoUy,' Tuses, and start you fair with this here sixpence ; and mind you, if ever you touches your stock money, if you eats a f arden of it, you're a lost mutton you are. Take my tip, lad— the advice of a man who has seen more trouble, perhaps, than any other cross-chap in London — and starve on and on rather than make your f ourpence a f arden less ; for remember it's only by making it more that such as you can ever hope to keep out of a prison that has even now got its jaws ready wide open to receive you." A few moments after the above scene had taken place the boy had been furnished with his tin tray, and was launched fairly into the wide world of London, with sixpence to trade upon in his pocket and an old thief's blessing on his head. CHAPTER II. THE WATEK-CKESS MARKET. The retail trade in water-cresses is followed by the very poorest of the poor, as the stock-money for this calling need consist only of a few halfpence. This class of street-sellers are generally honest, in- dustrious, striving people, and consist of young children who have been deserted by their parents, and whose strength is hardly equal to any great labour, or old men and women crippled by disease or accident, who, in their di-ead of a workhouse, linger on with the few pence they earn by street selling. The children are mostly sent out by their parents " to get a loaf of bread somehow," and the very old take to it because they are unable to caiTy heavy loads, and anxious to avoid becoming positive paupers in their old age. At the lodging-house to which Van Diemen BiU had taken young Phil to get him a bed for the night, the boy met with an old woman who told him all about the trade he was in the future to live by. She was sitting before the kitchen fire, toasting a herring for her supper, and seeing that Phil carried a little tin tray imder his arm, she at once recognized the symbol of the water-cress trade, and said to him, — " I suppose you're at creases, young un ? Done pretty well to-day ? I'm in the line myself." " I've never sold in the streets yet," answered Phil ; and then he told her the story of the great peril he had just run, and how the old convict had behaved to him. " "Well, that Van Diemen BUI is a kind cretur, and bless him for it, though I ain't the pleasure o' knowing him," said the old crone. " And how much do you say he guv you ? Fourpence ! Ton ought to do uncommon well on that, for there's very few on us got more than 70 PAVED WITH GOLD twopence or threepence, and lots on 'em only a penny. Why, let me see, for a penny you ought to have a full market hand, or as much as I can take hold of at one time without spilling ; for threepence you should have a lap full enough to earn about a shilling ofB : and for fourpenoe you gets as many as I can cram into my basket." " Then I shall make a lot of money," smiled Phil. " Well, my dear," she continued, " it ain't so easy to earn a mouth- ful of bread. Many a time I've walked through the streets, and when I've seed a bit of old crust, as the servant has chucked out of the door — maybe for the birds — thinks I to myself, ' I can enjoy that as much as the span-ers.' Besides, it takes a deal of laming to buy your goods properly. Ha ! ha ! " she chuckled, " the dealers can't take me in, though. When one on 'em tries to give me a small hand of creases, I says, ' I ain't a-going to have that for a penn'orth,' and I moves to the next basket, and so on all round ; and that's what you must do, I can tell you." " Oh ! they shan't cheat me," said Phil, knowingly. " Are you fond of getting up early P " asked the old woman ; but without waiting for a reply, she went on : " It don't matter if you do or no if you wants to live by selling creases. I gets up in the dark by the light of the lamp in the court, and ain't it cold in winter ! It pains my poor hands dreadful to take hold on the creases, specially after we've pumped on 'em to wash 'em. You're a strong boy, and won't mind the cold so much as us old folk. Ah, it's the poor children, too, I pities in the winter time. Poor babes, they make my heart ache to see 'em without shoes, and their pretty feet quite blue with the frost, so that many on 'em don't know how to set one foot afoi-e the other, but stands still and cries with the cold, poor dears ! " Phil was beginning to get rather alarmed at the picture the old woman was drawing of the privations and sufferings connected with the business he was about to adopt. " But I thought there was very few selling creases in the streets P " he interposed. " Very few ! " exclaimed the old thing — " very few ! Why, where's the lad lived all his days ? I tell you, the market's crammed with 'em of a morning buying their stock. In summer time I've seed 'em so thick that you might a'most bowl balls along their heads, and there they are all a-fighting for the creases, making a reg'lar scramble to; get at 'em, so as to turn a halfpenny out of 'em. Why, I should think at this time o' the year, there's as many as four or five htrndred on 'em down at Parringdon Market all at one time, between four- and five in the morning, and as fast as they keep going out others keep coming in. Ah ! if I was to say there's a thousand young and old folks in the street crease-trade, I should be under the mark." " A thousand ! " exclaimed Phil, with a downcast look. " I shall never be able to do nothing if there's such a lot as that." PAVED WITH GOLD 71 " Nothin' like trying, my lad," continued the crone, quite delighted to have some one to listen to her. " Tou must push along as all of us does. Now, I finds places where big buildings is going on very good for selling at, and yon must hunt for them. When the car- penter and bricklayer goes to breakfast at eight o'clock, they enjoys a relish with their bread. Then again, courts and little streets is very tidy selling, but mews is the places. They're first-rate. Why coach- men's families should be so very partial to creases, I can't say, but they is. Perhaps it's the smeU of the horses does it." "I thought everybody liked creases," ventured PhU, who, from having lived at a workhouse school all his life, had never tasted them, and, indeed, had rather a confused notion of what the vegetable was like. " Thank Hevin ! " answered the woman, " creases has their attrac- tions. They're reckoned good for sweeteniag the blood iu the spring- time, you see ; though, for my own eating, I'd sooner have the crease in the winter than 1 would at any other time of the year." Next morning Phil and the old woman were up and out in the streets while the stars were shining coldly in the silver-grey sky. As they passed on their way the streets were all deserted, and the policeman, in his long great-coat, busy throwing the light of his bull's-eye on the doors and parlour-windows as he passed on his rounds, making the panes flicker with the glare as if a jack-a-dandy had been cast on them. On the cab-stands, as they went shivering along, they found but one or two crazy cabs left — the horses dozing, with their heads down to their knees, and the drawn-up windows of the vehicle covered with the breath of the driver sleeping inside. Then they encountered the early coffee-stall keeper, with his large coffee-cans dangling from either end of the yoke across his shoulders, and the red fire shining through the holes in the fire-pan beneath, like spots of crimson foU. Next a butcher's light chaise-cart rattled past, on its way to the early meat markets, with the men huddled in the bottom of the vehicle, behind the driver, all with their coat collars turned up, dozing as they drove along. Then some tall and stalwart brewer's drayman walked by (for these men are among the first in the streets), in his dirty, drab, flushing jacket, red night- cap, and leathern leggings, hastening towards the brewery ; whilst here and there they came to a bone-grubber, in his shiny grimy tatters, with a lantern in his hand, " routing " among the precious mud-heaps for rich rags and valuable refuse, before the scavengers were abroad to disturb them. On reaching the market, the shops all round about are shut. The gaslights over the iron gates burn brightly, and every now and then is heard the haM-smothered crow of some cock caged in a neighbour- ing shed or bird-fancier's back parlour. By slow degrees the street- sellers come creeping up in every style of rags, one after another, towards the gates. They shuffle up and down in front of the railings, stamping to warm their feet, and 72 PAVED WITH GOLD rubbing their hands together till they grate like hearth-stoning. Some of the boys have brought large hand-baskets, and carry them with the handles round their neck, so that the basket covers their head as with a wicker hood. Others have their " shallows " fastened to their back with a strap, the holes at the bottom of some of the baskets having been darned with rope or string, and others being lined with oilcloth or old pieces of sheet tin. One little girl, with the bottom of her gown tattered into a fringe like a blacksmith's apron, stands shivering in a large pair of old drab cloth boots, holding in her blue hands a bent and rusty tea-tray. A few poor creatures make friends with the coffee-man, and are allowed to warm their fingers at the burning charcoal under the can; as the heat strikes into them they grow sleepy, and yawn. Phil and the old crone, with her rags and thin shawl drawn tightly about her, join in the crowd, the boy staring and being stared at by all around. As the church clocks are striking five, a stout saleswoman, weU wrapped in her shawl and cloak, enters the gates, and instantly a man in a waggoner's cap and smock sets to work arranging the baskets he has brought up to London. One dealer has taken his seat, and remains with his hands in the pockets of his grey driving- coat. Before him in an open hamper, with a candle fixed in the middle of the bright green cresses, and as the light shines through the wicker sides of the basket it casts curious patterns on the ground. Now the business commences ; the customers come in by twos or threes, and walk about looking at the cresses, or bending over the hampers, the light tinting their swarthy faces, while they jingle their halfpence and speak coaxingly to the dealer, to wheedle him into giving them good bargains. The saleswomen sit with their hands under their apron and their feet in an apple-sieve, talking to the loungers, whom they call by their names as if they had long known them. After the street-sellers have bought the cresses, they generally take them to some neighbouring pump to wet them. This is done to make them look fresh all the morning, and so that the wind shouldn't cause them to " flag," for having been packed in a hamper all night they get dry; moreover-, the "hand," or quantity in which they are bought, has to be parcelled out into six halfpenny bunches. Some do this as they walk along, while others sit in one comer of the market upon the bai-e stones, with their legs cui-led up under them, and the gi-ound round about green with the leaves they have thrown away. In the summer one may see hundreds of poor things, young and old, sitting, thick as crows in a corn-field, tying their bunches up in the market. Many, however, go and sit on the steps of St. Andrew's Church, in Holborn, and there make up their stock of green meat into " ha'porths." There are crowds of poor little soul& to be seen there of a morning between five and six. PAVED WITH GOLD 73 It was to this spot that young Phil and the old dame, who had undertaken to instruct him in the mysteries of the business, had be- taken themselves. There they were, seated amid a bevy of old and young, all busy tying up their water-cresses, and chatting the while to one another over the gossip of the market and the trade. " I didn't see little Mary M'Donald this morning," said one ; " I suppose her father's gone back to ' brick-laying ' again. Poor feller ! it's a load upon a man having eight small children to feed, and out of work half his time. Mary's the oldest on 'em, and a very good girl she is to pick up ha'pence." " And I ain't for a long time set eyes on Louisa as goes along with her," chimed in an old man, who had one side of his face paralyzed ; " perhaps her feet's burst out agin. Let's see, she ain't got ne'er a father, have she ? She's as fine a gal for twelve as ever I met with." " I remember Louisa's father well," said an old seafaring man ; " he was a carpenter by trade. It was he as put me up to this weri-y crease-selling when times was bad, and he was obligated to turn to it hisseK." " Did you notice poor Mrs. Saunders a-crying this morning ? " inquired a sickly-looking girl, who had evidently been a maid-servant, of the woman next her ; " the parish only buried her husband yester- day, and last night she was turned out of her lodging. Ah ! it's hard upon a 'oman near seventy." And so they went on chatting, the only subject they cared to talk about beiag their miseries. Many complained of their ailments, and described their pains and sores as minutely as if they were being cross-examined by a doctor. Sickness was a favourite theme with the aged, and they were evidently trying to outvie each other in picturing the acuteness of their sulEerings. One declared he had been told at the dispensary that his case was the worst ever known, and he was quite proud of it. Another made herself famous by stating that she had been sent from the hospital as incurable. Others, determined to take some share in the general conversation, detailed their coughs, or the operations they had undergone, or the medicines they had taken for this or that disease. With the hale the discourse took a different turn, and was generally about "the days when they were better off." Mechanics, too old for work, moaned and sighed over the times when they could earn "their six shillings easy." Ruined dressmakers bragged of the number of hands they had once employed, and of the rich ladies for whom they had worked. The eyes of one crook-backed creature brightened again as he boasted of having " always lived as footman in the fust of families," and a reduced laundress, throwing up her head with pride, talked of the time when " she kept her cart, and bought creases 'stead of selling them." The little children were the only ones who talked about water- cresses. With them "good bargains" and getting pennies for 74 PAVED WITH GOLD ha'porths, were wliat they best liked to oliat over. If ever tlie theme was changed it was to gossip about eating, and then adventures were told of how " a big bit of pudding with gravy over it " had been pro- cured through a very ingenious method of making somebody buy the stock of cresses at double their price. When Phil, by dint of watching how the little girls twisted the rushes round each farthing bunch, had " dressed up " his tray as well as he could, he started off on his rounds to make his first attempt at street selling. The lad, who was strong and healthy, startled the old people by the vigorous way in which he went to work, crying, " four bunches a penny, water-creases." " He's got a woice, ain't he P " said a broken-down coster, who had lost his own. " Ah ! creases 'ill soon take it out on him," replied a wretched old crone, whose trembling hands were as transparent as smelts. For the first day or two Phil only just managed to pick up sufficient halfpence to buy mere bread. At night he slept along with a number of other lads in a half-finished house. Many a time as he lay on the hard ground did he long for his soft bed at his old school, and wish that he had never listened to the wild dreams of Billy Fortune. It was a little girl of eight who fii'st taught PhUthe knack of street selling, and how, if he would succeed, he must force people to buy his green-meat. She was herself as clever a little saleswoman as ever made up a farthing bunch, but she was so small and weak that often the boys in the streets, half jealous of her success, would try to drive her from their quarter of the town — indeed, it was in protecting her that Phil first made her acquaintance. She had asked him whether she might stop by him or even walk after him, for he seemed to her to be the kindest and bravest boy she had ever met with. She was a thin, stunted child, with a face white for want of food, and wrinkled where the dimples ought to have been, and she sighed con- tinually, as if ovei-whelmed with trouble. She half -frightened Philip by the calm earnestness with which she talked of the bitterest struggles of life, for she made him fancy that he, in his turn, would also have to endui'e them. This child-woman of the world soon saw that Phil was no adept at cress selling. " I say," she cried, when Phil turned away from the shops at the fii'st denial, — " I say, you musn't do that ! Tou see I'U go and sell 'em a bunch ! " And to work she went, begging and curtseying, so that at last the coin was given more in pity, or to get rid of her, than for the sake of her goods. "Hard work to sell any, ain't it P " said Phil to her one day. " Ah ! it's nothing to what it is in the middle of winter," was the quick i-eply of the street baby ; " then people says, ' Take your creases away, they'll freeze oiu' bellies.' I've had then to go so long without eating that I was iU one day in the puddin shop from the smell of the meat." PAVED WITH GOLD 75 PM felt horrified, and cried out : " You're always talking in that -way, EUen ! It's enough to make a chap quite af reard of you." Then, in a reproachful voice, he added : " I never yet seed you laugh- ing ; why don't you P " " "Where's the good of laughing P " she replied. " But don't you never play, nor nothink P " asked the lad. " Yes, sometimes of an evening we has a game of 'honey-pots ' with the gals in our court ; but it don't make me laugh, cos going out with the creases tires me." " Then, why don't you go to bed if you're tired ? " remonstrated Phil. " Well, there's mother's room to put to rights," was the answer. " I cleans the two chairs, and I takes a flannel and scrubbing brush, and does the floor." " But you're killing yourself," insisted the boy. " Oh, no, I ain't," was the calm reply. " It was much wuss in the winter and that ain't kUled me, you see." Struggle as Phil would, he could never manage to put anything out of his daily earnings. It is true, he had grown quite an adept at his work, and instead of sleeping under dry arches, could now afford to return to his twopenny bed at the lodging-house, but he found it difficult to pay for his day's scanty food, and yet not draw upon his little stock money. By dint of entering shops and following old ladies, as tea-time drew near, he could always get rid of the contents of his tray, and so double his fourpence. But two-pennyworth of bread doesn't go far with a growing boy, and many a night he had gone to rest as early as the lodging-house-keeper would let him, so as to sleep his hunger off, and avoid the temptation of spending the money that Van Diemen Bill had given him. Indeed, it was only fear of the old convict that kept him from " breaking into " his little bank, and ending his water- cress life with a good gorge of hot food. But at last the day did come. It rained when poor Phil trudged early to market, with his tray over his head in lieu of an umbrella. The wet seemed to have cast a chill upon all water-cress eaters, for though he walked about the «ntire morning, he had only sold four bunches, and that was to a man at a public-house who had drunk himseM into a fever. He tried all his old " rounds," but everywhere he met with the same answer of " No, it's too cold to-day, my boy." When, in the evening, he sat down in a gateway to count his " takings," he found that he had only fourpence in his pocket, the same as when he went to market in the morning. Poor Phil's legs were aching with fatigue so severely, that he almost fancied the shin-bones had given way, and were bulging out with the weight of his body. Still, he went to work again, hobbling and shouting out with all his might, and grew so energetic in his ■endeavours to get rid of his stock, that he made tempting offers to 76 PAVED WITH GOLD all faces looking over parlour iblinds, or full-length figures standing at drawing-room windows, or heads seen down areas. He even went so far as to attempt a sale with a footman cleaning some third-floor windows, but the man declined to purchase, shooting back in answer that he " always bought his creases wholesale — by the ton." Determined not to give in until he was positively forced, Phil crept towards the mews at tlie back of the squares, hoping that he might be able to tempt the coachmen's wives with large pennyworths. He caught two or three women taking in for the nigbt the linen that had been drying on the pole over the hayloft door, but, though he increased his lots to five bunches a halfpenny, still they wouldn't listen to him. One, indeed, did look down to examine the contents of his tin tray, but it was only to abuse them by saying, " They were turned as black as tea-leaves, and he ought to be given in charge for trying to pisen people." For the moment the idea crossed Phil's head that everybody had taken a sudden dislike to him, and was detei'mined to crush him ; but he wouldn't allow his courage to give way, and once more crawled back to the streets. He thought he would try what he could do by entering shops, and selecting one where an old lady was stitching behind the counter, he pushed back the door and nearly startled tbe dame out of her life by the suddenness with which he offered to let her have all his tray contained for the small sum of threepence. " Drat the boy," cried tie lady, still panting with her fright, " and wbat do you think I'm to do with all that green stuff; I ain't a rabbit — am IP" The lad, as it grew late, felt quite spirit- broken. He sat down on a doorstep to rest himself and moan over Ms ill-luck. " Everybody can't have given up eating water-creases all of a sudden," be remarked to himself. " No, it's luck that's agin me, and is breaking a cbap down ; " and as he, like most street- vendors, had grown to be a firm believer in the omnipotence of " luck," he felt convinced that he had better " give in at once, instead of tiring himself to bits and doing no good after all ! " To make sure that his luck was really so resolutely opposed to his welfare, he took his fourpenoe out of his pocket and began tossing. He determined that if he won twice out of three throws, he would make one more attempt, but if he lost he would eat the water-cresses bimself and give over for the day. The trial ended in Phil jumping up with fresh hope in his bosom, and away he trotted, shouting, " Wa-a-ater-cre-e-eases, fine wa-a-ter- cre-e-ases ! " as lustily as if he was making his fii-st morning round. He trudged down Tottenham CoTirt Road, and straight through St. GUes, up Di-ury Lane, as far as Long Acre, and yet his tray was not a bunch the lighter. He stopped at every pump to moisten the hanging leaves of his cresses into the semblance of freshness, but nobody would have anything to do with him or his goods. A kind of disgust for the world, and aU the water-cress eaters in it, made Phil come to a sudden stand-stiU at a comer lamp-post, and, as he PAVED WITH GOLD 77 leaned against it, mutter out, " I -wish I had never been bom, nor nobody else either." He remained in this position some time, picking off the dead leaves from his little bunches, and ruminating on the enormous drawbacks there were against the chances of earning a comfortable independence by selling water-cresses, when on raising his eyes and looking about him, he observed a crowd gathered round a shop- window on the other side of the way. The window-panes were covered with a mist that almost made them seem like ground glass ; but the mob appeared to be very much interested in something that was going on within, and Phil, like a boy, in a moment forgot his sorrows in his curiosity, and crossing over made one of the lookers-on. It was a cook-shop — not a fashionable eating-house, where there are separate rooms for ladies ; where dead game and magnificent un- cooked joints of the finest meat are tastefully arranged before the wire-blind in the window ; nor was there a bill of fare framed and glazed at the door-post, with the dishes of the day written in a bold, round hand ; no ! it was a cook-shop with the long window-board lined with pewter, in which wells had been sunk like small baths to receive the puddles of gravy in which joints of meat were perpetually steaming. There anybody who had twopence in his pocket could boldly purchase cooked fliesh, only, instead of receiving it in a plate, it was handed to him in a piece of old newspaper, thereby combining intellectual enjoyments with animal indulgences, for the possessor, having eaten his dinner, might afterwards peruse a few of the events that happened the week before last. Behind the counter of this shop stood the cook himself, a sodden-looking man, with a face like a washerwoman's hand. Philip gazed on him with admiration, as in his suit of white linen he turned from joint to joint, brandishing a. carving-knife, long and elastic as a harlequin's wand, and whipping off a half -moon slice from this leg, or whisking out a clever morsel from that shoulder. There was a pagoda of boiled beef, composed of some twenty pieces pegged into a pile with a metal skewer, tUl it reminded one of a file of receipted bills. There were legs of pork, from which the crackling was slowly barking off, peeling away with long steaming like the jacket of an over-boiled potato; and there were legs of mutton with the sides scooped out like the shape of a lady's collar, and from them all rose a dense steam like that of a fire made With green wood, which condensed on the windows, ceiling, and walls of the shop, and then trickled in snake-like rivulets towards the floor again. Such sights as a cook-shop window may seem very sickening to those who have dinner always ready for them at six o'clock, but to poor Phil, who was so hungry with Ms sixteen hours' fast that he had been forced to drink cold water to aUay the cramps in the stomach, the reeking steam that came up through the area railings 78 PAVED WITH GOLD and curled out at the entrance door, carried with it an odour wMch was perfume in his nostrils. The worst of it was that this smeU of meat brought back again the longing for food which he thought he had drowned at the pumps, and the terrible hunger cramps again began to lay hold of his stomach, grasping it like a hand. He felt in his pocket, and commenced turning over mechanically the fourpence, which was all he possessed in the world. " I mustn't have anythink," he said to himself; " but I'll look at the meat, and perhaps the smell will make me fill sick, and then I shall be all right." He watched everybody that entered. He saw one man buy a plate full of scraps of meat, which, after they were shot into his handkerchief, he commenced eating whilst his change was being- counted out. Another, a boy, bought some fried potatoes and held them in the hollow of his hands, which he shaped like a basin, and ate from as a horse would. Then poor Phil examined all the hot joints one after another. " There are some people eat meat Kke this every day," he couldn't help thinking, with envy. Presently one of the women servants in the shop hurried from the back, caiTying before her an immense iron tray filled with smoking pudding, which she placed on the window-board. This pudding Phil instantly recognized as being what lads call " plum-dufl." The appearance of this favoui'ite delicacy created an immense sensation among the crowd outside. It was brown as varnished oak, and divided into large squares like a sample of tile-work. Several of the youths near Phil were struck with the size of the pieces, and openly expressed their approbation of the proprietor's liberality. "Ain't they big 'uns," observed one boy; "and thick 'uns, too," he added, after taking another look. " With gravy it is just prime," remarked another, " and wonderful filling at the price." The rush which was made for this tempting pudding swept away aU Phil's resolves to be prudent. He could not resist the temptation, but gently yielding himself a prisoner to plum-dufE, he was soon struggling among the mob at the counter, calling out as loud as the others, " Me, master, I was first, please." What are six inches square of savoury pudding to a lad who was up at four, and did not breakfast ? A pair of gloves in a carpet-bag, a baby in a railway carriage, a horse on a common ! When PhU had devoured his portion, he stood stUl for a while, and watched those who were still munching. The sight was too much for him, and cost him another penny. When he had eaten that to the last crumb, it had almost the same effect upon him as drink, and made him feel merry, and think what a siUy fellow he had been to feel so out up at his bad day's work, and nearly break his heart with disappointment, when, after aU, his only misery was that he wanted something to eat. It struck him that the best friend he had met with that day PAVED WITH GOLD 7& was ■' plum-dufE," and, determined not to part with so encouraging a companion until lie was forced, lie continued crossing the threshold of the cook-shop nntU his fourpence was spent. When the boy had finished his feast, he gave up his place on the steaming railings to those pushing behind him, and retired once more to the lamp-post over the way to digest his food and think upon what he was to do. His stock-money was gone, and it was useless to think any more about water-cress-selling. He had run through his little fortune, got rid of all his property, like a nobleman, by feasting, and now he must begin the world again. By the way in which he continued repeating inwardly to himself, " It can't be helped, it was no fault of mine," it would almost seem that Phil's mind was divided against itself, and that while one half was accusing him of extrava- gance, the other had undertaken his defence. He looked at the few water-cresses that remained on his tray. They had swollen and turned soft, so he leisurely tossed them bunch after bunch into the gutter. His greatest fear was lest Yan Diemen Bill should by any means become acquainted with his banqueting excesses. " He said he'd break my neck if I played him false, and I know he'd do it too," thought Phil. " Of course he'd never beheve it was no fault of mine ! " To avoid the possibility of ever meeting with his eccentric patron, he determined upon retiring for a short time from all kinds of street life that would be likely to bring him in contact with the old convict's powerful arm. Where was he to sleep that night ? He couldn't pay for a night's lodging, and he knew nobody who could shelter him till morning. But lads turned loose in the street are seldom, when the nights are warm, at a loss for some corner in which to double themselves up and sleep. Like a dog that had strayed from its master, Phil, when it grew late, sauntered along, examining every place that he thought would make a convenient temporary bedstead. By good fortune he wandered into a stable-yard, and found a cart half fiUed with hay. He soon jumped into it, and placing his old water-cress tray under his head by way of pillow, he was in a few minutes sleeping as soimdly as if he rested on the softest feathers ever made into a bed, and dreaming that he was back again at his old school, walking round the play-ground arm-in-arm with Ned Purchase. 80 PAVED WITH GOLD * CHAPTER III. CATBN-WHBBLING AND HBAD-OVEE-HBBLS. Thb next morning Phil was roused from Ms sleep by a severe jolting, and on rubbing bis eyes be found to bis alarm tbat bis bed- stead was moving. He bad so completely covered bimself witb bay that when the men bad put the horse to they had not perceived the youngster. Like a stupid fellow, Phil in his surprise gave a cry, which made the man at the horse's bead turn round. " What are you doing there ? " inquired the driver, throwing in such a big oath at the end of the sentence, that the boy instantly tried to scramble over the cart's side and be ofE. But the man seized him by the arm before be could reach the ground. " I thought there was no harm sleeping on the hay," stammered Phil. " And how do you think cows is to eat hay after you've been a flattening of it F Do you think they likes their wittals warmed up?" Phil thought it better, instead of answering, to begin to whimper ; but it didn't help bim much, for the carter, before be released bis hold, gave him a couple of smart whacks witb bis whip-handle, which made bis shoulders bum as if they bad been branded. As the lad was scampei-ing off, he suddenly remembered tbat he had left bis tray behind bim. " It was worth tuppence," he said to bimself ; and then he began to calculate which was better — to try and recover bis property, and run the risk of another thrashing, or to keep bis body sound and lose the money. As his shoulders were still smarting, he preferred letting his pocket suffer instead of bis back. For four hours PhU wandered about the streets, scarcely knowing what to do to pass the time, for all the shops were closed, and there was nobody stii-ring. He leant against the posts, one after another, and whistled aU the tunes be knew. When the shop-boys began to take the shutters down, be found a great relief in examining the interior of the various establishments, and by bis steady staring greatly annoyed some ladies at an outfitting warehouse, who all the time they were " dressing up " the window felt persuaded tbat he was a young thief watching for an opportunity to burst into the shop and carry off a good armful of the best fancy articles of wearing apparel. By-and-by, be earned a slice of bread and butter by assisting a sleepy-looking lad to polish the name-plates and ornaments that embellished the front of a chemist's establishment. PAVED WITH GOLD 81 The sleepy boy made the first advances, by calling out, " I say, you there, do you want a job ? " It being entirely a matter of business, Phil answered, " What will you give us ? " The heavy -eyed employer suggested that some of his master's rose drops would be a fair price for a fair morning's work, but Phil, having his suspicions of doctors' sweetstufE, suggested a more solid kind of food as his remuneration, and, the terms being accepted, he in a very short time frictioned up the duU brass till it shone like ormolu. It struck Phn that Trafalgar Square would be a nice airy spot for him to rest in whilst taking his morning's meal. It was close at hand, too, so that he needn't keep his breakfast waiting long. Observing one or two gentlemen in difficulties, who were perform- ing their morning's ablutions at the fountains, Phil determined upon imitating them, and having cleared away with his hand the film of soot and grease floating on the surface of the water, he made a clear place and ducked his head in and out till he was out of breath. After wiping his face in his cap, the boy chose for himself a granite post which the sun had warmed, and jumping on to its broad, round top, attacked his bread and butter with determination, biting out pieces as big as pigeon-holes. When breakfast was over, finding his seat rather hai'd, he shifted his position to the railings round the statue of Charles the First at Charing Cross, and with the sun shining ivll upon him he gazed upon the world as calmly as if he had been in an ai-m-chair at a first-floor window. There was an old crossing-sweeper working at the mud, and clearing a path across the broad road by the statue ; and, as there were very few persons to stare at, Phil amused himself by watching him. He was a fat-nosed man, with a forehead so fiUed with dirty wrinkles that the dark waved lines resembled the grain of oak. His costume was of what might be called " the all sorts " kind, and from constant wear it had lost its original colour and had turned into a species of dirty green-grey hue. He seemed to have a passion for buttons, for his waistcoat was held together by a variety in glass, metal, and bone. He wore a turn-down collar over his coat, which was a dress one, long past its evening-party days, and faded into an iron-mould colour. It fitted so marvellously tight that the stitches were stretching open like wickerwork. But the most singular portion of his toilet were his boots. They were so much too long for him that the portion beyond the toes had flattened down and turned up like a Turkish slipper, whilst the heel was worn into a wedge shape which made the foot rest sideways, like a boat upon the shore. When the sweeper saw that PhU was watching him he seemed to grow uneasy, for he several times stopped in his work to wipe his 82 PAVED WITH GOLD face with a piece of old flannel and stare back again. At last lie advanced towards the boy. "Ton must have a werry 'andsome hindependence, my lively young cock salmon," he said, " for to spend the bloom of your days observing human natur." Phil didn't answer him, for he was busy watching the old fellow's exposed throat. It was brick-red, and the flesh, from age, had con- tracted over the muscles and windpipe, so that each time he swallowed, the whole of the throat seemed to move as the tight skin was drawn over the dents and ridges of the cartilage beneath. The crossing-sweeper, angry at meeting with no reply, continued, — " Ton seems to have growed sarcy since you come into your pro- perty. I can tell yer what, my little spring radish, you was bound 'prentice to laziness, and now you're out of your time, do-nuffin is your trade, you lazy young warmint." " I ain't lazy," mildly answered Phil. " I ain't got no work, worse luck. I'll help you, if you like." This ofEer so startled the old crossing-sweeper that he rubbed his unshorn chin, on which the bristles stood up like the brass pegs on the ban-el of a musical box. It made a noise like stroking a hair- brush, and the sound appeared to soothe him. " Here, let's see what you're made on," he said, after a time — ■■ whether you're real solid flesh and blood, or mere spurious imita- shun and counterfeits. Take this broom and let's see how you can polish off this side the stattey ; " and he pointed to the unswept por- tion of the road. Phil set to work in a minute, thinking he was to have a penny for the job. The old man leant against the railings and criticised his labours, at the same time instructing the youth whenever he saw occasion. " Take your sweeps longer and firmer, and give more play to yer helbows — that's it ! Send the mud off yer broom with a jerk ! The mud's as stiff and sticky as batter-pudding, and requires hartfidness — very pretty ! Don't grind the broom down so uncommon wicious, or you'll have all them twigs wore down to stumps as quick as hair- cutten. Never mind getting hot, it saves firen, and a moist skin is wholesomest. "What are you abovit ? Can't you see where you're a goen. Keep the line, my lad, as straight and regular as wirtue's path, that's the way to be happy and get ha'pence." When Phil had made the crossing as " smooth and regular as a hoilcloth passage " — to use his professional friend's words — he was summoned back to the statue, and both sat down against the railings. " I'm agreeably disappointed in you," said the old feUow. " I'm uncommon pleased with your condict. My name is Stumpy." Phil exclaimed "Oh!" and now he knew what to call him, once more examined Mr. Stumpy minutely, as if he were a curiosity. Peeling that a similar confidence was expected of him, he also told his name. PAVED WITH GOLD 83 " Philup ain't such a nice name as Thumuras," said Mr. Stumpy, thoughtfully. " I once knowed a Philup as was homed without toes to his feet. I wish you'd heen a Thummus." Phil tried to look as if he also was aware of the invaluable blessing he had lost. " Tes," continued Stumpy, " Thummus is more of a poetry name than yourn, and betterer to rhyme with, and, consekently, a sweet- erer name. But never mind, Philup, we aU has our trials, and werry lucky is those as is acquitted not guilty, discharge the pi'isoner." This little moral reflection cast a gloom on the conversation, to dispel which Phil asked whether Mr. Stumpy thought there was just then an opening in life for a youth who had set his heart upon be- coming a crossing-sweeper. " Well, Philup, you certainly 'ave got gifts and qualities, and the way you handled your broom just now gives hopes of werry flatter- ing promise," began Mr. Stumpy, in an affected voice ; " but, bless you, sweeping ain't nothing to what it were. The only adwantage it have, as I can call to mention, is the remarkable small amount as is reqtiired to set up shop. How much money have you got, Philup P " Poor Phil, half ashamed of himself, confessed he hadn't a far- thing. Mr. Stumpy seemed quite startled at the reply. For a few seconds his speech failed him. At last, with an effort, he said, in saddened tones, " Either your imperrence or your pluck is wonderfid frothy, Philup. If you've no money, where's your broom to come fromP How do yer expex to sweep P Aire you to do it with a duster, or with your hand, scoopways P or does you expex brooms grows from seed, like cabbage and other stalky wegetables ? " " But if I had a broom ? " ventured Phil. " Philup, your notions is over-exacted ! " continued Stumpy. " You're a good boy, with clean dispositions, which I saw you sluic- ing yourself like a pidgeon in the f ountings not an hour sins, though you didn't use my washing-basin. That there is my dressing apart- ment," he added, pointing to one of the fountains, " and if the board of wurks was to pervide jack-towels and the loan of a hair-brush, it 'ud be the most convenientest in the uniwerse." Seeing Mr. Stumpy had wandered away from the subject, Philip gently led him back again to crossing-sweeping. J " It's a hard life, and not much of a living for anybody," answered the old man. " As yer ain't a hiucome-tax collector, I don't mind teUio.' you I tuk one and eightpence yesterday, and that's an un- common good take, too. I feel iu a ways obligated to help yer for your morning's job, so I'U give you a trial. Ter shall have my cross- ing whilst I'm at dinner, which is an hour, and I'U lend yer my broom, and all you can yam you may keep." " Oh, thank you," cried Phil. "And mind this here, Philup," continued Mr. Stumpy, "if you don't press the people you won't get nothing. They'll all say they 84 PAVED WITH GOLD ain't got no coppers, but don't believe it, and stick to 'em. If you can cry easy, it's a werry good help. The women is the shabbiest ; they always uses the best of places and gives the least ; but stick to 'em all the same, and say your mother's took bad, or something affecting. The only place you has women on is the feelings. Say mother's queer and the baby dying o' thirst, and that may fetch a ha'penny." Mr. Stumpy continued to give his pupU all the advice he could, until the business of the day commenced, and called the professional gentleman away to his labours. Having cautioned Philip to watch him narrowly, he took up his station on the other side of the road. Philip watched Mr. Stumpy's conduct minutely, but, for the life of him, he could discover no very great display of art in the manner in which he obtained his money. The old man took up his stand on the other side of the road, and all he appeared to do was to touch his hat whenever anybody passed. It struck the lad that it was one of the easiest methods of earning a living that he had ever witnessed. Mr. Stumpy, when the time came for him to go to dinner, made, as he handed up his broom, a point of asking Phil whether he had observed the art with which he had coaxed this old gentleman or wheedled that old lady, or frowned at the young children; but although Phil expressed great admiration of the sweeper's tact, yet he could not remember witnessing it. Just as Mr. Stumpy was about to hobble off to the public-house where he took his meals, a boy came running up, shouting out, " I say, old Stumpy, I'll give a penny for your crossen whilst you're feeding." But, despite the offer, the old man remained true to his word, and answering, " You're too late, Jim," left Phil as his true and lawful representative during his absence. When Jim found his bid was refused, he eyed Phil savagely. " How much did you pay him P " he asked. " I didn't pay him nothink ; he give it me," replied Phil. But Jim evidently had a poor opinion of old Stumpy's generosity, for he exclaimed, " None of yer lies ; don't try to come cramming of me ; " and sat down to nurse between his legs am old broom with a worn-out stump, which had been worked as round as a ball. Jim was a good-looking lad, with large eyes, whose whites shone out with extra brilliance on account of his face being a light slate colour with dirt. His hands were so black from want of washing,* that anybody might with reason have imagined that he had been walnut-peeling, and stained them brown with the juice. His costume was light and easy, consisting of a blackened shirt with so many rents in it, that the only wonder was how he knew which one his head was to go through, and a pair of trousers as full of slits as a fly-catcher, so that they foi-med a kind of network, through which the flesh was seen. This young gentleman, with his legs curled up under him like a cat's, sat watching Phil, who, imitating Stumpy, had taken up his PAVED WITH GOLD 85 stand near the pavement, and was toncliing his cap to everybody. But the passengers passed hy without giving anything, and Jim rolled about like a plaster tumbler, laughing with delight at the failure his rival Phil had made. At last he seemed to take pity on the misfortunes of the novice, for he crossed over the road, and, tap- ping him on the shoulder, said, — " It's easy to see you ain't been up to this game long. Why, you ain't no good at all ! " " I don't know why they won't give me anythink," stammered the ■downcast Phil. " If you likes to go halves, I'll help you," offered Jim. Phil was only too pleased to accept the proposal, for it struck him he might learn a few of the tricks of the calling more easily from one of his own age. Directly Jim had fetched his broom he went to work. His whole nature seemed to have altered in a moment. As soon as anybody set foot on the crossing, Jim was at them, grinning and looking up in the face as he ran before the passenger, sweeping away with savage industry, as if he took especial care in the person's boots. He moaned, and begged, and prayed, and rolled his big eyes about, too, in so extraordinary a style, that if they had been worked by clockwork, and made on purpose, they could not have shown more of the whites. Then sometimes he held out the dirty stuff bag he called a cap, and exposed to view a crop of hair that had matted itself into so many tufts, as if they were paint-brushes ; or else he ran on, pulling at his forelock, as if pecking at it with his hand, as a bird does at a hard crust. And aU the time, too, that he was doing these things, he was whining out, half coaxingly, " Give poor little Jack a copper, your honour — a little copper for poor little Jack ! " Phil watched his companion for a few moments, and then, imitating him as well as he could, he commenced the same kind of play. His success was astonishing. He was a pretty boy, and the excite, ment gave him a fresh colour, which had a wonderful effect upon the ladies. His being decently clothed was also rather in his favour, for one old lady even went so far as to say " he was a good boy to keep himself so decent, and make so good an appearance as he did." By the time Stumpy came back the boys had done excessively well. They sat down to share the proceeds. " I've taken fippence," said Phil ; " and here's your tuppence- ha'penny. How much did you get ? " "Only tuppence, on my oath," said Jim, coolly, though he knew very well that every farthing of the fourpence in his pocket had been «amed on that very crossing. " I thought I saw you take more than that," said Phil ; for it struck him that Mr. Jim's offering to " take his oath," even before he was accused, sounded very suspicious. " Search me, if you Uke," cried Mr. Jim, at the same time slipping the other twopence into a hole in his sleeve. 86 PAVED WITH GOLD When Mr. Stumpy teard of the success of his protege, he felt a little envious, but was nevertheless highly pleased. " You and Jim had better stick together," suggested the old man ■„ " he is a pushing lad, and full of derwices. He know so many dodges, that if the Bank of England was to buy 'em at four a penny, it 'ud be smashed up before he sold 'em half." Phil and Jim walked away together. " Tou want a broom, don't you P " asked Jim, cunningly. " I'U sell you mine for three 'arpenoe." It was a worn-out stump, only worth burning, but stupid Phil paid the money. "I say," said Jim, when they had walked a little further on, "I wish you'd lend me your waistcut. I'm so jolly cold, and you've got a coat." Simple Phil thought the request very reasonable, and granted it, but he never got the garment back again. When they had reached St. Martin's Church they sat down on the steps, and the new friend began to advise Phil as to what he would in future be expected to do. " I works in a gang," said Jim, " and we has all the crossings from here right up to Waterloo Place. Jack Drake — as we calls ' the Duck ' — is our Captain, and we've made Teddy Plight our king, because he's the best tumbler of the lot of us. When I takes you on to the crossuig, they'll try to pitch into you, but you mustn't mind that, and I'U stick up for you. Hit 'em hard. Tou don't mind being lan-upped, do you P " " Not that I know of," answered Phil, so readily that he gave Jim the impression that, on the contrary, he was rather partial to the amusement. " And, I say, there's something else," added Jim. " What's that P " asked Phil, trembling lest the difficulty should be insurmountable, for he had set his heart upon crossing-sweep- ing. " Tou know you must give me third of all you takes, or I shan't have nothink to do with you," stipulated the blackguard little usurer. All preliminaries being agreed to, the couple moved forward to joiu the gang. It so happened that they were just then working the crossing between the Lowther Arcade and the passage by the side of St. Martin's Churchyard. The moment Phil, carrying his broom, was seen by the young rogues, a shout was raised of " Here's a fresh 'un ! here's a Greek ! " and they all gathered round him, holding their handles as if they meant a fight. " Are you going to sweep here P " asked a very little f eUow in a very pert tone. "All right, Teddy," put in Jim, "he's one of the right sort — a friend of mine.'' Teddy didn't seem to think it was aU right, for he answered, — " There's too many of us by a long sight, and it won't do ; " and aa PAVED WITH GOLD 87 if to show that he meant what he said, he hit poor Phil over the head with his broom and ran off. All the boys caUed out, "Where's the Duck— where's Jack Drake ? " A kind of fight had commenced when Jack made his appearance. A mob, too, had begun to collect, and a policeman was seen approach- ing in the distance. Under these circumstances, the first thing Mr. Drake did was to shout out, " What are you making a row for P " the next was to order an adjournment to the " Jury House," by which important name the steps of St. Martin's Church were distinguished by the band. On the way to the Jury House, Jim whispered in the Captain's ear that the new comer was willing to pay his footing to the amount of twopence, a statement which seemed to please the Duck, for he smiled and winked. The King, as Master Teddy Flight was called by his companions, was a smaU-featnred boy about as tall as a mantel-piece, and with a pair of grey eyes that were as bright and twinkling as chandelier- drops, and moved about suddenly and quickly as mice. He was clothed in a style of comparative magnificence befitting his title, having on a kind of dirt-coloured shooting- jacket of tweed, the edges of which were quickly fraying into a kind of cobweb trimming at the edges. His royal highness's trousers were rather faulty, for at both the knees there was a pink wrinkled dot of flesh, and the length of the pants was too great for his majesty's short legs, so that they had been rolled up like a washerwoman's sleeves, making a thick roll about the feet, which, though wonderfully small, required a good deal of washing to render them attractive, and set off their beauty of formation. In the course of that day Philip had many opportunities of witness- ing his majesty's wondrous tumbling powers. He would bend his little legs as round as the long German sausages in the ham-and-beef shops, and when he turned head-over-heels, he curled up Ms tiny and august body as closely as a wood-louse, and then rolled along, wab- bling over like an egg. On the other hand, the Duck, or to give him his proper rank, Captain Jack Drake, was a big boy, with a face devoid of the slightest expression, until he laughed, when the cheeks, mouth, and forehead instantly became crumpled up with a wonderful quantity of lines and dimples. His hair was cut short, and stood up in all directions, Hke the bristles of a hearth-broom, and was of a light dust tint, matching with the hue of his complexion, which also, from neglecting to wash himself, had turned to a decided drab, or what house-painters term a stone colour. He had lost two of his big front teeth, which caused his speech to be rather thick, though it enabled him to be an expert whistler, and which also allowed the tongue, as he talked, to appear through the opening, in a round nob like a raspberry. Captain Drake's regimentals were in a shocking condition ; he had 88 PAVED WITH GOLD no coat, and his blue-striped sliii-t was as dirty as a Frenoli polisher's rags, and so tattered that the shoulder was completely bare, and the sleeve hung down over the hand like a hig bag. Of course he had no shoes on, and his black trousers, which were, with grease, gradually assuming a dull, leathery look, were fastened over one shoulder by means of a brace composed of bits of string. The solemn conclave at the Jury House ended in an uproar which required all the influence of the Duck to quell, and nearly ended in the King himself throwing up the broom of office, and resigning his throne. But Jim, by mortgaging Phil's future earnings to the amount of ninepence, at length succeeded in satisfying all parties. The knovring Jim having already had some experience in Phil's success, took him with him to a crossing by themselves ; and he was right, too, for they both did so well that hy nine o'clock they had made Is. 3d. each. They might have earned more, only it came on to rain, so Jim said he should knock off for the night. " We in general goes up to the Haymarket, and tumbles and begs about there until two or three in the morning," said Jim, " but it would be no go to-night in the rain, so I shan't bother with it. I'l take you to-morrow instead." Whilst going home, Jim showed Phil the shops where he usually bought his eatables. " I shall buy a pound of bread," said Jim, " because I've done pretty tidy, that's tuppence-farden — best seconds; and a farden's worth of dripping — ^that's enough for a pound of bread — and a ha'porth of tea, and a ha'porth of brown sugar. We've got cups and saucers where we lodge." " Don't you ever eat meat ? " asked Phil, who was fond of it. " Tes, once or twice a week we get meat," answered Jim. We club together and go into Newgate Market and get some prime pieces cheap, and boils them at home. We tosses up who shall have the biggest bit, and we divide the broth, a cupful each, until it's lasted out." " I say, where shall I sleep P I haven't got e'er a place," said Phil, whom these pleasing visions of Jim's home had roused to a sense of his destitution. " Haven't got a crib ! " answered the crossing-sweeper. " You'd better come along with us. It's only thruppence a night, and there's a stimning nice flock-bed where four on us can sleep easy and com- fortable, and the covering is so warm it makes a cove steam in no time. Besides, it's betterer than a regular lodging-house, for if you want a knife or a cup, you don't have to leave nothink on it till it's returned." The two boys started off for Drury Lane, and entered one of the nan-ow streets which branch ofE from that long thoroughfare like the side-bones of a fish's spine. It was one of those streets which, were it not for the paved cart- way, would be called a court. On the night in question the drizzling PAVED WITH GOLD 89 xadn had driven all the inmates in-doors ; but its appearance in the daytime, when the sun is shiaing, is vei-y different. Then at each side of the entrance in Drury Lane is seated a coster-woman with her basket before her, and her legs tucked up mysteriously under her gown into a round ball. They both remain as inanimate as if they were a couple of carved trade-signs placed there to show that coster- mongers dwell in the street, and it is only when a passenger passes that they give any signs of Hf e, by caUing out in a low voice, like talking to themselves, "Two for three-harpence, herrens," and " Foine honneyens." This street is like one of the thoroughfares in the East. Opposite neighbours cannot exactly shake hands out of the windows, but they can chat together very comfortably ; and indeed, all day long, women are seen with their arms folded up like oats' paws, leaning from the casements and conversing with their friends over the way. Nearly all the inhabitants are costermongers, and the narrow cartway seems to have been made just wide enough for a truck to wheel down it. The owners of a beer-shop and a general store, with a couple of sweeps, whose residences are distinguished by a broom over the door, seem to form the only exceptions from the street-vendors who inhabit the court. On entering the place, it gives you the notion of belonging to a distinct colony, or as if it formed one large home, or private resi- dence ; for everybody seems to be doing just what he or she likes, and the way in which any stranger who passes is stared at proves that he is considered in the light of an intruder. Women squat on the pavement, knitting and repairing their linen ; the door-ways are blocked up with bonnetless girls who wear their shawls over then- heads, as Spanish women do their mantillas ; and the coster youths, in their suits of corduroy, ornamented with brass buttons, are chatting with the maidens, and loU against the house walls as they smoke their pipes, blocking up the pavement with no more ado than if they were in a private garden. Little children find that the kerbstone makes a convenient seat ; and parties of men seat them- selves on the footway and play with cards which have been thumbed to the colour of brown paper, making the points they gain with chalk upon the flag-stones. The parlour windows which look into the street have all of them wooden shutters as thick and clumsy as the flaps to a kitchen table, and the paint is turned to the dull colour of a greased slate. Some of these shutters are evidently never used as a security for the dwelling, but only as a table upon which to chalk the accounts of the day's street sale. Before some of the doors are costermongers' trucks — some standing ready to be wheeled off, others just brought home, stained and muddy with the morning's work. A few costers are seen dressing up their barrows, arranging the sieves of waxy-looking potatoes ; others taking the stiff herrings— browned like a meerschaum with the smoke they were dried in — ^from the barrels that look as clean as a 90 PAVED WITH GOLD captain's biscuit, and spacing the fish out in penn'orths on their trays. Ton can almost tell what each costermonger is out selling that day by the heap of refuse swept into the road before the door. At one place is a mound of blue mussel-shells — at another a pile of the outer leaves of brocoU and cabbages, turning yellow and slimy with bruises and moisture. Hanging up besides some of the doors are bundles of strawberry pottles, stained red with the fruit, and their pointed ends sticking out in all directions, like the rays of a monster compass. Over the trap-doors to the cellars are piles of market-gardeners' sieve-baskets, all ruddled like a sheep's back with big red and blue letters. In fact,, everything that meets the eye seems to be in some way connected with the coster's trade. From the upper windows poles stretch out across the court, on which blankets, petticoats, and linen are drying ; and so numerous are these poles that they remind one of the flags hung out at a Paris, fete. Many of the sheets have patches as big as trap-doors let into their centres, and the blankets are — some of them — as full of holes as- a pigeon-house. " Rows " are very frequent in such a coiu^. The first day Phil passed at his new residence he had the opportunity of witnessing one- He couldn't tell how it began. All he saw was a lady, whose hau" wanted brushing, leaning out of a first-floor window, and haranguing a crowd beneath, throwing her arms about her as i£ she was struggling in the water, and in her excitement nearly pitching her body half-way out of her temporary rostrum, with the same energy as that with which Punch is made to jerk himself over his theatre. " He dragged her," she shouted, " by the hair of her head for at least ten yards into the court — ^the villun ! and then he kicked her,, and I see the blood on his boot ! Oh, you murdering hound, you ! you villun ! " She shook her fist at a sweep — as black as a fly — who had been behaving in this cowardly way to some poor creature. Still the man had his defenders in the women around him. One with very shiny hair, and an Indian handkerchief round her neck, answered the lady in the window, calling her " a d — d old cat," whilst the sweep's wife rushed about, clapping her hands together as if she were applauding at a theatre, and calling somebody " an old vagabond as she wouldn't dirty her hands to fight." This row had the effect of drawing all the dwellers in the court to their windows, many of whom inquired, " What's up with old Parkers P " Their heads popped out as suddenly as dogs from their kennels in a fancier's yard. When the two lads reached the door of the house where the gang lived, Jim stopped suddenly to say to Phil, — " Don't mind what old Mother O'Donovan says to you. We calls her Mother Doo-nuffin. She's not a bad sort, when she isn't drunk. PAVED WITH GOLD 91 And, I say, don't pay her if she's lushy, 'cos she's sure to forget all about it in the morning, and want you to pay again." With this admonition, Phil stumbled after his companion up some stairs, which, in the dark, seemed to him to be aU wedge-shaped, and to be continually twisting round. At last Jim stopped and opened a door. As he entered the room he cried out, " Mother, I'm always doing you a good turn. Here, I've brought you a new lodger." If he's got threepence he's intirely welcome,'' answered a shaky voice from inside. So Phil, having that sum, stepped boldly forward and presented himself to his landlady. She was dressed in a linen jacket, which joined on to a short petticoat, and as her naked feet and a considerable portion of the legs were visible, she had some- thing the appearance of a bathiag-woman. She wore a frilled night- cap, which, from her having no hair, fitted her head as tight as a bladder. " You're a nice-lookiag boy enough," she said, eyeing Phil ; " I hope you'll behave yourself and pay your rent regular, and not follow the example of the Duck, who niver has a penny in his dirty pocket." * If she was pleased with Phil's looks, he was rather startled by hers, for one of her eyes was slowly recoveiing from a blow, and her lip, too, was cut and swollen. " Is it my eye you're looking at, child P " she said, noticing his surprise. " It was a dirty blackgeyrd gave it me, and tm-ned it as blue as a mussel." The room was scarcely larger than a larder, and the ceiling was so low that a fly-paper, suspended from a clothes-Une, was on a level with the head, and had to be carefully avoided when moving about. One comer was completely filled up vrith a big four-post bedstead, which fitted into a kind of recess as perfectly as if it had been built to order. There were two forms lying asleep in this bed, and by a round, fair arm, put out to pull up the coverlid, they were evidently women. The old landlady had endeavoured to give the dwelling a homely look of comfort by hanging about the walls little black-framed pictures, scarcely bigger than pocket-books. Most of them were sacred subjects, principally of saints, with large yellow glories round their heads as big as straw hats ; though between the drawings of two Apostles, undergoing their martyrdom, was an illustration of a red-waistcoated " Jolly Sailor," smoking his pipe, and the Adoration of the Shepherds, ingeniously coloured in red, blue, and yellow, was matched on the other side of the fireplace by a portrait of Daniel O'Oonnell in a gorgeous cloak. The chest of drawers was covered over with a green baize cloth, on which books, shells, and clean glasses were tidily set out. The first thing Jim did on entering was to wash his muddy feet. Whilst he was doing this, Phil whispered to him, " We don't aU sleep in that bed, do we ? " 92 PAVED WITH GOLD " Of course not," answered Jim, " our place is in the next room, a fust-rate turn-out ! " They had scarcely been home ten minutes before another of the boys made his appearance. It was one that Phil had never seen before. Mike was a short, stout-set youth, with a face like an old man's, for the features were hard and defined, and the hollows had got filled up with dirt, like a wood carving. This youth wore a man's coat, which made him look all body, for the waist reached to his knees. His hair, too, was very peculiar, for it spread out from the crown like a tuft of grass where a rabbit has been squatting. The boy's countenance was so dirty that Mother Doo-nuffin roared out in horror when she saw him. The rain had beat in his face, and he had rubbed it with his muddy hands until it was marbled Uke a copybook cover, with circles, streaks, and dots. " Tou ought to be ashamed of yourself, Mike — and that's Gospel truth — not to go and sluice the muck off yourself. Instead of wash- ing like a Christian, you've been larking with them girls over the way." A voice under the bedclothes cried out, " Tes, I seed him along with them, going on with their pranks." Mike laughed feebly, and replied, " I can't get this here ofE with- out a drop of hot water." But the old lady indignantly silenced him by screaming out, " And haven't you had time to heat galUns by ■this time P " About eleven o'clock the remainder of the gang returned home, wet through, and tired out. The moment the old woman saw the Duck she began to attack him. " Where's the rent you owe me, Mr. Drake P I know you've got money, so cash up." " Ah, you are hard upon a chap," pleaded the Duck. " It's the candid truth I'm telling, when I say I can't tell you the last shilling I handled." " For shame on ye, Drake — for shame on ye ! " cried the land- lady ; " now didn't you make six shilling last week— now, spake Bible truth — didn't you ? " " What ! six shillings ! " cried the Duck, " six shillings ! — it would make a bright youth of me." And he looked up to the ceiling, and shook his hands. " Why I never heard of such a sum. I did once see half -a-crown ; but I don't know as I ever touched one." " Thin," roared the old lady, " it's because you're idle, Drake, and don't study when you're on the crossing, but lits the people go by without ever a word. That's what it is ! " The Duck, who made more money than any one else in the gang, pretended to feel the truth of the reproach, and said, with a sigh, — " I knows I am fickle-minded." " Look at Teddy Flight," continued the dame, " he's not quarther your size, Drake, and yet he brings home his eighteenpence reg'lar. PAVED WITH GOLD 93 I blush for yer, Drake ; you're disgracing the world by living in it, and never paying a penny of the rint aU the time." To escape being scolded, the Duck retired to rest and was speedily followed by the others. The bedroom was merely an empty apartment, with a big mattress on the floor. They remained talking for some time before they went to sleep, and the conversation — for the sake of Phil — turned upon the science of throwing cart-wheels or eaten- wheeling, as they termed it, coupled with the art of tiirmng head over heels. " I was the first as ever did eaten- wheeUng on a crossing," said the Duck, proudly, " and I learnt the others to do it. That's why I was made Oapten, because I was the best tumbler." " Ah, Teddy Plight is the one to tumble, though ! " cried Jim, " go along the streets like any think, he can ! Ah, to see him and the Duck have a race, it is just beautiful ! Away they goes, but Teddy leaves him a mUe behind in less than no time." The Duck said humbly, " I called Teddy the King of Tumblers— the king, and I'm Oapten— yet I learned him. Ah ! I'd give aU my health and strength to that little fellow if I could, I'm that proud of him." " Does it hurt, tumbling ? " asked Phil. Mike, who was taking lessons in the art, broke in, " Hxiri ! I be- lieve you. It makes the blood come to the head and sets all the things about a-tuming. And don't it tire you, too, that's all. Only ti-y it." Phil had already made up his mind to do so. CHAPTER IV. ON THE CROSSING. Philip Mbeton is a crossing-sweeper — a most accomplished and successful crossing-sweeper. He has ended his apprenticeship, and thoroughly learned his business. He no longer pays blackmail to the usurious Jim, nor lends halfpence, that are never to be returned, to Oaptain Drake; neither does he trouble himseM about discharging the taxes so whimsically imposed by that most free-and-easy monarch, King Teddy Flight the First. If he chose, he could depose that upstart sovereign, or cause the gaUanfe Duck to be degraded to the ranks ; for Phil has such " luck on the crossing," that the half-dozen Httle rips who compose this muddy band are envious of his success, and treat him with the greatest respect. Phil has only to raise the 94 PAVED WITH GOLD broom of rebellion, and the dynasty of tbe Tlights would be puffed out as easily as a rusb-ligbt in a gale of wind. And tere it may, perhaps, be as well to remark that the great com- mercial principle of superior wealth has the same influence over little dirt-stained crossing-sweepers as over great and glorious City gentlemen. The day Phil cleared four shillings he was complimented and camied by his ragged companions as thoroughly as was Mr. Stearine, of the firm of Margerine and Co., when he appeared on 'Change, after realizing a cool thirty thousand by the rise in taUow. In the arts of throwing " cart-wheels " and turning head over heels, Phil has become so efficient that even the Duck himself stands en- tranced and f asciijated when watching his graceful tumbling. The compliments paid by the Duck are quaintly vulgar, but unmistakably sincere. " The first time I see him," remarks the ragged Captain, " I could see he were all there, and a rare bit of stuff." With his limbs outspread like opened scissors, Phil trundles along the pavement, looking one mass of revolving legs ; so that had a Manx man happened to pass, he might have fancied the arm.s of his native island had wandered from their escutcheon and come to London, where necessity had compelled them to sell their casings of steel and put up with tattered corduroy. Even that acknowledged bounding favourite, King Plight, whose acrobatic feats had sent him head over heels on to the throne, dares not contest with Phil for gymnastic superiority ; and the great match made some fortnight since " to eaten- wheel " along the north side of Trafalgar Square for a wager of threepence has not yet come off, nor is it ever likely to be decided, for his royal highness is very doubtful of the result. But Phil has learned to do other things besides tumbling and begging. He has won the admiration of this band of lawless mud- sweepers by the fulness and fire of his big oaths. If he had worn a beard a foot long, or if he had been a drill-sergeant, or the stage manager of a theatre, he could not have sworn rounder curses than came from his boyish pouting lips. When he is angry he will roar out his blistering oaths, jumbling them up together in senseless confusion, for he has picked up the silly words without understanding their meaning, and he throws them at his antagonists in the same way as he would stones. In his quiet, pleasant, friendly converse, he garnished his remarks with swearing, spacing out his words with fiery exclamations, and rougeing up his sentences with powerfvil adjectives; but he does so, stupid lad, more because it makes his companions laugh than from what he knows of their purport or the use they may be to the phrase. When any oath stronger than usual is made use of, Mike, who is a great admirer of PhU, has been heard to remark, " He do like a bit of scarlet ; " and Jim has more than once observed that " Tou might a'most see to go to bed by Phil's swearing, it's so blazing powerful." To hear these terrible words rise fuming from a child's dimpled PAVED WITH GOLD 95 mouth causes many well-disposed persons, as they pass along, to draw in their breath with horror, for they experience the same shock as if they had seen a babe playing with a sharp knife. Should any kind enthusiast be bold enough to stop and counsel the silly boy, he soon discovers how useless his admonitions are, for oath after oath detonates in his face as if the lad were defending himself with a revolver loaded with blasphemy, and all the gang, like so many village curs, come yelping around the poor moralist, barking out their volleys of curses until he is driven away. The poor child, too, has acquired a dexterous knack of petty pilfer- ing. To show his skill at purloining, he snatches up cabbages from outside greengrocers' shops and throws them away again when he is out of sight. The old man who sells sheep's trotters outside the public-house in the Haymarket fears Phil more than a policeman, for whenever the young rip passes, either the mustard spoon is whipped up, amd all covered as it is with the yellow condiment, rammed down the vendor's neck, or else the bottom of the basket receives a vigorous tap, which sends the dust-coloured articles of food jumping into the air like parched peas on a drum. When a dairy girl goes past, swinging her body to and fro with the weight of her milk-pails, Phil lifts up the lids of the cans and drops stones inside, which splash down into the white liquid, and then rattle about inside the tin vessel with a noise like theatrical thunder. He chalks the backs of highly-dressed gentlemen ; he stuffs orange peel into the hoods of ladies' cloaks, and he pricks the quivering calves ■of fashionable footmen. At the general dealers' where the boys buy their bread and dripping, nothing is safe from Phil's quick fingers. A slice of bacon is hidden in the sleeve with the same dexterity as a conjuror passes a card, and though the general dealer herself keeps her eye upon him, he manages to rob like a clown in a pantomime, and apparently for the same result, for all the pilfered onions, potatoes, and herrings are afterwards flung about as in the " pelting " scene on the stage. Many a time has an apple woman, whilst dozing on the kerb-stone, been startled out of her life by the cries of " Hi ! hi ! " the scamp has — as if a cab were close behind her — shouted in her ear, in order that he might, during her flutter, purloin the penny pyramids of fruit. The innocent look that once gave interest to Phil's face, and made wayfarers generous through pity, has now changed to an impudent, roguish air, which from its archness amuses sufficiently to be profit- able. He can twist his flexible features in twenty expressions in less than a minute ; at one time appearing exhausted and suffering, then stretching his lips into a smile as readily as a circus rider, or assum- ing a sly raven's glance as he peeps up sideways into a lady's bonnet. The monkey manners and buflloon tricks he has picked up give a gloss to his begging, so that when the people look into his pretty face and see it bright and restless as a jack-a-dandy, they are forced to laugh, and then Phil knows he is sure to get a penny. 96 PAVED WITH GOLD The silly boy looks upon Ms present life as a holiday ; he laughs at the time when he had masters over him, and grows extravagant and uproarious with his freedom. Already has he become habituated to the courses of his companions, and, in endeavoui-ing to imitate, he surpasses them. There is but one who could save Phil from the destiny that seems to await him. Could Sister Bertie meet with him, could he but hear her coaxing voice, he would run rejoicingly to her as a dog that has strayed bounds to the call of its master, for he bears her an earnest love which would make her reproaches sting him like whips, and force him to obey her good counsels. Sister Bertie is his conscience. She is the only one he dreads to meet as he stands in his rags on the crossing. He thinks of her by day and night, she fills his bosom like his breath. When he is tossing on his flock bed, awake though his eyes are closed, it is Bertie that will not let him sleep, for she is at his ear, whispering recollections of the peaceful days gone by, and bringing back memories that make him feel faint as they pass through his brain. " Mother often wonders where you are," whispers conscience Bertie; and the boy's temples grow hot, and he lies so still that he feels his heart beat with a dull weight that shakes aU his body. In the darkness of the night when he shuts his eyes, Phil can, by thinking intently, caU up the image of any person that he resolutely &xea his thoughts upon, and many a time has he summoned to him the form of that tender-hearted woman. Nurse Hazlewood ; and then she stands before him, vivid as the image on a stained-glass window, with her eyes downcast, as he has so often seen them when gazing up in her face. Then Phil can scarcely draw in his breath, and, choking with fear, he tosses about, and tries to drive the shadowy form away. As if he dreaded that those phantom lips might reproach him, he sobs out excuses to his " dear mother,'' and pleads so earnestly for pardon that sometimes his companions are awakened, and, fancying he has been dreaming, shake him violently. These regrets and sorrows are the emotions that humanize the boy, and help to preserve him from total ruin of soul. Whilst his fellows are laughing at his impotent oaths, or, in their rough manner, praising his last larceny. Sister Bertie has her hand on his heart, tightening it with remorse, or he feels a chill pass over his forehead, as if " mother " had breathed upon him ; and then he answers the flattery with a forced laugh, that does not rise from the chest with a joyous ring in it, but is dead and toneless as a moan. The laws by which the little community of associated crossing- sweepers was governed were of so simple a nature, that, after study- ing them for a matter of twenty minutes, Phil was sufficiently versed in jurisprudence to commence his muddy profession without fear of offending any member of the body. There was a rough notion of honour preserved among these lads which condemned any attempt at cheating among themselves, although, as a kind of compensation for PAVED WITH GOLD 97 this privation, it was enacted that every other member of the human family should be considered as a fair object of plunder, whom it was perfectly right to cheat, defrand, trick, or otherwise impose upon. The only system of punishment enforced under this muddy code was of a summary nature, somewhat resembling in speediness of execu- tion the celebrated Lynch law, although no instance has yet been recorded of death having followed its infliction, the culprit being usually permitted to escape when the torture measured out to him had reached to " within an inch of his life." According to an act which was made and passed in the second year of the reign of His Majesty King Teddy Flight, it was enacted that any boy attempting " to crab," i.e. cheat, another, should then and there, and without warning, " have a broom broke about him," or, indeed, receive such other bodily injury as any member of the little community might feel inclined to inflict, such as kicking, hitting, or pulling of hair. By another clause of this same act it was further ordained, in order to put an end to the constant quarrels which arose during business hours as to the rightful owner of the halfpence given by the foot passengers, that a system of " naming " should be adopted, by which the boy who was the first to call out that he saw anybody coming, should lawfully and of his own right be entitled to take,, receive, pocket, and apply to his own use, any money or moneys that might be handed, thrown, or otherwise given by the wayfarers afore- said. In order to conceal their language as much as possible from their arch-enemy the policeman, a kind of slang was adopted by the sweeping crew, which was supposed to render their proceedings mysterious and tmintelligible to any but themselves. For this pur- pose the rather degrading appellation of "toffl" was given to all persons of the male gender, whilst the insulting epithet of " doU " was applied to every aged female, the younger members of the gentler sex being known by the peculiar title of "doxy." If, while they were begging, a policeman was seen to approach the crossing, the signal of " tow-row " was instantly given, so that the gang might have time to take to their dirty little heels and escape from the Berlin-gloved grasp of the law, which they all well knew highly disapproved of alms-seeking in the streets. As a better precaution against any sudden surprise from the constables stationed near their haunts, each " active of&cer " of Scotland Yard had a nickname given to him, which was generally of an insulting character. There was " Old Bandy," a highly intelligent member of the force, so called from the peculiar construction of his legs, which allowed an opening shaped somewhat like a horse collar to be seen between his limbs. Another was called " Black Diamond," from his having singularly brilliant eyes, which shone out from his pale, cream-laid countenance like blots. A third was known as "BuU'b Head," owing to the apoplectic appearance of his neck, and the tight, crisp curls which 98 PAVED WITH GOLD covered his forehead. Besides these there were Messrs. " Cherry- legs " and " Dot-and-carry-One,'' and " Shivery-shanks," all of whom had earned their sobriquets by their offensive vigilance and strict supervision of this more or less honourable Company of Crossing- sweepers. A system of compulsory fines had, shortly before Phil's introduc- tion to the society, been instituted by the Captain, who, being the first to put it in force, had styled the measure " smugging," and its operation was something like the following : we will suppose that Mr. Mike has dishonourably endeavoured to appropriate to himself Mr. Jem's " namiug " of some approaching foot passenger ; for this want of courtesy the injured Mike would be justified in " smugging " the offender's broom, or — if he wore one — his cap, and he would even be held harmless should the confiscated property be thrown down the nearest area or into the most convenient water-butt. While explain- ing to Phil the working of this law, King Flight, to impress it thoroughly on the novice's mind, made use of these remarkable words, — " I'm the littlest chap among our lot, but if a feller as big as the Duck was to behave unhandsome, I'd smug something, and get his ha'pence, even if he smashed me like a winder." This sentiment pleasingly illustrates the strong determination ever felt by his ragged majesty to see the laws of his dynasty properly respected and carried out. Owing to the late hours the gang were in the habit of keeping — through their business engagements in the Haymarket, where they were usually professionally employed until three in the morning — the boys seldom made their appearance upon their crossings before midday. " I never stops out aU night," said one of the band, a promising youth of eleven, to Phil, who was inquiring into their habits ; " it knis me for the next day. The Duck is dreadfxd for late hours — he likes it ; but I can't manage nohow without my rest, for I bees so sleepy that I ain't fit to handle a broom." When Phil had become accustomed to his new life, he entered into all the peculiarities of it as earnestly and noisily as the oldest hand in the troop. If the weather was dry and the roads dusty, he gene- rally preferred " tumbling " and " eaten- wheeling " along the passage by St. Martin's Church. Three or four of the young gentlemen would take up their stand at the end near the Lowther Arcade, and with their eyes intently fixed upon the bazaar-like thoroughfare, await the approach of any " likely-looking " persons. Presently an old lady and her child are seen advancing. " A doU and a kiddy ! " shout two of the lads in one voice ; and immediately afterwards — to prevent disputes from their having ■■ named " them simultaneously — one of them adds, " Go you halves," and the terms being accepted, they both commence twirling and twisting like imps in a pantomime round the dame and her progeny, PAVED WITH GOLD 99 ■who, startled at finding the muddy feet dart past her eyes rapidly aa the sails of a windmill, draws back in horror and disgust. " Shy US a copper, mum," pleads one. " Poor little Jack, miss," whines another ; and then they both writhe and pull their hair supplicatingly to the unprotected couple. " A tofE and a doxy," roars Phil, in his turn, as a fashionably-attired youth, in earnest flirtation with an elegant damsel resting on his arm, nears the " school." But Phil has not noticed the little child that, laden with toys, is trotting by the maiden's side, and the sharp-eyed Jem shouts out — quick as the report of a pistol — " And a kiddy," and so claims the " caJl," for it had been wisely enacted by King Flight that accuracy in these matters is the sole method of business. The lovers are checked in their sweet converse by the supple Jem placing his broom behind him and assuming a " honey-pot " position, in which attitude he rolls before them wobbling like a nine-gaUon cask, and at the same time imploring, in a voice rendered thick by his head being held down, that the " Captain will give poor Jacky a little sixpence." Phil, by constant practising on the flock bed in the sleeping apart- ment of his lodgings, has arrived at that state of gymnastic perfection that he can turn over head and heels about thirty times consecutively. This talent has procured him a great deal of custom, even among his companions, for, should one of them, who is unable to " tumble," make a " call," he will depute Phil to perform for him, and share the proceeds — if any. With gentlemen of sporting dispositions Phil is invariably appointed to provide the acrobatic entertainment. As soon as anybody wearing the natty tight trousers and flat-brimmed hat peculiar to frequenters of betting rooms is seen lounging afar off, the boys know that nobody can coax so many halfpence from him as Master Phil, and he is always requested to give his perform- ance. On such occasions the lad generally styles himself " The little Winner of the Derby." After he has wabbled over some ten times, he stops to see if the "' sporting tofE " is laughing, and even the faintest smile is suf5cient to send him trundling on again like a hat before the wind. It is not an unfrequent occurrence for the sport-loving gent to give the young monkey that peculiar allowance known as " more kicks than halfpence," for he has been known to run at the curled-up boy, and saying " Get out of that," administer a vigorous thrust with his boot, which has sent Phil rolling like a foot- ball. During their meal hours, which were by no means regular, the boys would talk in a professional manner of the day's exploits. If the earnings had been small, the conversation usually took a melancholy turn. " They're a-gettin' pretty nigh sick of caten-wheehng,'' said the King, sorrowfully, as, seated on a doorstep, he munched his bread and dripping. " It's enough to make a chap's 'art turn sour, it is," 100 PAVED WITH GOLD lie went on, his cheeks puffed out with the last mouthful until they were as tight and round as a horn-player's. Another of the Associated Sweepers, who was known by the nick- name of the " Stuttering Baboon," spluttered out — " And 'ead and 'eels ain't 'arf a living for a feller, for if you only does it four or five goes, they says, ' Oh, hany body could do that there,' and they won't give nufBen." " Dear, dear ! " sighed the Duck, " money is tight ; it's like pulling a tooth out getting ha'pence now. People's feelings has reg'lar froze up to what they was." '■ Ah ! " chimed in Jem, " we works hard for what we gets ; nobody more so. And then there's the perUoe always a-birching us so spiteful." Phil, too, would add his groan to the rest. " And such crammers as I've heard people tell. One old chap says, ' I hasn't any coppers,' when I could hear him a-playing with 'em in his pocket, a-i-attling on 'em like a tambourine." If, on the other hand, the morning's receipts had been equal to their expectations, the gang would laugh and make as much noise over their twopenny entertainment as if they were so many gentle, men at a Blackwall dinner. "Did you see how I forced that chap in the shooting-jacket?" boasts Jem on such occasions. " Says he, ' I ain't got no ha'pence,' and, says I, ' I ain't perticular if it's silver ; ' and he laughed and chucked me a fourpenny." The Duck, too, is in excellent spirits, and, contrary to his usual habit, admits that he has done " pretty well." Referring to one exploit, he says, " She gave me threepence ; " and a sweet smile burst over his grimy face ; " and it were done up in paper, like a young gal's curl on a Sunday morning." At this point King Flight joins in joyously, " I seed a feller a-courting a gal, and he gave me a 'hole handful of coppei-s just to show off he were tender-hearted afore her.'' " The most I got," ehii-ps Phil, " was by following a 'oman with a baby, and says I, keeping close to the young tm, ' Spare a trifle, kind lady, for there's five on us at home, and all took awful with the small- pox ; ' and says she, ' Keep off ! ' And she scrunches up the child into a lump, and so I got sixpence." When the groimd was muddy, so that a number of persons were forced to make use of Phil's crossing, his pocket would fill rapidly with halfpence. On one such day — it had beeni-aining " beautifully " all night, and the roads were dirty as the path round a piggery — he had as much as a crown given to him, " and aU in coppers, without one bit of silver among it." As soon as he had collected a shilling, the little fellow would run off to the general dealer's and deposit it with "old Mother Savings-bank," as they nicknamed the woman. This prudent step was taken through fear of getting into trouble with the police from begging ; for all in this sweeping community well knew PAVED WITH GOLD 101 that, if when taken into custody money was found on them, not only would the magistrate punish them severely for asking charity when they were not in positive want, but worse than all the little fortune tied up in a rag and stowed away in pockets and comers of linings was forfeited and taken from them for that most tenible of all fates — to he spent by somebody else. Whilst Phil was, one day, having this tenible point of the law explained to him by Captain Duck, he could not refrain from asking, " And who gets the money they collars from the chaps P " The gallant Mr. Drake, whose opinion of the uprightness of a police magistrate was but a poor one, replied with a wink, " Ah ! that's the game ! He makes out the Crown have it ; but if the Crown don't get more than he lets slip through his fingers, why the Crown must be wei-y hard up, I should say." Toung Phil held a share, as joint proprietor, in three crossings ; for a.lthough the ground from the Lowther Arcade down to the Hay- market belonged nominally to the entire gang, yet, to avoid disputes and ruinous opposition during business hours, they had divided the difEerent roads among them. Of a mojming before starting for the day's labours, they would talk of their crossirigs as noblemen do of their estates. " I think I shall take a run down to Charing Cross," Jem would 8ay> ■" I ain't been there ever such a time ; it's one of the best stands I has." What'U you sell us your crossing for ? " would ask the speculative Duck, who was fond of " dabbling " in muddy ventures. " Owe you a bob and a broom for it." " I likes opposite to the Arcade best," PhU would observe, " it's as good a bit o' ground as any in London." There was a crossing near Spring Gardens, in which Phil also had an interest, though he used to underlet it to a little girl, who at night would give him part of her earnings. This property was known among the gang as Grub Street, it being chiefly valuable for the " broken victuals " it brought in ; for the servants in the neighbour- hood would employ the young scavengers to run errands for them, and in return give them " the bits " that came from the table of Dives, their master. Teddy Plight used often to moan over the slight revenue that his property returned him. " It ain't sixpence a week to a chap," he would lament, " for all the gentlemens as lives there has such a lot of carriages — that catch 'em a walking, that's all." Sometimes the food — or scran as they called it — given to the urchins consisted of -the plate-scrapings, collected from yesterday's dinner- party, and included many scraps of the " greatest delicacies of the season." On such occasions the feast was usually held on the stone steps leading to St. James's Park. As soon as the cap which did duty as dish was emptied of its contents and the banquet exposed to view, an equal partition of the dainty viands took place, though not without a good deal of quarrelUng among the al fresco party. 102 PAVED WITH GOLD The Duck seeing a morsel of " mayonnaise de volaille," would instantly implore that the " chicken with the shaving soap '' might fall to his lot. On such occasions, bits of jelly were termed " size," and " fricamdeau de veau " was familiarly spoken of as " hedgehog.'' Bargains, too, would be made after the following fashion : " Give ua some of your smashed taters for these here fish 'eads ; " or, " I'll give you that there big bit of fat for some of your cold carrots." The criticisms on the cooking, too, were peculiar and original; curry being declared to " beat peppermint at warming a chap," and pieces of almond-flavoured custard considered to be a kind of per- fumery manufactured on the same principle as scented hair-oil. When evening came on, the boys left their crossiags and made for the Haymarket, which they looked upon as the great hunting-ground for ■' coppers," and so much more profitable did they find their nocturnal exploits, that, even when they had taken nothing during the day, they seldom felt depressed if the night turned out to be fine, for then they were certain that there would be plenty of people " out on the loose," and pennies as plentiful as buttons. Neither were the boys so much afraid of the constables when they could carry on their tricks by gas-light. The nimble young rogues could fly away from the stout-limbed guardian of peace as easily as sparrows from a lap-dog. Besides, if ever a hunt were attempted, the bare-footed urchins had their " harbours of refuge " and " strong places." They would dart across the road, dodging safely among the cabs which were hurrying to and fro — diiven so recklessly that, had the officer attempted to follow, he would assuredly have been minced among the wheels — and when once the band had reached the stone balustrade round Trafalgar Square, they soon di-opped the deep wall and were safe below, where they usually remained for a time talking pleasantly to the constable, who, not daring to follow them, rested his elbows on the parapet, and looked down upon the grinning culprits, and harangued them threateningly on their bad conduct. The boys firmly believed that the policeman was not yet bom who would have courage to jump that high wall. They referred with delight to the great victory they had once gained over a " red lioner " — as the officers of the Mendicity Society were termed. The rash but intrepid constable, in endeavouring to jump that very balustrade, had so seriously injured his trousers that they were " split to ribbons," and from that day, warned by his example, none who had any regard for appearances had ever repeated the expensive experiment. PAVED WITH GOLD 103 CHAPTER V. A KIGHT ON TOWN. "When all London is at rest — ^when bedroom blinds are drawn down and street doors looked and chained — when lights are rarely seen but in the windows of the sick wards of hospitals, wliich seem the only places where any are awake — then the Haymarket is in its glory, gay and lively as a baU-room, with the gaudily-dressed multi- tude sauntering along its broad pavements, crowding them as on an illumination night. The gas is flaring from the shop windows, and throwing out its brilliant rays until the entire street is lit up as a stage. The dissolute and the idle are pouring down to this great play- ground of folly, like moths attracted by the glare that must sooner or later destroy them. On they come, some in silks and satins, dressed out for the fete, and others with the money in their pockets that is to pay for the banquetiag and revehy. The cabs that rattle down Regent Street have all been told to stop at the comer of the Haymarket. Men that have taken their fill of wine at the dinner- table have come thither to finish up the night. Officers with heavy moustaches have come up from the garrison towns, travelling many a mile on purpose to enjoy this one night on town. Bearded foreigners, who have heard of these midnight revels, are strolling about, smoking their white cigarettes and gesticulating violently as they criticize the vice of England and denounce the scene they have nevertheless determiued on visiting every night during their stay in the metropolis. Husbands are there too, who, when they reach home, will pass off their insobriety as exhaustion, as they tell their wives how business detained them at chambers ; and brothers loiter about, caring little for the hour, though sisters are waiting up for them to open the street door silently, so that the strict father, sleeping above, may know nothing of their son's excesses. Groups of men and women block up the pavement, laughing and joHng roughly together ; every comer has its little assembly of gossips, who presently go off in couples to the nearest oyster-shop or public-house. This same Haymarket is the great republic of vice, where all who enter are hail fellow well met, for every one knows why the other has come there, and virtue being cast ofE for the time, aU rank and station cease. Outside the tavern doors are gathered clusters of " gentlemen of the land " talking to the poor souls who, disguised by some " magasin de modes," have hidden the servant-maid under the toilette of the lady. The public-house door swings back to let pass the " hope of a family," who is about to sip gin at the counter with 104 PAVED WITH GOLD tte chip bonnet at his side. Seated at a supper-table is a pink-faced boy, f rest from Ms country borne, belpiag witb delicate attention tbe rouged-up form beside him. She laughs noisily as a man, flinging her arms about, and as the champagne foams in her glass she tosses her head like a Bacchanal. But what by daylight would disgust seems charming in the blaze of the Haymarket gas, and the lad looks with admiration upon the companion whom on the morrow he would pass without even a nod of recognition. Every street in the vicioity of this Haymarket partakes more or less of its debauched character. In some there are mysterious, closed-up houses, into the back parlours of which none may enter but the initi- ated, there to empty tumblers of such drink that iu a wiser houi- they would push from them as unfit even to allay the pain of thirst. Seated on soft-cushioned sofas that are as yielding as they — poor simpletons — have been, are women decked out like shop windows, clothed in the rich gloom of velvet or the brilliance of satin, with costly laces — richly worked as a Gothic traceiy, such as few virtuous women could afford — filagreeuig about their arms and necks. But how little of the woman do these foolish maidens retain beyond the clothes they wear ! They are bolder and wilder than the men who have come there to court them ; they answer gentle speeches with the slang of a cab-driver, and even iu their meiTiment they jerk out oaths with their laughter. And this is called seeing life ! — yes, it may be so, but it is such life as that which exists in the drop of putrid water — the life of the ditch and sewer. They say there is no rest for the wicked, and certainly there is none for the Haymarket; it is the owl of London, that wakes up at dusk lively and fresh for the night, and hoots and screeches till momiag comes again. Those who dwell and trade in this thoroughfare have pale faces, countenances blanched from the lack of sunlight, that hi the day look used and " seedy " as a masquerade dress, but at night are fevered up into seeming health when the warmth of the gas strikes upon the cheek. They sleep away the mom with closed shutters and drawn curtains, and the healthful breezes of the sun-warmed day never blow against their sickly skin. They seek for health from the doctor and for cheerfulness from the wine bottle ; and when, after a few years, they have heaped together the round sums they so longed for, the body that was to have enjoyed them is withered and rotten, and they envy the hunger of the beggar and the strength of the ploughman. Each member of the associated beggar-boys was as well versed in the Haymarket as the district postman himself, and knew the different shops and the names of the proprietors as thoroughly as if he had learnt them off from the " London Directory." The lads had also studied vrith much attention Waterloo Place, and had even managed to pick up an acquaintance with some of the gentlemen who lounged about there smoking their cigars. The magnificent pave- PAVED WITH GOLD 105 ment of this latter thoroughfare, and its half desertion, afforded the " school " many excellent opportunities for tmnbMng, an exercise which was utterly impossible in the crowded Haymarket, from the fact of most persons objecting to have either their face slapped by the cold muddy foot of the young oaten- wheeler, or to be tripped up by the roUiag human bundle coming head over heels against their unsus- pecting legs. " It's not a bit o' good a-getting to the Haymarket afore nine," the Duck would say. " There's only the swells a-going to the Opera, and they're too clean to laugh. Just wait till they've crumpled their waistkits a bit, and then they imbends theirselves more to a chap." The Haymarket, considered as a street, may be said to have two natures : one moral, and the other immoral ; for on one side of the roadway the shops give every indication of being virtuous and well- behaved dweUings, for they work at their trades during the day, and put up their shutters at dusk, as if they had closed their eyelids to prepare for sleep. Of these two sides our young band invariably chose the immoral one as the scene of their night exploits. They cai-ed little about promenading before the closed windows of upright ti-unkmakers, chemists, and print publishers. They liked the glare of the gas as much as a cat likes the warmth of the fire, and it was before the full blaze of oyster-shops, supper-rooms, and taverns, that these lads carried on their professional labours. TJntU the busy time of the evening arrived, the boys would loiter about Windmill Street, watching the crowd flock to the Casino, hoping that good luck might throw them a penny for opening some cab-door, ajid putting their ragged coat-tails against the muddy wheels to protect the di-esses of those alighting. They stood looking down the narrow street, gazing listlessly at the red and blue lamps placed like illuminated posters over the supper-room doors, until any vehicle drove up, when all of them would dart forward in a body, more as if they were going to attack and rifle the cab than act as ragged lacqueys. To vary the monotony of door-opening, the young gentlemen would sometimes amuse themselves by peeping over the red silk curtains. of the " Cafe de la Regence " at the comer, either making faces at the cofEee-drinkers within, or flattening their noses against the plate-glass untU they were as white as button mushrooms, much to the horror of the lady with the accroche-oosurs flourished upon her cheeks who was seated in state behind the oomptoir. Determined not to lose a chance for legitimate begging, the boys carried paper with them to accommodate gentlemen whose cigars had gone out ; and if any such luckless person chanced to approach, instantly the " spills " were lighted at the convenient jets at the cafe door, and thrust up to the smoker's countenance, more as though they were about to singe him like a chicken than tender a civility. So as not to interfere with each other in their begging expeditions, the gang would separate, and whilst some crossed the road to that 106 PAVED WITH GOLD side of Piccadilly whicli is a medley of hotels, betting-rooms, and' restaurants, to act as self-appointed door-openers to the crowds en- tering the tavern known as " the noted house for Brighton tipper," others would make for the Opera Colonnade to fascinate the French gentlemen with their bounding exercises, whilst the remainder of the gang prowled about generally, either energetically sweeping the flag- stones before some well-dressed idler, or officiously dusting the boots or scraping ofE the splashes from the trousers of the first person who happened to be standing still. In fact, they elected themselves to numerous offices, all of a more or less useless character, and in the greater number of instances it would have been more agreeable to the favoured individual if they had not shown him such delicate attentions. The boys had very knowingly arranged a number of plaintive requests that were peculiarly suitable to the occasion. It was the invariable custom of the Duck, when he chanced to be outside a tavern door, to ask, gigglingly, for " half a pint o' beer to drink his honour's health." If, whilst gazing in at a baker's window, admiring the pale red tarts, or longing for the hard-crusted Scotch buns, so temptingly slashed with the snuff-coloured preserve, Mike caught the- eye of any passer-by, he would instantly hint that he was on the point of starvation, and beg a penny " to buy a poor orphan boy a mossel of bread." With that genius which usually characterized all his actions. King Teddy Flight had framed a petition intended to move the hearts of those frequenting tobacconists' shops, for he would ask them, in his most winning tones, "to stand a farden's worth of snuff to a poor boy out of work." But perhaps the most impudent of all these requests was the one that Phil had adopted ; for whatever the time of year might be— whether Christmas or midsummer — he always tendered an oyster-shell to any one he met, begging with an innocent face that they would " please to remember the grotto," adding — although it was a nightly request — " that it only came once a year." A favourite rendezvous for the tattered rips was in Coventry Street, in front of the fish-shop where the barrel-shaped lamps hang from the first-floor balcony. They delighted to watch the row of aproned men who passed the evening of their lives openiug oysters. To attract attention. King Flight was in the habit of requesting any customer who might be sipping his bivalves to " chuck him one," — a demand which was seldom responded to. These impertinent urchins were also fond of criticizing the feasters and their mode of eating, making rude observations which caused many of the customers to feel very uncomfortable and nervous. Phn used to like gazing at these fish-shops, with the window dressed out with fresh green salads and crimson lobsters, until it was as gay as a bed of geraniums. He delighted in touching the quires- of dried haddock that looked stiff as untanned leather, and he wondered why the lobsters should always have the end of their PAVED WITH GOLD 107 cactus-looking claws bound round with string, as if they had been clumsily repaired like the leg of a table. The big crabs, buff as hard- baked pies, and some of them lying on their backs and showing their hairy legs parted down the middle, were especial favourites of his> And so were the brick-red crayfish, with their nutmeg-grater backs, and their feelers sticking out like riding-whips ; and so strong was the boy's curiosity concerning this " lobster's big brother," that nothing but the presence of the men in the shop prevented him from taking one out of the window for the mere pleasure of opening its springy tail, that was always tucked under like that of a frightened dog. When the London season is on and the Opera open, then, as the night advances, the Haymarket becomes choked up with carriages ordered to " fetch " at eleven the red, white, and blue cashmere cloaks that have been flirting and chatting out the evening, thoroughly in- different as to whether Amina should fall off that terrible nine-inch plank or not, or the roguish Rosina ultimately marry her tenor lover. Now the street gains additional importance and profit. The night broughams, the lofty chariots, the genteel fly, all crowd together, hiding from view the centre line of vulgar cabs as completely as a spaniel in the tall grass. The footmen take their ease at their public- house untn the howl of the link-boy shall summon them to duty. The powdered retainer from Belgrave Square graciously drinks from the fuU pot that the greasy-hatted attendant from Barnsbury Park, Islington, has admiringly offered him, for the humanizing effects of porter soften his proud aristocratic soul. The silk-stockinged coach- man lolls on his hammer-cloth as on a couch, chatting condescend- ingly with the check-trousered fly-driver who has paid for the hot gin-and-water. By-and-by the mob of drab-coated servitors advance to the colonnade, some to stand inside the grand entrance which commands a view of stairs covered with crimson drugget, while others, to kill the time and get rid of the smell of tobacco, air them- selves by hanging about the stage door in the hope of catching a glance at some Madlle. Pettito, or captivating with a love at first sight those delights of the ballet, Mesdames Tootsi and Pootsi. Presently, gentlemen looking unnaturally fashionable emerge from the eight-and-sixpenny entrance, aU humming the grand finale as they pack up then- binocular glasses. Then the footmen, knowing that the opera is over, become agitated. In a few moments mighty names are shouted out by husky -voiced men, and my lord's carriage comes swinging to the kerb-stone, and my lady's brougham darts up as if it were trying to smash itself against the columns. Now, the street-loungers form a double row like a human palisade, to see the " company " come out. Ladies with carefully dressed hair skip across the pavement, holding up their dresses as on a rainy day, and jump into little bandbox vehicles which they fill like a chair. Steps are clattered down, and old gentlemen with pink heads are hoisted 108 PAVED WITH GOLD up by straining lacqueys. Now slowly advances the big clarence from the livery stable, the gaunt horse shrinking from the pressure of the collar, despite the whip that whistles like a breeze 'about his big hips. Those who have hired the vehicle plunge head first into its drab interior, and the crowd, startled at the nvunber, count them with increasing amazement as yet another dress bounds past. Nobody could have enjoyed the Opera nights with a greater gusto than did Phil and his companions. Had they been consulted on the subject of the Lyric Drama, they would have expressed themselves in terms of unqualified approbation upon the great good it effected, for they not unfrequently picked up more money in the half -hour after the performance was over than they had made by the entire day's hard begging and tumbling. Their peculiar business was either to run for cabs, or else to open the doors of such as had been fetched. The boys, to avoid disputes with the police, always politely tendered their sei"vices to those ladies and gentlemen who, in their hurry to get home, had wandered a short distance from the theatre, and were helplessly staring about them in the hope of hailing a stray vehicle. On these occasions all the boys separated, that none might inter- fere with another's scramble. One very wet night, when the rain had been falling all day long, and had converted the streets to level plains of liquid slush, into which the lamps were reflected as into a canal, Phil, who had only made twopence — and that was for turning a mad cat out of a single lady's coal-ceUar — trotted down to the Opera House, offering up supplications to " luck " that he might earn the threepence necessary for a night's lodging at Mrs. O'Donovan's. Just as the music-loving public were rising from their intellectual feast, the rain came down in streams of water as if the clouds above were being wrung like wet blankets. " Here's a soaker ! " thought the young Bohemian, looking about him with delight, as he paddled ankle-deep in the mud ; " they'll be drowned as safe as caiight fleas if they tries to swim home in their Opera kicksies." Presently a gentleman, " carrying milk-pails," as the boys called it — that is, with a lady on each arm — advanced up the colonnade, gazing mournfully at the rain that came down straight as iron wires. Three or four times did the attentive beau shout out " Hi ! " to the passing cabs. Phil had seen this group in the distance, and was gal- loping towards them, his naked feet slapping the pavement like fish on a marble slab. " If we have to stay here all night, William, I'm not going through that," said one of the ladies, pointing to the shower-bath without. " I should spoil everything I've got on ! " added the other damsel, who wore a light-blue tissue dress, that in two seconds would have pulped like silver paper. The gentleman, who was strong and manly, muttered something about " coming ont with women who were afraid PAVED WITH GOLD 109 of a drop of water," when Phil, bounding up to them, exclaimed, as he pulled at his hair like a check-string, " Shall I fetch a cab, yer honour ? " He only heard one of the ladies direct him to '" go directly, like a good boy," and off he flew among the vehicles, shouting out, as he passed, " "Who wants an out-and-out job P " He ducked under horses' necks, he sidled between wheels that went within an inch of his naked feet, but every conveyance he ran up to seemed engaged. He saw Mike go by, seated like a nobleman on a box, and in vain he ofEered him a penny for his " find." Some of the cabmen, although taken, asked him " where to ? " and seemed inclined to play their retaining fares false, but Phil's answer of " ever such a way " was evidently not distinct inducement enough to warrant their being dishonourable. At length, as the rain feU heavier and heavier, the boy thought the best method was to mount beside the first driver he passed ; so up he clambered, saying, — " Why, where've you been to P I was a-lookin' for you ever such a whiles, all over." " Oh, were it you as was the boy wot engaged me P " asked the man. " Why, in course it was," answered Phil, with assumed indignation, " and a fust-rate fare it is, too, with a glass of spirits at the end of it." He had been absent some twenty minutes, himting for the vehicle, but "his people" had not moved from where he left them, which proved to Phil that cabs were very scarce indeed that night, and made him think a shilling would not be too much for his trouble. Nothing could exceed the gallantry displayed by the young sweeper, as he ofEered his hand, dirty as a cheese-rind, to assist the ladies into the vehicle, or twisted his body round so that his tattered skirt might cover the dirty wheel; and when at last the door was closed, and the time had come to receive his payment — if any — he stood, wet through as a dog at the Serpentine, grinning like a hurdy- gurdy boy, and saying, in supplicating accents, — " Remember a poor boy, miss ! Very wet, sir ! It's the last cab left on the rank, mum ! Took me half an hour, sir ! " " Mind you pay the poor boy well, William," said one of the ladies, whilst the other added, " He must have caught his death, poor child." "Here's more than you ever had iu your life before," cried the gentleman, slipping, as the vehicle drove off, what Phil thought was sixpence into his hand. Master Merton had got into the habit of mistrusting his fellow- man ; so, disregarding the elegant appearance of the gentleman, he bit at the coin to see if it were a good one. He had his doubts about its genuiaeness, for it felt very heavy, and nervously he advanced to a lamp to examine it. It was half a sovereign ! Directly he beheld it he clenched it up iu his hand as suddenly as if he had been catchiag a fly, for fear any- body stronger than himself had been watching him. Then he sneaked off, still looking around him iu mistrust, until he came to a deserted court, and there, raining as it was, he sat down on a step tc 110 PAVED WITH GOLD feast Ms eyes on his treasure. He turned it over and over as a monkey does a bit of biscuit ; he read by the gas-lamp the inscription on both sides of the coin, and he weighed it on the tips of his fingers, and made it ring upon the muddy stones, wiping it carefully on his coat when he was tired of the music. How often he had seen these golden coins behind the bars of public-houses, and wondered if he should ever have one of his own. He had seen little wooden bowls full of them at the money-changers', and he had stood there by the half -hour thinking over the number of things he could buy with only one of the little bright discs. Then he grew grateful to the donors, and suddenly remembered how beautiful the two ladies were ; and his heart also inclined very much towards the gentleman, and he regretted that he had not heard where the cabman had been told to diive to, that he might have done his benefactor some service in return for his generosity, if it were only to sweep a crossing before his door or eaten- wheel in front of the parlour window for the ladies to see him. As it was, Phil thrust the half-sovereign into his check, that being the safest purse he knew of, and, determining to say nothing about his wealth to his brothers in mud, he scampered ofE to find them. On a fine night, what is called " the fun " of the Haymarket seldom begins before one o'clock, for by that time gentlemen of lively dispositions have imbibed enough strong drink to render them reck- less of consequences. The men and women who have come there to sell fruit and flowers have doubled their prices, and are plying their trade with the greatest industry, displaying their bouquets whenever they see a gentleman talking to any one, in the hope that he may be made to buy the extravagant nosegay, or thrusting baskets of expensive but tempting plums into the centre of conversing groups, and placing the male portion of them in the uncomfortable position of having to appear mean if they refuse to purchase, however earnestly they may wish to escape the outlay. It is about this time, too, that " rows " begin to take place. Should the police attempt the capture of any illegal practical joker, rescues are attempted by his friends, and a crowd soon collected, which sways aboxit the roadway, the shiny top of the officer's hat always forming the centre of the riot. The young crossing-sweepers enjoy this time immensely. Should any gentleman who has been too thirsty at his supper, evince any inclination to joke with our muddy community, the boys, far from checking these attempts at familiarity, rather use their utmost endeavours to encourage the acquaintance. On one occasion, the " school " having discovered a couple of gentlemen limp with liquor, and bending backwards and forwards with the elasticity of foils made from the best steel, instantly sun-ounded them and commenced tumbling. As these unsteady revellers were in that condition when lamp-posts and houses revolve and spin around, their giddiness PAVED WITH GOLD 111 f otmd no relief from having half a dozen pairs of legs twisting like ■wheel-spokes before their eyes. It was about this time that the Duck, finding that some novelty was sadly wanted to give a spirt to street-begging, introduced into the Haymarket his celebrated feat of " standing on his nose." It has been much doubted whether Oaptaiu Drake was really the first to think of this eccentric gymnastic exercise. One Judy Jack, who was intimate with the Duck — beiug in the same profession, though he carried on business in Camden Town — has since brought forward evidence of a rather strong nature to prove that it was he who had taught the Duck the knack of performing the trick, and had even showed him how he must " bear on his hands to take the weight off the nose, or he'd dent it in as easy as a trod thimble." The Captain's method of proceeding was to accost wild-lookrag young men, and after asking for a copper for poor little Jack, to add, " I'U stand on my nose for a penny, your honour ; " and i£ the tempting ofEer were accepted, up went the Duck's nimble legs, and there he rested with his face flat to the ground, at the same time drawing the attention of his patrons, in a voice resembling that of a person affioted with a severe head cold, to the fact that his " dose was slap agiu the bavebelt." After each night's labours, the gang were accustomed to adjoiim to the Jury -house, as they termed the steps around the portico of St. Martin's Church, there to reckon up what they had made during the day. It was usually about three o'clock in the morning when this business meeting took place, but the young rogues, far from feeling sleepy, were generally as fresh as bees, and in the best of spirits, especially if the " takings " had been equal to their expecta- tions. LoUing against the massive iron railings, the counting up of halfpence would proceed in clerk-like sUenoe. " Fourteenpence ! " Mike would cry out when his reckoning was over. " None so dusty, neither ! " " Elevenpence harpenny," would call out in his turn the King ; ■" that's better than smashing your leg." " One-and-seven," Phil would say ; and, imitating his companions' ■style of expression, he would add, " and nobody's eye put out." On hearing this amount, the Duck, who for some unknown reason always pretended to be the least fortunate of the party, would beseech Phil to give him twopence for luck. If Phil saw no just reason for granting this request, Mr. Drake would decrease the amount asked for to one halfpenny, and if that gift was also refused, he would beg pathetically that his wealthy young friend would, when he took his morning's pen'orth of coilee at the street stall, spare him a little of it in the saucer. There was no pride about the Duck, and he always took things as they came, and, indeed, not unfrequently when they didn't. During the fag end of the season, when the gay idlers of London had gone to the sea-side to pick up the health they had thrown away 112 PAVED WITH GOLD in tte Haymarket, the troop did not make suoli excellent incomes a& they could have wished ; indeed, their expenditure not nnfrequently exceeded their gains by exactly the thi-eepence which Mrs. O'Donovan required for the night's lodging, and much to that lady's disgust she would be forced to give her young gentlemen credit. The establishment of Mrs. O'Donovan being avowedly conducted on the ready -money pi-inciple, and the wardrobes of the youths, consisting only of the few rags they, by great ingenuity, managed, wdth the aid of pins and strings, to carry on their backs, the landlady grew nervous when the amount due to her amounted to sixpence a head. At such a time, this severely punctual woman, knowing the habits of the boys, would rise from her pillow, and in the blue light of dawn suddenly appear before the assembled younkers as they sat at their accounts on the Jury-house steps. The Duck, who was always the heaviest defaulter, would instantly endeavour to escape from the cold, detennined gaze of his creditor's grey eye ; but her voice would pull him back like a hand. " Misther Drake ! " she would say, shaking her head as if prepared to quarrel — " Misther Drake, oi want mee monee. I'm a harrud- worrucking woman, Misther Drake." " Why, I never seed you working yet ! " would equivocate the Duck. " Tou owe me sixpence, Mr. Drake," she would continue, without heeding the reply, " and I'll thank you kindly for that same." She waited in silence for a few seconds, gazing with di-eadful sternness at the other debtors ; but on the Duck beginning to whistle, she lost her temper, and broke out wildly. " Why don't you distrain ? " asked the Duck. " Is it distrain, ye say ? " roared the lady, " yer bundle o' filth, ye ! It's at the rag-shop I must oan-y yer thin, yer villin, and its onlee brown paper they'ud make o' yer at the best o' times. Pay mee six- pence, Misther Drake." " Why, it's months since I've seed a sixpence," said the Duck in persecuted accents. " I wish I had, and I'd have eaten somethin' instead of never tasting nothen all the blessed day." " That's a loie. Mister Drake," screamed the landlady ; " you've had onions, for I can smell them here, and enough to knock me down. I want mee sixpence." " Why don't you ask the other chaps, 'stead of only bullying me ? " complained the debtor. The fiery Mrs. O'Donovan was trembling with rage, shaking like the hand of a drinker. She was about to follow the Duck's advice, and had commenced her attack upon the gang by howling out, " Ye herd o' plundering locusts "... when the whole of the troop took to their legs and darted away from her, leaving her to shake her fists and scream after their retreating forms. As they knew it would be useless to return home in the absui'd hopes of being allowed to sleep there, the entire party made the best .v^ PAVED WITH GOLD 113 of their way to St. James's Park, and, having climbed the railings, they silently sought out some convenient spot that would serve them for a bedstead. At length they discovered what Teddy Flight termed a place that had been " made o' purpose, knowing they were coming." The over- hanging boughs of some valuable shrubs, the names of which were carefully painted on the labels near their roots, formed a kind of gipsy's tent, and the withered leaves that had fallen covered the ground with a soft, dry mattress, almost equal, they declared, to a truss of straw. Into this branch-curtained retreat the lads crept on aU fours, one after another, to enjoy their " doss," as, in their slang, they called sleep. " Of all beds these here flower-beds is the primest for a doss," said Mike, " it's as soft as feathers ! " " If we pulls our coats over our ears, and then scrunches together in a lump, we shaU do prime," was the advice of the experienced Duck. " The last in bed blows out the glim," jocosely remarked Master Jim. Then, huddling together like a litter of kittens, the boys fell asleep; some with their head resting on the stumps of trees as a pillow, others with their legs and arms sprawling about, so that the limbs were crossed together like wicker-work. Such was the kind of life these miserable lads were accustomed to lead — an existence that had no pleasure in it beyond its daring and its lawlessness ; where liberty was purchased at the expense of rags and hunger ; and which was gradually training them for the gaol, by teaching the boys that the least laborious method of earning their bread was by transgressing the laws of society, instead of conforming to them. Already they were ranked among the outcasts of the world, those for whose safe keeping pohcemen had been appointed and prisons built. Phil, from living among these boys, had picked up their slang, and forgotten the " good words " taught him at his school as completely as a child sent to a foreign land loses its native language. His mind, too, had taken their stamp — the one that often seals a destiny — and his morality had become as muddy as his rags. When well-to-do people passed near him in the streets, they often placed their hands in their pockets, mistaking him for a thief, for there was a cunning side-look in his eyes ; and when he sneaked after them to beg, his step was more like that of one ready to decamp than bent on following. He had been one year at this sad work. He had passed through the winter, treading the snow with frost-bitten feet, and cuddling together the rags that fluttered about him like a storm-rent sail. The only time he had known warmth was when he was scraping the snow from before the houses, and the only variety to his miserable life was when the boys pelted each other with snow-baUs for the half- pence that were thrown to them, or swept open spaces on the ice for skaters at the Serpentine. 114 PAVED WITH GOLD But when tlie warm spring retiamed, when the chilblained feet had healed, and the rags, holey as a worm-eaten leaf, once more felt warm enough, then Phil forgot the wise resolutions he had made in his time of suffering, and returned, as a matter of course, to his old habits. But for a mere accident he might to his dying day have remained a member of the Associated Crossing Sweepers. Late one night, when all the gang were prowling about the Hay- market like cats on a flower-bed, they saw two gentlemen lolling against the post at the comer of Windmill Street, and evidently wishing they could hit upon some amusement to relieve them from the hard work of having nothing to do. By their long moustaches and the hair close cut behind, the quick-eyed and experienced young beggai-s instantly recognized them as belonging to her Majesty's Service, though whether foot or cavalry they neither knew nor cared. As pigeons to peas, the boys flew to the perfumed sons of Mars. The Duck instantly volunteered to stand on his nose and beat time with the soles of his feet to the tune of " Is the Battle over, Mother ? " for the trumpery equivalent of one penny. The King, Edward Might, ever willing to meet the times and dis- tance competitors, offered to turn head over heels as rapidly as a pith ball rotates on a fountain, for the totally insufficient remuneration of one halfpenny. Phil, whose business principles were small profits and quick returns, endeavoured to undersell bis rivals by proposing to caten- wheel until he was black in the face for the sm.all charge of one farthing. " Well, then, the whole lot of you go to work," said one of the officers ; and a second afterwards the solo with the foot accompani- ment had commenced, and the other lads were twisting about as rapidly as the paddles of a steamer ; but just as the entertainment was half over it was unfortunately interrupted by the approach of a policeman, who, taking ofi his belt, dealt the performers such lusty blows with the buckle that they were glad to spring to their feet and scamper away. As the dogs di-iven from a tripe- shop return to gaze again at the wet washleather-looking dainty, so did these beggar boys once more appear before the officers as soon as they had given the policeman what they called the " lucky dodge." The officers laughed to see the young scamps, as they came up grinning and whining to ask for "the little bit of silver," and they were kind enough to make several inquiries as to whether the casti- gation they had received had hurt them or not. But as to the pay- ment of the money the boys thought they had earned, the gentlemen complained that the performances they had bartered for had not been given, and vowed they would not " cash up " until they had witnessed something more for their money. Then they set the boys a variety of comic tasks. One of the gen- PAVED WITH GOLD 115 tlemen liad a box of dinner piUs in Ms pocket, and four of them were placed in Mike's hand, and he was ordered to swallow them in- stantly. The boy shuddered with the disgust all lads feel for medicine, and he made a face which drew up all his features into a variety of wrinkles, but as there was scarcely any enormity he would not have committed for one peimy, he hastened to the pails by the cabstand, and ducking his head like a horse, filled his mouth with water, and swallowed the piUs as pleasantly as if they had been four black cun-ants. The next boy ordered to stand forth was King Teddy, and he was led, by the eccentric gentlemen on town, into a pastrycook's shop, and there, being mounted on one of the marble-topped tables, he was ordered, like a monkey on a drum-head, to begin his exercises. The young lady in the shop behind the pewter hot-water apparatus where the veal-and-ham pies are kept tepid, screamed out, as the cobwebby Flight entered, " Turn that dirty boy out ! I won't have him here ! " But those who promised him sixpence ordered him to advance, and although he plainly heard the fearful words, " Run for the police ! " ■ the naughty child commenced his gymnastics. When Master Teddy, growing nervous, asked whether " Please, sir, he might go now," instead of the " Tes " he hoped for, he was com- manded to caten-wheel the whole length of the shop, despite the crowd of customers, and in he plunged, as into water, making the tart-eaters fly before him. His legs revolved within an inch of trays of cracknels, and nearly brought down dishes of custards, or sent yellow jellies quivering over the oilcloth, and all the time parasols and canes beat at him as he trundled along. Even now these officers would not give the " little sixpence " that was once more implored for. A task of a decidedly cruel nature was given to the whole band, but nevertheless it was one from which these inhuman ragamuffins did not shrink. " Go and puU that tipsy man over," was the order ; and like dogs at a weak eat the pack flew at the staggering drunkard, and upset him as easily as a ninepin. Their work completed, they once more asked for their money ; but no! the gentlemen were enjoying them- selves too much with the sport to put so speedy an end to the fun. Thinking over what mischief they could next invent, they happened to catch sight of a woman going by, and Oaptaiu Drake, as the biggest boy of the troop, was directed to " go and sweep mud over her." With a vigorous dig of his broom the Duck sent a broad sheet of liquid dirt against the poor soul's dress, covering it as with a patch of brown paper. She turned round in wonder to see what had struck her, pulling her cotton skirt about her with a look of disgust and astonishment that made the troop and their fashionable abettors shout with laughter. Why does not PhU roar and dance with the enjoyment of the mischief, like his companions ? His face has turned as white as if a sickness had suddenly smitten him. As he saw the woman's features. 116 PAVED WITH GOLD his hair was lifted from his head, as when a gust of wind blows against the temples. He thanked Heaven that she did not see him among her insulters —that poor nurse that used to call him her " own pretty boy ; " the kind, patient creature that, even when he richly deserved it, would not hurt her Phil, but would rather kiss the pouting lips of the sulking boy, and coax him to laugh away his ill-humours. Time was when Phil was innocent, and he had impulses which gave him no time for thought, but would have sent him bounding forward at the joy of seeing that face again. But now he is one of the foxes of the street, and as he would not be seen in bad company, he sneaks round the comer, and runs along back courts, to reappear again higher up in the same street; and there he stops till his ifurse Hazlewood shall advance towards him. Whilst he is im- patiently waiting her approach, he runs into the road to watch what she is doing, and when he catches glimpses of her through the openings in the moving crowd, he perceives her pointing to her di-ess, and appealing indignantly to the lookers-on. The muscles of his face twitch again, and his fingers work like a beetle's claws, as he thinks to himself, " If she only knew that I was one of them that did it!" Presently she advances, and, panting and trembling with anxiety, he creeps after her. Twice he calls out " Mother ! " but in so low a voice that he is not heard ; and he is glad of it, too, for he dreads the look he knows she must give him when she sees her Phil a ragged street boy. More than once the thought of " runaway " has entered his mind, but the wish to hear of Bertie is stronger than the fear of any scoldings he may receive. At last the nervous boy pulls at her shawl, and, as his nurse looks round, Ms head falls on his bosom, and he says, " It's me, mother." She knows the voice in a moment, and, taking that head with the dust-coloured hair between her hands, she raises it to the full glare of the gas, and mutters, as if to herself, " Good God ! it's Phil." The poor soul is silent with grief, but the boy thinks the scolding is coming, and he stammers out, " It's no good a-rowing a chap, it can't be altered now." " Are those the only clothes you've got P " she asked. As Phil played with his fingers, he answered, " Tes ; and the best's imcommon bad, ain't it ? " And then he peeped up to see if she was laughing. But her countenance was fuU of grief. " And what are you doing to earn a living P " she inqiiired. "Oh, knocking and rowing about, mother; doing a job at any- think." " Oh dear ! oh dear ! " she sighed, " that my own Phil should come to this ! " And she took up his hand, but dropped it again when she saw how black and dirty it was. " Oh that I should live to see my boy in this state. Dear ! dear ! I almost wish I hadn't met PAVED WITH GOLD 117 you, for I used to think of you as you once were, with yom* pretty pink face and child's talk, and now, when you come into my mind, I must always see you dirty and in tatters, and with the words and ways of bad people in the streets. Oh, I wish 1 hadn't lived to see you, Phil." "Where's the use of crying, mother ? That won't do no good," the boy stammered out. " It is hard, after bringing you up and nursing you as if you were one of my own, to see you turn bad like this, with only rags to your back, and perhaps dying of hunger." " Well, if a chap is, I don't see that telling bim on it is much help." " G-od help you ! " she faltered, wiping her eyes on her shawl. One or two errand boys had stopped to look at Phil and his nurse, and others, as they passed by, turned round to stare at the weeping woman and the abashed boy by her side, who was trying to take the edge of£ his despondency by piclring to pieces the twigs on his broom. Observing that they were noticed, the pair strolled towards Leicester Square. For some time they walked by the railings around the enclosure, neither of them saying a word, the woman sighing and weeping, and the boy with his heart like a lump of lead in his bosom, although he tried to look as if he " did not cai-e," and kicked at the stones that were in his way or tossed halfpence with apparently the greatest indifference. Sometimes he would look up at her slyly to see if she were stUl crying, and then finding that her grief was not allayed, he grew im- patient and jerked his head on one side, as much as to say, " I can't stand this much longer." At last he summoned courage to speak. " Mother, where's Bertie P " he asked, but in a meek tone, half -expecting the informa- tion would be refused. Turning round suddenly, so that her tearful face was looking full at him, she cried out in fear, " Tou shan't go there ! " " Why not ? What have I done to her, I should like to know ? " he grumbled out. " No, Phil," the woman said, excitedly, " you shan't go tempting her into your ways and courses. If you've gone wrong, at least I'U keep her honest and good. Tou shan't go near her, I tell you." " Tou are a-laying it on," he answered impertinently ; " one would think I was everything bad to hear you talk." " God only knows what you are, Phil," the poor thing moaned out ; " but I know what Bertie is, and how good and pure is the heart within her. No, you shan't go there from any telling of mine, so don't ask me." " Now look here, mother," began the boy, after swallowing two or three times, as if his throat were dry, " you seem to think I ain't all right. But I am all right — ^none righter. What have I done I should 118 PAVED WITH GOLD like to know ? Of couree I begs ; but that ain't stealing. A f eUer must live." " I knew you couldn't steal, Phil," was her mild reply, and it cut him the more because he knew himself better than she did. " Well, then, what do you mean P Don't you think 1 love Bertie ? Now, look here, if a chap was to try and do her any harm, I'd go in at him if he was as big as a house. I tell you that you and her is the only two I like in the world — except Jim a little bit. I've been wait- ing to see you this year gone, for something told me we should meet. Many a time I've run afore people to see if it was you, and this is the way you serves a fellow when you do run up agin him." He was crying and rubbing the knuckles into his eyes, so that he could not see the kind look with which she turned towards him. He felt her hand rest upon his shoulder, but he shook it off like an angry child. " Now I'U just teU you, mother, and it's Gospel truth, too," the boy continued, sobbing, " when I've been on the crossing, or a caten- wheeling after 'busses I've often wished tremendous I might catch sight of Bei-tie. I do like her really ; so you might as weU tell me where she lives." As no answer was given, he began to taunt his old nurse. " Ah ! it's because I've got rags on you won't notice a chap now." " No, no, my Philip," she cried out quickly; " it isn't the rags and mud on your back that grieve me. I was shocked, to be sure, to see the boy I loved and reared as one of my own, looking like a street- beggar, but it's the mud in you that hurts me so deeply. Tou talk mud and think mud, Phil, and you mustn't see Bertie." This made the lad angry. " Mind what you're about, mother, or you'll make me reg'lar wild. If you don't tell me where Bertie lives, may my arm never come straight if I don't get locked up to-night, and have three months of it." He stretched out his little arm to the clouds, and as she, in horror, seized his hand, he continued : " Now mark my words — and I ain't joking — if I have gone wrong, you and Bertie is the only ones as could put me straight again. I'd mind what you might say, but you won't help a feller. If Bertie were to say ' you shan't caten- wheel again,' I'd give it over as quick as that " — and he snapped his fingers. " There ! that'll show you how fond I am of her. Now, do tell me where she is ; or, if you doubt a feUer, take me yourself to see her, and I'U do any mortal thing you choose, as a quits." Like all boys, Phil, now that he had given vent to his anger, be- came very depressed, and his former excitement changed into a pas- sionate flood of tears. AU. the time he was crying he continued to talk, entreating, with the greatest earnestness, to be told the girl's address, and throwing his arms about him, or hitting the iron railings vrith his broom, as if he was venting his spleen upon the metal. If he could only have performed one tithe of the noble actions he in his rude manner of speech promised his foster-mother should dignify his PAVED WITH GOLD 119 iuture career in life, in case she acceded to his entreaties, poor Phil would in himself have furnished vii-tuous illustrations sufficient for another volume of the Percy Anecdotes. At length the old nm-se, seeing what influence his foster-sister possessed over him, and know- ing that whatever counsel the gentle-minded girl gave would be as ^pure and good as innocence and affection could prompt, acceded to his request. But she affixed these conditions : — " Tou must be there," said she, beginring with stipulation No. 1, " long before seven o'clock in the morning, for it would be as much as Bertie's place is worth if the lady of the house, who has a deal of plate, was to hear of you coming after her in those rags, Phil." " All right," answered Phil, without feeling the least insulted at the remark in his toilette ; " I'U go and sleep all night on the door- step, with my head on the scraper to wake me early." " And you must ring the area bell, mind," was clause No. 2. " Yes, and I am a first-rate hand at ringing bells ; I'll make it sing out like church time." " No, no, you mustn't make a noise, you siUy fellow, or else you'll get Bertie turned away." " No ! no ! I forgot. What a flat I am ! I'll scarce touch it loud enough to wake a weasel." " And you'U promise," was the third condition, " to do as she tells you P " " Of course T will, upon my sacred oivey. Why, if Bertie was to tell me to chuck a stone at the Lord Mayor of London hisself , I'd have a shy at him, if I had to get into his gold coach to take aim." CHAPTEB, VI. THE INTEBVIEW. The next morning, long before five o'clock, Phil was leaning against "the railings of the house where Bertie lived. He had not been to bed for fear that he might oversleep himself, and miss seeing his foster-sister, so the moment he could get away from the conversation at the Jury-house he had set out for the place of meeting. For nearly two hours the boy had to amuse himself as well as he could in front of those railings, and to endure the annoyance of having arrived too soon at the rendezvous. To help the time along he picked up stones in the road, and had a game by himself at pitch-in- the-hole, looking up anxiously at the house, between the throws, to see if anybody was stirring within. But aU the bhnds were down, and not a sound could he hear, listen as attentively as he would. The silence made him feel sleepy, ajid to shake ofE the drowsiness he ■attempted to establish an acquaintanceship with an old black cat iihat was resting motionless as a miniature sphinx in a comer of the 120 PAVED WITH GOLD area. First he called out " Puss ! puss ! " in his most captivating' tones ; but the animal, having opened its amber eyes to take a rapid glance at his costume, seemed to recognize him as belonging to the class it most dreaded, and wisely refused to stir ; upon which the boy, to resent the want of confidence, changed his tactics, and jerked pebbles at it, more to the danger of the kitchen windows than the poor beast, who philosophically retired to the dusthole to finish its doze. At last he heard a great ringing of bells inside the house, and a few moments afterwards the kitchen shutters were opened, and on peeping cautiously down the area he beheld a man in a striped jacket, who was evidently the bed-loving footman the bells had been intended to rouse ; and never did he enjoy any pastime more than watching this servant, as he shaved himseK at a glass, no larger than a sauce- pan Hd, suspended in the window. Without being aware of it, that footman was watched attentively, from the moment when he first lathered a chin as black as a crape band on a white hat, to that satisfactoi-y period when he was passing his hand over the flesh and enjoying its satin-like smoothness. When Phil heard the clock strike six he thought he would take his first pull at the area bell. He felt excessively nervous as the jingle sounded below, scarcely louder than a clock striking, for he knew the barbered footman would come out to speak to him in a con- temptuous manner, and PhU, who was a " child of liberty," felt that he really could not stand any " bounce " from a footman. Much to the boy's astonishment, he found that no notice was taken of him or his summons. The menial merely advanced to the window, and having examined him for a minute, by waving his body about with a paiTot-like movement, retired again into the dark recesses of his apartment. After the sixth time of ringing, the kitchen door was opened to make way for a woman's head, with a dull, stale look about it, caused by her having omitted to wash her face. " What are you worriting for, boy ? " the maid inquired ; " can't you stand still and leave that bell alone for a moment, and not go rousing the house P She'll be here directly." Naturally enough Phil concluded that the "she" referred to Bertie, so he answered, — " Oh, thank you, miss," and felt considerably easier in his mind, though it struck him as being very strange that this young woman should have been acquainted with the object of his visit. It was not long after this that a woman so fat that all her featui-es hung down in pouches which shook as she walked, made her appear- ance, carrying a heavy market-basket, which dragged her sideways like a pail of water. She toiled up the stone- steps, smiling at Phil, as she said haJf-coquettishly, — " Ah, your legs is younger than mine." An observation to which the lad mentally responded, — " And a jolly sight thinner too, I'll bet, missus.'' PAVED WITH GOLD 121 As the cook hoisted the piHerings over the area railings to the boy, she said, — " Give this to your mother, my dear, and tell her it's my day out next Sunday, and I shall come round early to dress, and she's to mind and have my pink muslin starched ; and ask her to be so good a&, borrow them tongs agin, for I don't know as I shan't curl my hair." At first Phil stared, and looked into the basket to leam what it meant. When he saw the slices of meat and the half-finished joint mixed up with cold potatoes and remnants of loaves, he burst out laughing, and said, — " You've regular took the wrong turning, mum, and lost your way entirely. I ain't the party as is waiting for this here breakfast." And as he saw the pilfering cook stare with amazement, he added, " If you'll tell a young woman what lives here, of the name of Bertha Hazlewood, that she is wanted, I'U take it as a obligation." " How dare yer come a-ringing at this time in the morning P " shouted the cook in a passion. " I shall do nothing of the kind, for your imperence." The knowing street-boy was too well aware that he had the servant in his power to care much for her threats, so he leaned against the railings, and remembering the meat iu the basket, said calmly, " Very well, mum, you can do as you like, only mind this here : the family had roast pork for dinner yesterday ; and by-and-by I shall pay my respex to your missus, and jist ask her if she'd like to know where the cold jint is gone to." The result of this threat was, that when Bertie came to speak to Phil, she found him eating a thick slice of bread and meat. The boy was hurt at the look of surprise and disappointment with which his foster-sister greeted him. The last time she had seen him was when they parted at the Nor- wood school, and he was then a bright-faced, promising boy. She had often called to mind the picture of that separation, and how in his sorrow at losing his Bertie he had surlily quarrelled with her, almost as if she had been leaving him of her own free will. Then had come the news that Phil had run away, and she had heard with achiug heart the many speculations that had been made as to what would become of him. Whilst others croaked out their evil prophecies, and augured, from the flight of this workhouse bird, the sinful future that awaited him, Bertha, who judged of everything through her love rather than her reason, alone stood up in her Phil's defence. Many a battle of words did she fight with stubborn talkers, arguing, poor girl, tUl the tears came into her eyes, that her dear brother would push his way honourably through life, and would come back to them again — when many years had passed, perhaps — if not a rich, at least a just and upright man. And so often had Bertie in this way argued, even to quarrelling, in Phil's defence, that at last she had, by constant repetition, forced herself to believe that what she hoped for BO devoutly was really truth. 122 PAVED WITH GOLD And now the reality was before her, and lier courage and hopes drew back snail-like into her heart at this one touch of truth. There sat the boy she had nightly prayed for, dirty as a dust-heap, and draped in rags that hung from him like the fleece of a muddy sheep. Phil saw her stare, and her gaze cut him to the heart. " Don't look like that, Bertie," he said ; " it's enough to make a ieller turn desperate." She did not answer him, but her large eyes were stretched wide open, and her moiath apart. For some time she could not speak ; but at last she gave a sigh, as if the pain of surprise had left her, and her rigid limbs, that had been fixed with wonder, relaxed suddenly as if tired out by the emotion. "I have been waiting for you a long time, Phil, but — " She could not finish the sentence, for there was an unkind thought in it. " I know what you mean by that ' but,' " said Phil ; " you mean all this hei-e." And he pushed his hands among his rags, making them flutter like feathers. Bertie could not answer him, for he had guessed her meaning. " Ah, Bertie, you can't love me half as much as I do you," he whined out, crumbling up the bread he had but a moment before been biting at so hungrily. " I knew you'd be shocked to see me, but, though I was afraid, I came. If it had been the safe death of me, I should have come aU the same. You're not altered a bit," he added, looking at her ; " it's only me as is altered." He hoped his sister would have spoken to him, but not a word did she utter. " Oome, Bertie," he implored, " give a feller one little word. I've stopped up aU night just to hear your voice, and now you won't speak anything. I don't ask you to kiss a feller, or anythink of that sort, but I did think you wouldn't be downright unkind. It takes the life out of one, it do." " And PhU, it has taken the life out of me, too," said Bertie sadly, " for you were part of what I lived for, and I was waiting so impa- tiently for the day when I should see you once more, that now it has come it kills me." Poor girl, her eyes were i-unning over with tears, though her face was calm and her voice steady. Phil, as he sat on the doorstep, shufiled along until he was close to her, and then he felt the hot tears fall upon his upturned face. Now he, too, could not speak. There was a working in his throat and a tightness in his chest. She saw that the flood-gates of his sorrow were open, and, kneeling close to the crouching boy, she drew his head to hers and kissed him as a token that the prodigal was loved and forgiven. She could not talk about the past, so they chatted over the future. " Tou must leave this life, PhU," she said ; " it wiU be min to you." " Well, it ain't much better now,'' he answered. " I only made ninepence yesterday." PAVED WITH GOLD 123 "I don't mean ruined for want of money, Phil; 1 mean you would grow up a bad man," said tlie little woman of fifteen. " Just think how mother and me would fret if anything was to happen to you, and we were afraid to talk of you before people." " But what am I to do P " said PhU. " JSTobody'U give me work with such clothes as these. I might just as well try to get took on at a bank." After they had been talking together for some time, and he had given her a rough outline of the life he had been leading, Bertie com- menced her good counsels by hinting that washing the face and hands not xmfrequently added to the personal appearance. She also sug- gested that stopping up all night was not the natural life that had been ordained for stripUngs ; and she further continued her admoni- tions by stating that, in order to obtain decent clothing, the first step was to save up some of the daily earnings, and not expend every penny that was given to him, either in purchasing pudding at the cook-shop, or paying gambling debts for lessons at pitch-farthing. But Bertie's moralizing lost nearly all its effect from Phil's atten- tion being just then occupied by watching a man who, mounted on the extreme end of a donkey, was coming up the street, leading another of the patient animals by a rope round the neck. This man, to his astonishment, stopped before the very door where he and Bertie were chatting. He saw him dismount, and kneeling down rest his head against the donkey's ribs and begin milking it into a small measure he drew from his pocket. "Who drinks that stuff?" asked Phil, turning up his nose in disgust. "Stuff, indeed!" cried Bertie; "it's very dear stuff, and Miss Tomsey, the lady I read to, takes it as medicine — a pint every day." Phil still kept his eyes fixed on the donkey -man, and, attracted as aU lads are by animals, he could not help going up to them and play- ing with their ears. "Ah," said he, "if I could only get a job as a stable-boy or something, I should be made for life. That's what I'm most fittest for." Bei-tie, on mere speculation, ventured to ask the vendor of donkey's milk whether he happened to know of any place vacant just then, where an active, and she added " honest," boy might get employ- ment. " Any charackter ? " asked Mr. Sparkler. " Oh, I know him well," said Bertie, as Phil scratched his head, not knowing what to answer. " Well, boys is asked for pretty plentiful just now at Hampstead," answered the man. " Can the young man run P " " rU lick any 'bus on the road," said PhU, boastingly. " And has the young man any clothes besides them there things ? " continued Mr. Sparkler, evidently not very pleased with Phil's cos- tume. 124 PAVED WITH GOLD "Tes," said Bertie, firmly, whicli made Phil stare at her with surprise. " WeU," said the donkey proprietor, " he cam go see my missus, and talk it over with her. Ask for Mrs. Sparkler, donkey keeper, the Drying Ground, Hampstead, Hollyhock Cottage." " Which is the nearest way there ? " asked Phil with delight. " Well," said Mr. Sparkler, " keep up the road till you come to the WiUiam the Fourth, then turn round as far as the Hare and Hounds, and anybody '11 tell you which is the Trusty Friend, and my place is close by, four doors from the Jolly Sailor." CHAPTER VII. HAMPSTEAD. Call the world into school, and when the millions are seated ia their classes, let the schoolmaster walk among the forms, and ask, " What is happiness ? " How many guesses will be made at the riddle P " Glory," roars the soldier. And yet those who have burned cities into dust-heaps, have — when they came to sift the cinders — found little happiuess among the ruins. Alexander died of delirium tremens, aged thirty-three; Miltiades expired in prison; Siccius Dentatus, the hero of one hundred and forty battles, was assas- sinated ; Hannibal poisoned himseK ; Belisarius had his eyes put out ; Csesar was murdered ; and Napoleon — everybody knows his fate. "Titles," suggests the politician. But if a short name cannot bring happiness, how can a long one P — will extending a man's cogno- men, hke the lengthening of a ship, add to his qualities P A firma- ment of stars may decorate a bosom, but — according to Louis XVI. — there are clouds that will overcast even such a heaven. " Riches," cries the poor man, forgetting that to have more than we can enjoy is the same as not having it at all. DemidofE owned gold mines, but he ate and di'ank himself a cripple, and what benefit was his treasure to him P He died worth millions, and passed the better half of his life in a chau- on wheels. The only privilege of his wealth was to prevent others from possessing it. " Health," groans the rich man, turning his back on the labourer, who, although he never knew a day's sickness, sighs heavily over his misery in having to support the most salubrious of families on seven shillings a week. " Beauty," simpers the woman of fashion. A five years' gloiy and a life's misery ; for even when the beauty is gone, it leaves behind it the insolent remembrance of its possession. Where did lovely Helen of Troy die P Did she expire with the serpent of remorse gnawing at her heart, with as sharp a tooth as when the asp of the Nile fastened upon the arm of the splendid Cleopatra P PAVED WITH GOLD 125 What is happiness P For how many hundred years have stoics and epicureans made themselves miserable, and pummelled and cudgelled each other in argument, without being able to settle the point? A house might be built with the volumes that meta- physicians have written on the subject. Does happiness consist in sensual or mental delights, or is it a state of continual agreeable ■feeling, or the gratification of some desire which enables us to enjoy the blessings already in our possession P Let wiser and better heads than ours gi-ow grey and bald in settling the matter. We have a youth near at hand who will speedily reveal to us how his happiness was brought about, and of what it was composed. Come here, Philip Merton. What's perfect happiness, sir P " A strong boy's corduroy sriit, with a double row of pearl buttons down the breast, and a coat cut like a groom's." Philip is happy and chirping with delight, because his clothes are as sound as the skin of an orange. He walks along, upright with pride, as if he had a family tree at his back to straighten it. A drawer had been unlocked and a little treasure taken out, and Bertha, with a half-sigh, had counted the sUver pieces into Philip's hand. He seemed to be abashed at taking the girl's earnings, for, as if his conscience troubled him, he said, " I have no right to take this from you, Bertie, and mother, too, a- wanting it aU along." But he closed his fingers on the coin nevertheless. With his hands in his pockets, he strutted up Tottenham Court Boad, delighted with himself as a footman in a new livery. At nearly every step he cast a complacent glance at his clothes, either brushing away any dust that may have fallen on them, or admiring the neat manner in which his trousers fell over his thick highlows. The reflection of his tout ensemble in the shop windows afforded him singular satisfaction. He seemed to be greatly pleased with his general effect, and took an essential delight in making his nether garments " whistle," as the noise produced by the friction of corduroy is musically styled by the vulgar. In those times the route to Hampstead was very different in ap- pearance from what it is now. The road of Tottenham, which in our day looks like a poor relation of Regent Street, had then no furniture shops to block up the pavement with sofas, chairs, and tables; neither had American photographists discovered the economic process of taking correct likenesses for sixpence; nor had Italian pastrycooks hit upon the original notion of giving a wine-glassful of strawberry cream or lemon ice for a penny. Down the Hampstead Road the spirit of commerce had not then converted the gardens before the houses into shops, but every tene- ment had its railed-in patch of graveUy-looking mould and mouldy- looking gravel, where nothing seemed green but the weeds, and no plant flourished but the Michaelmas daisy, amid whose luxiuiant stems the stray cats of the neighbourhood found excellent sleeping 126 PAVED WITH GOLD aocommodation, curlinfr themselves up in the middle of the rank herb as securely as a, slug in a box border. In the hopes of getting a flower for his button-hole, Phil entered several of these unthriving plots, but he only found lilac bushes with twigs as black as crayons and leaves as dusty as a top shelf. When you call back the recollections of your youth, is it not wonderful to think how this big London of ours has grown and stretched itself out within the last few years ? Squares and crescents have crept out like the suckers of a tree, the jagged edges of the town fill up the fields where, in Philip's time, cows were feeding and boys flying their kites. Mother Redcap's had waggons and carriers' carts in front of it instead of yellow omnibuses, and where a row of shops are now built Philip laid himself down in the tall grass and chewed buttercups. On trudged Phil, with his coat on his arm and a holly leaf in his mouth, wishing that the hills were not so steep nor the day so hot and dusty. He passed the then country-looking roadside inn, " The Load of Hay," and, thirsty as he was, he felt as if he could have snatched the mug of beer from the drover — who, whilst his flock of sheep were lying panting about the road, was drinking at the bar. To prove the superiority of man over the bmte creation, our youth made a point of passing every omnibus upon the roads, leaving them and their three horses to creep up the hills after him ; and he even entered into a spirited competition with a washerwoman's cart, and could have easily distanced the hopping mop-tailed cob, but he felt himself turning to a lobster tint with the heat, and his legs growing stiff as stUts. He never rested unless it was to take a peep over the oak palings and square-clipped hedges that enclosed some of the grounds by the way. The sight of the old Queen Anne Mansions, looking as red as a strawberry in the midst of the huge green ti-ees, with their frowning roofs surmounted with a wedding-cake ornament of a belfry, seemed to fascinate him to the spot, and he could not help thinking to himself what a " jolly easy time of it " the young ladies must have whom he saw working at the bow-windows that opened into the lawn. " Ah ! " thought Phil, " if I had a house like that, what a first-rate chap I should be all of a sudden ; " and he gazed at the flower-beds piled up with bloom and spotted with colours as a mound of wafers, and he stared at the square paddocks of rippling grass divided by the neatest of iron hurdles, and imagined to himself what delightful fun those same young ladies would have when the hay-making time arrived, rompiag among the new-mown crop, and how they would enjoy sleeping in its perfume by night. The Belsize estate also met with our young gentleman's warmest approval, and he stood at the iron gates staring down the long avenue of trees that covered in the caiTiage-drive like a green hood, until somebody came out of the lodge to ask him " what he wanted," and his desires being at that moment of an impossible nature (being. PAVED WITH GOLD 12T indeed, no less than a wiali to possess tlie estate), he did not think fit to enter into any explanation, but moved away. He had reached Downshire Hill before he caught sight of any evi- dence of the donkey business being in a thriving condition. Stand- ing at a gai'den-gate was a Bath chair, with one of the patient dust- coloured animals harnessed in front of it. The boy was so much pleased with this ingenious vehicle for invalids, that he endeavoured to enter into conversation with its owner, informing him that he considered the turn-out to be a kind of young cabriolet before its wheels were properly grown ; butjthe proprietor, not being in a con- versational mood, gave grunts in reply, and eventually made a remark about the advantage to be gained by some one " stepping it." After Phil had seen an old lady on crutches deposited inside the chair, where she bore a strong family likeness to the prompter at the Opera, he went on his way again, staring about him with the greatest industry. He even became interested in the weMare of the inhabi- tants, and wondered to himself whether Neale, the can-ier, who announced that he visited " all parts of London daily," made a pretty good thing of it. At the coach-of5.ce he made inquiries as to the whereabouts of Hollyhock Cottage, the residence of Mrs. Sparkler. It was some time before he could get anybody to attend to him, and the delay afforded him ample opportunities for studying the habits of omnibus drivers. He heard one lady who was seeking for information about the " time of starting," receive the unintelligible reply of " a quarter a'ter, half a'ter, quarter to, and at ; " he witnessed a dispute between a conductor and his coachman, who was upbraiding him for " never looking about him nor nothen ; " and he heard inquiries made as to " whether Jim had greased that off mare's fetlock," or had " had that bay osse's collar took in a bit." He was told to cUmb up a steep embankment that stood like a cliff by the roadside, and then turn down long narrow lanes as steep as staircases, and round by stable-yards, where fierce dogs rushed about and barked behind the gates and endeavoured to force their wet noses through impossible openings. He asked everybody he met which way he should go, and it was only after he had turned to the right at least twenty times that he at length arrived at the residence of the Sparkler family. There was a little colony of some dozen cottages, and washing and donkey-letting were the trades the inhabitants lived by. Over every door hung a board with either "Mangling done here," or " Donkeys for hire ; " and, as if to avoid too great a monotony in re- peating these announcements, every style and size of writing had been employed, though the thin white spider letter on the black ground appeared to be the favourite type. The day being propitious for drying, the gardens and hedges about were covered with linen ; lace collars and nightcaps were spread upon bushes, pocket-hand- kerchiefs and stockings were fastened down with stones on grass- 128 PAVED WITH GOLD plats, and shirts and petticoats, distended to their utmost tightness by the wind, fluttered from the lines, their proportions looking so terribly unfit for human use, that a notion crossed the mind that all the owners must be in the last stage of dropsy. Mr. Sparkler was evidently a refined man, who, although to the woi-ld he might seem to devote himself to the letting out of donkeys, was at heart a florist. His cottage— which was about as large as a hayrick, and had a straw thatch cut close over the windows — was ornamented in front by a small one-two-three-and-jump garden, intersected with gravel paths not broader than deal boards, which entailed balancing on those who tight-roped its walks. The beds were not larger than mattresses, but no lodging-house couch was ever more crowded. The flowers were packed as closely as nosegays, and how the mould could support such a crop — unless concentrated like portable soup — was a great, unanswerable mystery. Standard roses, with their blooming tops, stood gay as new bonnets perched up in a milliner's window ; pansies as large as butterflies, hollyhocks like rosette-adomed fishing-rods, and pinks big as shaving-brushes, decorated this essence of a garden. In one comer stood the summer- house, where of an evening Sparkler smoked his pipe ; and even here the consummate taste of the man had exhibited itself. Adorning its summit was an arm-crossed statuette of Bonaparte, and china dogs and plaster images decked the roof like a mantelpiece. Philip stood at the gate of this Eden, not daring to pass the palings of butter staves, which shut him out from its delights. He might have doubted if such splendour could belong to any being who supported himseK by sixpenny donkey rides, if it had not been for the board over the door, announcing that Tobias Sparkler was in that line of business. All the Sparkler family were away from home, the care of the house being for the time entmsted to a ginger-edged cm*, with a tail that might have been used as a crumb brush, who went into a paroxysm of barking, and showed all his front teeth in an uncivil manner. This dog was evidently kept as a kind of " knock and ring " to the Sparkler family, and no double rat-tat or bell-pull could have more effectually announced a visitor. Four stout women issued irom a neighbouiTug cottage to see what the noise was about, and Philip, picking out the one whose hands seemed least like a washer- woman's, instantly addressed her as " Mrs. Sparkler, mum." " So he said you was to talk it over with me," said that lady, after the cause of the visit had been explained. " What do I know about ' boys ' P There's nothen but boys now-a-times ; I never see such a lot of boys. They swarm — literal swarm ! " Phil tried to look as if, despite the present glut, there were very few who could come up to him. " Where the boys spring from," continued Mrs. Sparkler, address- ing her friends, " is more than in me lies to say. If they was imported by barreKuls they couldn't be more abounding. And they PAVED WITH GOLD 129 come to you as cool as imaginable, and says, ' Do you want a boyP'" " I had two come to me last Thusday," said one of the washer- women, in corroboration — " both nice boys enough; but what use is boys to me P " " Mrs. MiUins's boy, too, is out of work," added another lady, " and, as it might be yesterday, she ask me if I wanted a boy. ' What for ? ' says I." " Why can't Sparkler see to his own boys, 'stead of worreting my life with 'em ? " was the wife's complaint. " '^ne can't sit down to a cup of tea but, before you've raised your saucer to your lips, there's boys must be attended to. They're wuss teasers than flies. Dear me ! these boys is wearing me to shreds." She was a stout woman of thirty, in form somewhat resembling a cottage loaf, and Phil felt perfectly convinced that she would last her time, despite her troubles. To try and conciliate her, he ventured to say that if he were engaged, the only reason he should have for living would be to comfort and assist his mistress. " It's too bad of Sparkler to leave everything to me," continued the woman. " It's slaving from first thing when you get up tUl it's time to go to bed again. First there's saddles to look to, then there's donkeys to be sent out, then there's accounts to keep, and 'undreds of other things." " I don't mind what I do, and I am very fond of gardening, or working anyhow that's useful," said Phil, beginning to enumerate his good qualities. " Then there's seeing that them other boys don't cheat the very eyes out of youi- head," she gnambled. " I'm sure I wouldn't do anybody out of — no ! not so much as half a farthing, mnm," murmured the lad. " Don't teU me, boy ! " growled Mrs. Sparkler. " It's like your impudence to say so. All boys is aHke. You're human natm-', ain't you ? Then hold your tongue." This interview ended in an appeal to the feeHngs of the women, made by Master Merton in a fit of desperation at the slight prospect he saw of an engagement. He commenced by saying that it was very odd, but people seemed to take an especial pleasm-e in perse- cuting him, detailing with great excitement and feeling the struggles he had gone through, and wound up with a half threat that if his good intentions were this time thwarted he saw no help for earning a living but by leading a most abandoned and vicious existence. " It's hawful to heai- him talk," cried one of the washerwomen ; " where's your parents, you wicked boy ? " " I am an orphan, and that's what's agin' me," he muttered. " If I'd got some one to help a fellow, do you think I'd be like this P Ah, I only wish you was orphans, you'd find it out then." They were preparing to answer him, when he broke out again, — K 130 PAVED WITH GOLD " It ain't as if I came here without a good word to back me, but Mr. Sparkler knows our people well enough." " Who's your people ? " asked Mrs. S. " Why, Tomsey's people," he replied, " as takes in their pint of ass's milk regular." Mrs. Sparkler suddenly entered her cottage. She had gone to see if Tomsey's account had been settled. The examination of the memorandum book was evidently satisfactory, for Philip was told to proceed to the Heath, and ask for one Fred Jackson, and announce to him that for the future he was to he employed among the long- eared stud. Tred Jackson, or, as his companions called him. Swinging Fred, was a tall, gipsy-looking fellow, with a sunburnt face and a couple of black ringlets hanging down each cheek. He was celebrated among donkey-drivers both for the length of his locks and the admirable manner in which he managed the steeds, for, whilst he could tie his curls under his chin, he, on the other hand, was so clever with his stick, that, with one blow struck somewhere under the ear, he could most surely bring any rebellious animal to the ground. Dressed in his dirty flannel-jacket and leaning over a saddle, he did not look such a terrible fellow ; but the donkeys knew him well enough, and even when he coughed up went the ears, as if they were on their guard against their strong-armed foe. The first thing Swinging Fred did was to make the new boy pay Ms footing, which he fixed at sixpence, for a pot (his drink was ale with gin in it, of which he could swallow immense quantities), and the next was to roar out, " Sam Curt " in so loud a voice that all the donkeys on the Heath heard him and grew restless. "Here, Sam Cui-t ! Where is yer ? " " Gone to Prognell Rise " — " No he ain't" — " Why I see him there a minute since " — " Got a job to the Spaniards," shouted so many at once, that replies seemed to come from all quarters. Eventually, a lad came shuffling up, who turned out to be the same Curt who was in such great demand. " Been touting on the hill, Fred," he said, in a frightened voice. "And who teUed you to do itP — What do you do it for, then?" growled the Swinger. " I'll break every bone in yo\u- skin, you young rat." And Sam looked frightened, and aU the donkeys that had been lying down rose up very rapidly and fidgeted about. Phil thought to himself, " He's a nice sort of a master to have to spend your days with." " Here, take that yoimg 'im along with you," said Swinging Fred pointing to Merton, " and put him up to what he's got to do. Do you hear ? — then do it." There wasn't much work on hand for the first week or so that Phil was at Hampstead, and he had plenty of time to study the details of the business. His greatest delight was to lie down on the grass, or PAVED WITH GOLD 131 sit on the chains that keep the flag-post steady, and look at the landscape. The hroad Heath stretched ont before him, covered with dots of furze-bushes that seemed to freckle the groTind like a country- man's sunburnt face. What a glorious fringe of trees Sun-ound this London's play-ground ! If it were not for the lamp-posts in theroad beyond, who could imagine so lovely a spot was so near to the monster city? Sometimes the lad would wonder who lived in the grand houses on the skirts of the Heath. They lie concealed in the verdure of their surrounding trees, as if, after having crept up so close to the public ground, they were afraid of being sent back again, and had hidden themselves from sight. The round, tall chestnut-trees were in bloomi with their white pagodas of flowers standing up at the tips of the boughs like candles on a Christmas tree. Philip could, from where he lay stretched on the turf, see into the gardens belonging to some of these mansions and catch sight of the fruit-trees in the orchards big mounds of blossom with all the ground about them speckled with the falling bloom, as if a thousand love-letters had been torn into small pieces and thrown there. Sometimes a donkey, enjoying himself in the distance, would begin to bray, and then other donkeys scattered about would answer as cocks do, and eventually, after the music had been taken up in all comers of the Heath, the whole body of those on the top would join in chorus, and throw out their music with deafening effect. On one side of the Heath— the West-end side — there is an avenue of old elms, where the young ladies' schools walk up and down, treading among the sundrops that have fallen through the leaves and made golden rings on the ground, and it was our boy's delight to sit down on one of the benches and listen to these little scholars chatting with their French governess. "What on earth," he would think to himself, " does she mean by saying, after looking at me, ' Regard, mam'seUe, ce sal petit garsong-la ' P " If ever these little ladies extended their promenade into the Heath itself, he followed the petticoated regiment as it appeared and disappeared among the risings and hollows of the ground, and wondered in his mind whether Bertha would ever have such nice clothes as they wore, and be able to talk about the " Sal garsong-la " as they had done. Hound the pond with the rusty iron pipe stieking up in it are ranged the donkey-gigs and one-horse flys, and further on are clustered together the saddled asses, all with their heads together, as if they were whispering like jurymen considering their verdict. How those gigs can "pay" we never could imagine. They are curious, shattered-looking turn-outs, as clumsily put together as a schoolboy's paste-board model — overgrown children's carts, with wheels not larger than a wheelbarrow's, and lined with limp chintz, or patched with worn-out japanned cloth that had once formed part of a table-cover. The donkeys that pull them are all pot-bellied, and have under their round, drooping stomachs a fringe of hair so long that the wind blows 132 PAVED WITH GOLD it about. The poor brutes, with their long ears lopping down, look like big rabbits. Nor are the one-horse flys much better than the gigs, for their linings all look tumbled, as if they had been slept in, and the big -gaunt steeds have long heads, with a drooping, sulky- looking under-lip. One has been fired in the fetlock, and the bulging flesh is scored like a melon with the scars. Another — a white horse with a black nose and a dirty draggle tail, stuck together at the tips — is blind of both eyes, and his ribs ripple up the carcase, each one as distinct as the folds of an accordion. Aided by his friend Sam Curt — or Snorting Sam, as he was called from an unfortunate habit of breathing loudly — Philip soon got to know every donkey on the Heath as perfectly as a shepherd distin- guishes every sheep in his flock. The stud of donkeys then exposed for hire by the ten or eleven proprietors who " worked " Hampstead formed a most various and eccentric collection, for they were of all ages and colour, some so small that Swinging Fred coxdd straddle them like a colossus, and others so large, that, with their bulging saddles on, they might almost have passed for stunted camels. Their harness was neither first nor second-rate, but of the lowest possible rate, fastened together by sti-ing instead of buckles, with the leathern tongues sticking out in every direction. The greater ntimber of the animals were so thin that the backbone stood up almost like the keel of a boat. To pre- vent any rubbing from the saddle, pieces of drugget or sacking, and even whisps of hay, were tucked as a pad under the seat, so that, everything considered, the poor brutes had an untidy, sluttish appearance, as if they had dressed themselves with the huiTy of a maid-of -all- work at a lodging-house. Perhaps those destined for the especial service of ladies were the most remarkable for slovenly neglige, their costume being something after the grandeur of a circvis palfrey, with the slight mixture of the Roman toga, for over the wide-seated saddles were placed linen coverings, decorated with red braid edgings, which, when clean and not too much torn, no doubt had a very smart appearance. These "ladies' donkeys" were also distinguished by being nearly cut in two by the gu-ths, which were pulled up so tightly that their waists seemed to rival in small- ness the fonnation of the frog — a species of tight-lacing which did not improve the appearance of the long-eared quadrapeds. Whenever Sam Curt took the new boy among the donkeys for the purposes of instruction, it was his practice to direct the attention of his pupil to any particular animal worthy of his notice, by flicking it adroitly on the part which he considered to be the tenderest of the body. " There, that's a nice 'un," said the youth, pointing to one of the brutes with the inside of its ears as full of hair as a lady's slipper ; " we calls her Everlasting Teakettle. Get up you there. Everlasting Teakettle ! Mothers of fam'Hes and nusses allers ask for her of a morning. They're very fond of her, 'cos she carries two ; " and he I J PAVED WITH GOLD 133 pointed to a child's swing of a chair, which was strapped to Everlast- ing Teakettle's back. " Where's the one yon call the winner of the Derby P " asked Phil. " We've got such a lot of 'em," answered Sam. " They've all been winners, only evei-y year we changes 'em. Now this little chap as is at present called Lady Snuffers, has been Eclipse, and the winner of the Two Thousand Guinea Stakes, and Flying Dutchman, and ever so many more. He's as fat as a little pig and get his own living — don't want nothing to eat of us. Here's Crab-apple Betsy, too," he con- tiaued, advancing a few paces ; " she has been the winner of the Oaks and the Chester Cup, and a heap of others. She's so gentle, you can a'most do anything with her." And to prove his words he adminis- tered a smart cut with his whip, which made poor Crab-apple Betsy hop vigorously. She took it gently enough. A big donkey, with rough, curling hair, whose hind legs had been clipped to aUow the stick to have a better effect, attracted Phil's notice. "He is a beauty if you like," cried Snorting Sam, leaning against it. " He's Elm-tree Joe, and the quickest that ever runs. Just you see." And he set to work beating the clipped portion of the animal's body, whilst in a guttural voice he growled out, " Go along with yer, Joe," so that the brute, finding that seriotis work was intended, darted off at a full gallop, the boy following and trailing his stick in the road to make a noise. It was astonishing to hear how well Master Curt was acquainted with the good qualities of the different donkeys he patronized with his notice, and yet surprising to witness the cruelty with which he accompanied his praise. He passed a row of them, standing as quiet as if they had been toys on a shelf, but he could not refrain from rousing them out of their sleep with his knocks. " Come up, there. Crazy Jane ! — hi ! hi ! you White Alice ! — stir up, you Old One Eye — I'U give you something, you Bobtail — now then, you Old Dook of Brunswick." The hollow sound of the stick on the ribs made the mass move uneasily, and run together like a di-ove of sheep. " That's such a one as you don't see often," said Snorting Sam, stopping before a donkey with a vicious eye, shaped like the slit in a violin. It had a thick mop of fur on its forehead, which afforded Master Curt a firm grip whilst he said, " Every hair in its 'ead is worth poimds, and all over alike. Ton might go one thousand miles and not meet with such a one-er as this here Ingia-rubbia is. Stir up, there. Old Ingia-rubbia. It can do a'most everythink but speak," added the driver, lashing at its ears as if he was trying to cut them off like tall weeds, and certainly one of the things that India-rubber could do was to kick, and very near to Snorting Samuel, too. It happened that some of the asses, being, perhaps, soured with life, and rendered quarrelsome by persecution, began to fight and bite each other. Like a hawk darting at a hedge-sparrow. Snorting 134 PAVED WITH GOLD Curt dashed into the midst of the fray, and layed about him vigorously, shouting to the music of his blows, — " Hulloa, you Prince o' Wales ! — would you, Laui-a Smith ! — what are yoti about there. Bonny Black Bess P — I'm after you. Lady Milkmaid — and you too. Gentleman Jeny ! " When the battle had ended and qxiiet was restored, Sam, in answer to the question as to which was the best donkey of the lot, thus delivered his opinion : — " We calls Hearts of Gold the pride of the world, 'cos she's the fastest, apd biggest, and prettiest — a piebald, very handsome, and a curiosity, which is in her favour, which was offered foui' pound for. But I'd as soon have Lightheart. You'll say why ? Well, for this here : I fancies him more, and he'd go till he bustes hisself." After a pause, he added, — "But, after all, what's donkeys to ponies for fastness? Mr. Lamfret, him as owns the white and roan ponies, he wouldn't take a ten pound note for either of them. There they stand with their nosebags on, and one of them's got eyes as blue as plums. Only the worst of ponies is this : a gentleman says I want a half-crown ride, and off he goes for an houi- and don't come back again, and the next thing we hears of is, that the pony is in the pound or at the green- yard, and they come down on you for ten bob." The duty assigned to Phil was that of touting for custom, Mr. Sparkler considering that the newness of the boy's clothes should be duly taken advantage of, as an evidence of the respectable manner in which he conducted his business. The instructions given to the lad were to take up his stand by the Coach and Horses public-house, and, whenever, he saw anybody coming, to rush up to them, and, no matter what their age or size might be, to ask them perseveringly, " Do you waut a nice saddle- donkey P " With an honest enthusiasm Phil canied out these instructions ta the quick, and in a few days he became the terror of evei-y old lady in the neighbourhood ; indeed, many most respectable persons have asserted that " he did it on purpose." " Do you want a nice donkey, mum ? " he would haK confidentially ask of these aged matrons ; and when they turned round to say " No, my boy ; how ridiculous ! " he would add, " Nice comfortable soft saddle, mum, uncommon easy ! " " Go about your business, sir," would be the I'eply. Then Phil would walk by their side, whispering, "Have a nice cheer, mum, or a nice easy shay, mum ? " " No, no, no, I teU you ! " " Got some very nice saddle-ponies, mum — caiTy you like a feather ! "^ Then the elderly matrons lost all patience, and they stood stiU and looked about them for a policeman, as they muttered between their gums, " I'll give you in charge, you bad boy ! How dare you ask me to ride on a pony ? PAVED WITH GOLD 135 Wten giving Philip his instructions, Mr. Sparkler had laid down this impoi-tajit axiom: "Say everything's nice— nice donkeys, nice saddles, nice shays, nice everything. It's time enough for them to find out if the things is nasty after they've paid their money." Philip didn't enjoy this " touting " much, for he was longing to have his share of the fun on the Heath; and every night, when Sam C\u-t related to him the adventures of the day, he would inveigh bitterly against old Sparkler for " keeping a fellow sticking down in the beastly village." No doubt to Phil the town of Hampstead did seem a melancholy place enough. There wasn't a shop he cared to look iuto, for even at the library they never changed the prints exposed for sale. He hated those chemists' shops with the small greenhouse windows, where pickles, sauces, and cigars were vended as well as medicine ; and he looked with contempt upon the draper's establishment, whex-e hats, shirts, boots, and cotton prints were exposed for sale in a com- partment scarcely larger than a one-horse stall. The boy said it was like being in a coimtry town a thousand miles from town. The farrier's shop opened on to the road, and the tea-dealer, the butcher and the tailor all announced that they were from London in so pompous a manner, it was impossible to fancy you were only five miles away from it. It does indeed seem like some old-fashioned town. In some parts of the road there are high embankments, with tall elms, in which the rooks have built, leaning over the highway as if they were top-heavy from their round, full branches. AH the place is so silent that the livery stable cocks at one end of the street crow out and defy those crowing at the greengrocer's at the other extremity of the town. The only excitement the place knows is when some travelling circus pitches its tent on the Heath, or when some horse, coming down the steep hill, grows frightened with the pressure of the vehicle, and runs away, in which case the carriage and its contents are — at the sudden turning of the road — sure to dash into the coffee-house next the Black Boy and StiU, smashing the windows and scattering the customers. If you cross the road and seek out West End Square, you will find it the most rustic-looking place, with a tree growing in the centre of the pavement, whilst the houses have a William and Mary look about them, being built of red brick, with heavy white casements, as clumsily made as the stage-coach windows of old, and over the street doors are old-fashioned carved porticos. They don't make such stout leaden water-pipes nowadays as those against these houses, neither do we forge such iron lamp-holders and gates, with twisting watch-spring curls, and scrolls and foliage. It was near this square that Philip lived, down a court by the side of a rag-shop, kept by the mother of Redpole Jack, another of Sparkler's boys. Mrs. Burt gave the best price for white linen rags, and a high price for kitchen fat, and the fuU value for copper and brass, besides letting out lodgings at threepence a night. 136 PAVED WITH GOLD Slowly but surely did Philip advance to the liighest honours that can befall a donkey-driver. His first promotion was being allowed to drive a chaise, which conveyed four ladies to the foot of Havistook Hill. Next, he was entrusted with the care of those donkeys which were hired for children, and so well did he behave himself on these occasions, that eventually he was raised to the dignity of accompany- ing young ladies in a delicate state of health. The tenderness with which he checked all desire to trot on the part of the animals soon gained for him a name among the invalids of Flask Walk and the Vale of Health. Still this was not what Philip longed for. He wanted to join in the exciting chase of following up some twenty young damsels gaUoping along the road, and it was only when his grumbling was slightly tinged with the abusive that Mr. Sparkler yielded to his entreaties. The night before this gi-eat advancement took place, the following conversation was held between Bedpole Jack and our young friend. They had gone into the churchyard, not for serious contemplation, but because the graves afforded a comfortable seat. And vrith an immense yew-tree spreading out like a wing above them, the converse began. "Shall I tell you why Sparkler wouldn't let you come on the 'eath P " asked Jack. " Why, because you're so well clothed, and those new things of yours gets him a name for having respectable boys. Why, there's nothing pays so well as sick people, and they won't have any driver but is decent-looking." " "Well, I shall be up there to-morrow, so I don't mind," answered Phil. " And a nice messing you'd a made of it, if I hadn't seen you first," continued the Bedpole. " Now, look here ! S'pose you was a driving Old One-Eye, and you wanted him to gaUop,lwhat would be your little game P " " Why, shout at him, and hit him as hard as I could — give him with aU my might a good feed of ' long oats ' and ' ash beans,' " answered Phil. This made Mr. Jack Burt sneer with disgust. " O' coorse you would," he said. " I knowed it. That's like you and your proudness, thinking you know everything. And what would you get P Why, Old One-Eye would stand stiU and kick at you. I had my hand swolled dreadful through him." " What should you do P " asked Phil. " Now you're coming to it," answered Master Bui-t. " Why, first of aU I should give him three or four over his 'ead to let him know who I was." " Well," asked Phil, " and after that, when he did know who you wasp" " Why, then I'd give him two or three sharp 'uns on the top o' the hook to show him who he was." " Go on." said Phil—" what then P " PAVED WITH GOLD 137 " Why, then he'd git one o' my lefthanders, as should kaock him on one side, and another as should knock him back again, and send him hopping for two or three yards." " And what's the end of it P " asked Phil. "Well, for the minute," added the lecturer, " Old One-Eye wouldn't know whether he was afoot or a-horseback, but off he'd go, regular spanking, first-rate." Philip's reply to his instructor consisted in reading from one of the tombstones near him the following epitaph : At mom in cheerful health he rose. At noOQ and eve the same, At night, retir'd to calm repose. The awful summons came. CHAPTER VIII. ON THE HEATH. One night, as Mr. Sparkler was enjoying his pipe in his siimmer- house, and smoking the spiders into a restless condition, his wife called out to him. " I forgot to tell yon, Tobias, there's a job for to-morrow night. The same party as had the picnic by moonlight last year called to- day about hiring some donkeys for another jollification." " Do you mean that lot o' servants as stopped out all night on the Heath ? Oh they're going on the loose again, are they ? " And after laughing, he added, " And when does the spree come off ? " " To-morrow ; and they wants the loan of a kettle, and three nice donkeys for the gii-ls to ride when so inclined. It was Mr. Boxer, the footman from Tomsey, that came about it, and he says there'll be a good dozen of 'em." " To think of that now ! " exclaimed Mr. S. " It appears their families is out of town," continued the woman, " so they can manage it without being the slightest imcommodated. Teddy Guttler, Captain Crosier's groom, is to be one of the party, and he's thought a deal of. They've got fiddles and all a-coming." On the following evening, just as the shades of night were stealing over the Heath, a cab drew up in the road near the pond, and a stout male form, fashionably attired iu pumps and Berlin gloves, stepped from the interior, and gazed anxiously down the road. On the roof of that cab there was a hamper, and on the box beside the driver there were paper parcels with grease showing through. After the gentleman had peered about in every direction, he re- turned to the vehicle, and addressing a lady inside, said, " Nothing wisible of them yet, Wortey : but where's the hurry ? " " I know'd that Mary h'Anne of ours would be late," answered the 138 PAVED WITH GOLD so-called "Wortey ; " she's always suot a time cleaning herself, and figging up with her gewgaws and fallals." The gentleman seemed inclined to bear the delay with patience. He strutted up and down, cleaning his nails, and humming airs known only to himself ; and whenever the voice in the cab inquired, " Do you see them yet, Boxer P " he answered ia the most cheerful of voices, " Not yet, Wortey." At length a group of ladies and gentlemen were seen creeping up the hill, and instantly Mr. Boxer became excited, and commenced waving his pocket-handkerchief with the utmost gallantry. Some of the young damsels, seeing the signal, ran laughing towards the cab, the full skirts of their light dresses swinging in the wind as they scampered along. " What a uncommon fine-growed gal that Susannah is," observed Mr. Boxer. " She's a remarkable showy dresser to be sure." " Then she's been at missus's drawers again," snarled Mrs. Wortey. When the cab was surrounded, the introductions, reproaches, and excuses began. " Here we are, Wortey, dear," cried Mary Anne. " This is Fanny from No. 12, and here's Susannah and Caroline from No. 16." "What on h'earth's kept you so long, Mai-y h'AnneP" answered the surly Mrs. Wortey. " If you'd been dressing for a h' evening party you couldn't have been more time." " It was that horrid shoemaker never sent Susannah's high-'eeled home ; and she is such a fiddle," playfully observed the fair accused. "Oh! how can you, Mary Anne? "cried Susannah. "It was all along of her a- doing out her ringlets, and then cleaning her white kid gloves with Indey-rubber." " Have you brought the shrimps P " asked Mrs. Wortey, in a half whisper, " and the cowcumber P — there's a good girl. Where've you put 'em P Oh, in your pocket. Mind you don't get sitting on them, there's a dear, for they're not worth a thank'ee if they're scruntched." Every one in the party was dressed with such scrupulous cleanli- ness that the stifEness of the linen seemed to impart a coiTesponding rigidity to the behaviour. The coachman from No. 27, with his face firmly fixed in his unbending shirt-collar, seemed to have lost the use of his neck. Indeed, Mrs. Wortey, observing that when he wished to turn his head round his body moved also, inquired of Mary Anne if the man " had a carbuncle on his nape — or what ? " Tou might have mistaken the gentlemen for noblemen's sons, for their boots creaked when they walked, and their hats were shiney. In the bow of their satin ties some had stuck double breast-pins, whilst a big brooch ornamented the centre plait of Mr. Boxer's shirt-front. Whenever they stood stUl, it was with an imposing attitude, the hand either restiag on the hip, or being thrust into the coat-tail. PAVED WITH GOLD 139 The ladies, in their light starched dresses and black silk mantillas, looked divinely aerial. Those who had on shoes and open-worked stockings, coquettishly raised their skirts to allow their boots to be seen. "With the hair done in ringlets— with the parasol firmly grasped in one white-sloTed hand, whilst the other held the pocket- handkerchief ready to relieve the warm countenance — those who beheld these damsels must have imagined them to be so many duchesses of the land. When Mr. Sparkler first saw the company, he mistook them for a wedding-party that had dressed overnight so as not to be late in the morning. Even the cabman was dazzled by the gorgeous display of raiment ; and though Mi\ Boxer paid less than his fare, yet the imperious manner in which that gentleman answered his grumblings, by saying, " I live in 'Arley Street, No. 23, and if you don't like it, summons me," completely awed the vulgar fellow into respect. The place fixed upon for holding the picnic was at the lower extremity of the Heath, and, the gentlemen carrying the hampers, they all adjourned there. Now came the delights of the evening. Shawls were spread over the furze-bushes, so as to form tents, and some dry wood having been collected, a fire was lighted to boil the kettle and supply hot water for tea and grog. The unpacking of the hampers was witnessed by aU with great interest. Nothing had been broken but a bottle of gin, which had given rather an intoxicating flavour to the veal and ham pie. " Now, who on earth brought this here bit of cold lamb P " asked Mrs. Wortey in disgust, as she drew forth the remainder of a shoulder. " Hush ! " whispered Mary Anne. " It was Caroline ; and she says she's very sorry, but it was the only thing in their larder, so she made up with a pot of pickles, some lump sugar, and half a bottle of ginger wine." " And don't No. 16 keep their butcher ? Couldn't she order some- thing, I should like to know ? " murmured the cook. " I've no patience with such timidity. If we could run the risk for a veal and 'am pie, what was to prevent her ? " Mr. Sparkler and the donkeys, on one of which Phil was mounted,, were received with a cheer of delight from the entire party, and, flattered by their reception, they in return rendered every possible assistance in spreading the cloth and arranging the glasses. The- moment Phil saw Mrs. Worte and Mary Anne, he recognized them. " Why, there's the cook from where Bertha lives," he thought to himself ; " and blessed if that ain't the girl and the man too." But as they did not remember his face, he was but too glad to escape detection. Whilst they were eating, no behaviour could, for elegance or 140 PAVED WITH GOLD gentility, have surpassed tliat wliioli dignified tlie actions and con- versation of ttese picnicers. " Allow me tlie honour of a glass of ale witli you, Mrs. Wortey, ma'am ? " asked Teddy Cuttler. " Please pass the stone jug, Mr. Boxer. Tour good 'ealth, ma'am, and prosperity ekal to my best wishes, ma'am." " Try another bit of this custard-pudding, my dear," said Mr. Boxer, looking skittishly towards Miss Caroline ; " it won't hurt you, my gal ; and the dancing will shake it down. What ! haven't got room for it ! Well, I'm glad you've eat hearty.'' Healths were even proposed, Mr. Boxer speaking in the highest terms of Mrs. Wortey, and saying, " It was an honour to live in the same establishment with her, for her behaviour was, he might and woxild say, at once conciliating, virtuous, and com.plesamt." But the health which Miss Mary Anne tmdertook to give met with the gi'eatest success. It would seem that Bertha Hazlewood was not a favourite with Miss Tomsey's domestics, for when Mary Anne, after sarcastically stating that she was about to speak of " one whom they h'all adored," added, " need I mention that my aUushun is to Miss Bertha ? " her speech was received with shouts of laughter, in the midst of which Mrs. Wortey was heard distinctly to say,— " Drat the stuck-up miax, I'd Bertha her out of the house if I had my way." Philip was so startled at this singular incident, that — by mere accident — ^he let fall a glass of ale right over Miss Mary Anne's bonnet, an act for which he was pursued some considerable distance by the enraged Teddy Guttler, and narrowly escaped a severe drubbing. Nothing could persuade Mr. Boxer to join in the dances that sub- sequently took place. He had eaten so much, dear man, that he preferred lyiag down with his head resting on Mrs. Woi-tey's lap ; and in this position he quietly smoked his pickwick, whilst she, kind soul, plied him with hot gin-and water, lifting the liquid by spoonfuls to his lips. The moon was up, and shining brightly, and from under their shawl-covered resting-place they could hear the music of the vigorous violins, and see their companions stepping it like fashionable fairies on the green sward. " That Caroline's a sweet dancer," murmured Boxer ; " and for a hupper housemaid, her foot and ankle are above her station. I've seen many a worse stepping into a carriage." " It haught to be a nice one," answered the spiteful Wortey, " for there's enough of it ; but if you call that a leg — I don't— posts is their right name. Hopinions differ. Boxer, and I know what a leg is as well as any woman who has one." " That there Fanny, from No. 12," continued the gay unabashed Boxer, " is a well-formed gal, but I'm afraid she pulls her figure in a bit, and her hands is uncommon hot and rough." f?^#s^'^'f^^! PAVED WITH GOLD 141 "Lord, do ha' done, Boxer," again remonstrated Mrs. Wortey, hitting him on the nose with the spoon. " If you was the Grand Serag of Turkey himself, you couldn't be more after the girls.'' But Boxer heeded her not. " What a luptious eye that gal Susannah have ! " he muttered, in an exhausted tone. " But her nose for a woman's is perposterious, and at meals she's a gluttonous feeder." The indignant Mrs. Wortey made no i-eply to this, but suddenly rose from her seat and allowed the head of Boxer to fall with a dull sound on the ground. It took him a quarter of an horn- before he could pacify the outraged lady and coax her to rest him once more in her lap, and ladle gin-and- water into his mouth. As it grew late — after many dances, when the fiddlers were tired, and the donkeys had been galloped to death — the whole party assem- bled in a circle to partake of further refreshment, and Bertha being the person they most disliked, they once more commenced to talk of her. " What Miss Tomsey can see in her," cried Mary Anne, " a super- cilious, high-flown squit, with her ' Please do this,' and ' Be so kind do that ' — oh, it's most comicable." " And, after all, who is she P " added Mrs. Wortey. " Is her pre- tentions beyond her humble spear P Has she any fortune P 1 never in my life see such a small box as she brought. Has she any birth ? I myself hear her call a common beggar-boy ' her brother ! ' " " I'm sure she has no beauty," added Mary Anne, with a sneer. " If you was to take away her hair and mouth, she'd be a nice object, poor thing." "But there's some persons, perhaps, thinks she's a perfect Weners de Medciny," slyly remarked Mr. Guttler. " La ! " cried all the young ladies, " you do not mean to say that you—" " Thin gals is not my choice," answered Mr. Guttler, looking fondly at the plump Mary Ann by his side. " If I Uked, 1 could tell some- thing that would make you all laugh fit to burst your laces." " Oh, do now, won't you P " shouted the ladies in chorus ; and some of the party thought they heard the donkey boy call out, " Oh, do," like the rest of them. But, on looking round, they found that Phil was fast asleep. " Well, you're very hard on me, but I must give way," fascinatingly replied Mr. Guttler. " One day Gaptain Merton Grosier — my young chap — was a standing at our window, and talking to Mr. Tattenham and another gent, the Hon. Ghantioleer Sutton, by name — ^friends of Gin's — and they see your Bertha. They was down on her in a minute." " You don't say so ! " cried the ladies. " Ah, they was, though. The captain says, ' Tat, I must look after my neighbours a little ; ' and, says Mr. Sutton, ' She's as nice a little toddles as ever I see.' " 142 PAVED WITH GOLD " And what then P " they asked. " Well, I left the room then, you see," replied Mr. Guttler; "but he's always at the window looking over your way, and if you keep a spy on her, there'll be some fun." In such pleasant sport did the night pass, and by the time the grey mom showed in the east evei-ybody was thoroughly tired out. The plump Boxer, fuddled with gin-and- water, was carried on a donkey to the nearest cab-stand, his head reclining on the shoulder of the compassionate Wortey, who walked by his side, whilst ever and anon he in gratitude tried to look up in her face, as he murmured forth "Dear cookey." Susannah and the coachman from No. 27 ; Fanny and the yoimg man at the baker's ; Mary Ann and Teddy Guttler, all sauntered across the fields in the direction of town, their personal appearance bearing strong testimony to their having been out all night. The next day, when the twelve o'clock postman called at Miss Tomsey's with a letter, he had to knock three times, and eventually the parlour window was opened, and the epistle was taken in by a pail- of tongs, at the end of which was a plump arm with a red elbow, a limb much resembling one to this day in the possession of Mrs. Wortey. CHAPTER IX. EVBET MAN HAS HIS FANCY. In one of the back streets near the Haymarket there existed, in the days whereof we write, a small, humble-looking public-house, well known to all sporting gents and members of the prize-ring, for its proprietor was no less a person than the celebrated Alf Oox, the champion of the "light weights." So long as England is a sporting nation, the name of Gox must be remembered with admiration, as belonging to one of the most gentlemanly boxers in the profession. Those who had the pleasure of being present on the occasion when he fought and beat Ned Box, have never failed to declare that he was the prettiest sparrer ever out, and that when he sent one of his right banders " home," it was the severest punishment ever witnessed. The renowned Alf Cox had been prudent enough to retire from the ring and all " active sporting life " while he was in the height of his fame, and now he devoted the entire of his attentions to his public-house, exerting all his " strenuous endeavoui-s to please," and holding out innumerable inducements to attract lovers of the fancy to his tavern, for, like the rest of the world, Alf Cox's fondest desire of his heart was to make his fortune. PAVED WITH GOLD 143 The entertainments given at the "Jolly Trainer" were of the most varied description. On Monday evenings there was a galaxy of sport in the shape of spai-ring, at which such glories of the pngUistic world as the Clapham Smasher and the Hackney Crasher assisted. The great match between the Southwark Pounder and Tripey Faggits was got up at his house, and the men showed there publicly the night before the battle. It was well known to his friends that AH Cox was a great advocate for reviving " old times " — indeed, his circular says as much. He would, too, in his printed cards invite the lovers of song to meet their " social brethren " at his house, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and on such occasions that public favourite, Mr. Thomas Timms, presided, assisted by a host of talented friends. These musical treats were, as A If Cox said, " open to all, he ever catering," the only return expected from the visitors being, that they would drink as rapidly and as largely as they could. To make use of the noble lines printed in large type over the bills wafered up in the tavern window, the especial mission that Alf Cox had marked out for himself was the Reunion of old Friends and the Fancy generally ; Harmony ! Conviviality ! ! and Grood-f ellow- ship ! ! ! — Refreshments moderate, and of the best quality. A favourite hobby with Alf Cox was the improvement of the breed of dogs, and he was reckoned among the dealers to be as good a judge of what a dog was, or ought to be, as any man in the metro- polis. Moreover, he was the founder and chairman of the West End Spaniel, Terrier, small Bidl-dog, BuU-terrier, and Toy-dog Club, and a meeting of the members was held every Wednesday in his public parlour, when any other fancier was also invited to attend and exhibit. On such occasions the glass circulated merrily, and the waiter was ever in the room to receive the gentlemen's orders, whUst the most interesting discussions were held as to the excellence of this terrier's strain, or the points in that bull's buUd. But of sports, that for which Alf Cox was more especially renowned was his public ratting, which came off every Tuesday evening at his " public hostelrie." He said that the reason why he gave away silver smxS boxes as prizes, " to be killed for by novice dogs of any weight," was because he was determined to encourage the useful and good sport of destroying that destructive vermin, the rat ; but we fancy he must have had some other motive, for such excessive devotion to the public welfare would, in the end, have entailed certain ruin; and no publican, however enthusiastic, could have afforded to indulge in such expensive antipathies. Mr. Alf Cox had caused two hundred handbUls to be printed and distributed amongst his friends and patrons, and they caused the greatest excitement among all earnest supporters of the fancy. In these handbills he announced that a " great hundred rat match " was to come off, and all the grocers, barbers, and tailors in the neighbour- hood were already discussing the chances the different dogs had of winning the silver coUar that was to be " killed for." This great 144 PAVED WITH GOLD matcli, too, was, aooording to the iandbill, hy " distinguislied desire," and many were the pots of beer emptied at the bar of " The JoUy Trainer," in the hopes of discovering who was to be the patron of the evening. " It's no good asking me, Mr. Noakes," replied Mrs. Cox to her constant customer, the cab proprietor ; " but I'll tell you this much. Viscount Ascot and Lord Oakes are as fond of sport as any man I ever see of their weight and size." When the important evening arrived, the open space before the long bar of " The Jolly Trainer " was, long before the performances were to take place, crowded with customers, who were all drinking, smoking, and talking about the match. Most of them had brought dogs with them, so that a kind of canine exhibition was going on. Some carried under their arm small bulldogs, whose flat, pink noses rubbed against the arm as you passed ; others had skye-terriers, curled up into balls of hair, and sleeping like children, as they were nursed by their owners. The only animals that seemed awake, and under continual excitement, were the little brown English terriers, which, despite the dandy brass-ringed leather collars by which they were held, stmggled to get loose, as if they smelt the rats in the room above, and were impatient to begin biting their foes. There was a business-like look about this tavern which at once let you into the character of the person who owned it. In estabHshing it, the drinking seemed to have been only a secondary notion, for it was without any of those adornments which are generally considered so necessary to render a piiblic-house attractive. The ceiling was low and bulging, and the flies had speckled it into a granite colour, whilst the tubs in which the spirits were kept were as dirty as water-butts, and blistered with the heat of the gas— even the once gilt hoops had turned black as shoe-ribbon. Sleeping on an old hall-chair reclined an enormous white bulldog, " a great beauty," as many of the drinkers observed, with a head as round and smooth as a clenched boxing-glove, and seemingly too large for the body. Its forehead seemed to protrude in a manner signiflcant of water on the brain, and almost overhung the small nose, from which it breathed heavily. It was a white dog, with a sore look, from its being peculiarly pink about the eyes, nose, and indeed, at all the edges of its body. On the other side of the bar was a bull-terrier dog, with a black patch over the eye, which gave him rather a disreputable look. This gentleman was watching the movements of the customers in front, and, occasionally, when the entrance-door swung back, would give a growl of inquiry as to what the fresh-comer wanted. Mr. A1f Oox was kind enough to inform a particular friend of his, who was patting the fork-like ribs of the brute, that he considered there had been a little of the greyhound in some of his ancestors. As the hour advanced, the visitors arrived in such numbers that Mrs. Cox, finding that her appeals to the gentlemen not to block PAVED WITH GOLD 145 up the bar were of no use, was obliged to get her husband to address the multitude in a neat speech. " My good friends," he cried, mounting a chair, " there's as nice and comfortable a parloui- as ever was used, if you'd only step that way. Though I'm fond of seeing handsome faces about me, yet I'm too busy now for such enjoyment." Then did the laughing crowd make for the green-baize door of the parlour, headed by a waiter shouting out, " Give your orders, gentle- men! " No pains had been taken to render this parlour attractive to the customers, for, beyond the sporting pictm-es hung against the dingy paper, it was devoid of adornment. Over the fireplace were square pigeon-hole boxes, containing the stufEed heads of dogs famous in their day. Pre-eminent among the prints was that repre- senting that wonder among rat-kiUing dogs, Mr. Cox's Tiny, five pounds and a half in weight, " as he appeared killing two hundred rats." " He was the 'andsomest little thing as ever entered a pit," Mr. Alf would say, " and in honour of his performance — which is unekalled in annals — I had that engraving printed on white silk, which you see before you. Poor Tiny ! they don't make 'em hke him now. He wore my missus's gold bracelet as a coUar, such was his proportions." Among the stuffed heads was one of a white bulldog, with tre- mendous glass eyes sticking out as if it had died of strangulation. Toimg Mr. Uox — Alf's 'eldest — ^was kind enough, whenever he saw any stranger examining the canine mausoleum, to offer up a tribute to the memory of the departed favourites. " They've spoilt her in stuffing — made her so short in the head — but she was the greatest beauty of her day. There wasn't a dog in England as dared look her in the face. There's her daughter," he would add, pointing to another head, something like that of a seal, " but she wasn't reckoned half as handsome as her mother, though very few could show agin her, especially for form. That is a dog," he would continue, direct- ing his finger to one represented with a rat in its mouth, " that was the best in England, though it was so small a quart pot might be its kennel. I've seen her kill a dozen rats almost as big as her- self, though they killed her at last, for sewer rats are dreadful for giving a dog canker in the mouth, however much you may rinse the mouth out with peppermint-and-water." The room seemed full of dogs. They were standing on the different tables, or tied to the legs of chairs, or crouching under forms, or sleeping in their owners' arms. Each animal in its turn was minutely criticized, the limbs being stretched out as if feeling for fractures, and their mouths looked into as if a dentist were examining their teeth. Nearly aU the dogs were marked with scars from bites. " Pity to bring ^lim up to rat-kiUing," said one who had been admiring a fierce-looking bull-terrier; and although he did not L 146 PAVED WITH GOLD indicate what line in life tlie brute ought to pursue, still everybody understood that " fighting " was the occupation referred to. Mr. Oox had taken " the chair," and installed himself as head man of the meeting. " Now, gentlemen," he cried after he had lighted his pipe, " give your minds up to drinking. Do just as you would at home, and get drunk as soon as you like." The laughter which followed this neat address set all the dogs bai'king. " Silence, dogs ! order, little dogs ! " shouted Mr. All ; " I'm ashamed of you ! " After a time he asked, " Has anybody got a Skye pup he's tired of ? " " Don't believe him,'' answered one of the men ; " he's only a kidding of us. If you says you have, he'll tell you to go and eat it for your supper or somethink." Mr. Alf Cox, far from feeling displeased at this attack upon his character, began to titter, and merely said, " Well, you are a good 'un for a tale, uncommon." " I say, Alf, when are you going to begin ? " asked somebody in the room. "I'm only waiting, my dear friend, for these here swells. Can't be long now." And, ringing the bell, he made inquiries of his first- bom, which ended by Mr. Cox suddenly vacating the chair ; for, as he told the company, with a wink, " his distinguished patronage was in the bar-parlour, and his missus making love to them." In the dingy little back parlour, which was the ex-prize-fighter's sanctum, sat the noble patrons of the ratting-match. They had come there more out of curiosity than any love of the sport ; indeed, it was Captain Merton Crosier who had tempted them to witness the performance. There was Viscount Ascot loUing on the horsehair sofa, smoking a cigar as big as a desk ruler, and watching Mrs. Cox, who was preparing some brandy and water for his cousin, Lord Oaks. They had brought with them a French officer (he had lately arrived in England with letters of introduction to Captain Merton Crosier, in which le Colonel Victor Baudin Rattaplan, du 11* Leger, was spoken of as one of the braves of Algeria), and at that moment the foreigner and the captain were engaged in a discussion on dogs, to which Fred Tattenham, Tom Oxendon, and the Hon. Chanticleer Sutton — the remainder of the distinguished patronage — were listen- ing with considerable delight. The colonel, who spoke English almost fluently, had related an anecdote of a friend of his who had endeavoured to give a fashionable appearance to his " bouledog anglais " by having it shaved like a poodle. The sports of the evening were naturally enough made to await the leisure of such noble gviests. It was in vain that the company in the parlour stamped on the floor and rang the beU. Even when Jack Pike, the celebrated rat catcher, was sent to the bar to make PAVED WITH GOLD 147 inquiries, it did not advance matters, for the ambassador, being re- cognized by Captain Merton Crosier, was instantly bad iato the room, and ordered to assist AH Cox in emptying a quart pot of champagne, as well as to amxise the noble company by some of his vermin- destroying experiences. Before such honourable society Alf Cox put on his best behaviour. He saw in a moment that the "cap'en" was only asking him ques- tions, that he might show off before his friends. When Jack Pike was seated, the conversation was taken up at the point where it had been interrupted. " WeU, cap'en," said Alf, in answer to a question put by that gaUant officer, " I should think I buy in the course of the year, on an average, from three hundred to seven hundred rats a week. I've had as many as two thousand rats in this very house — ah, that I have ! — at one time. Eat a sack of barley meal a week they would." " I suppose they fight each other like fury ? " suggested the captain. " WeU, my esteemed friend, if I didn't feed 'em they'd get \mcom- mon ill-behaved," answered Mr. Cox. " They'll eat each other like rabbits — so vicious is their propensities — for I've watched 'em ; and when they've done devouring their companions, they turns the dead 'uns' skins inside out as neat as purses, and polish the flesh off beautiful clean." " Where the devil do you get them from P " asked the Honourable Chanticleer Sutton. " Get them from, my good friend P It's a regrular trade, bless you," cried Mr. Cox. " I should think I have twenty f armmerUes depend- ing on me, and I suppose I have hundreds of thousands of rats sent me in iron cages fitted into baskets. They don't make a bad thing of it neither. I paid a man five guineas only yesterday for thirty-five dozen, at threepence a head. Catching them is dangerous work, take my word for it." " Do you mean the bites ? " nervously suggested Viscount Ascot. "Tou see, my esteemed friends, there's a wonderful deal of dif- ference in the specie of rat," explained the landlord. " The bite of the sewer and water- ditch rat is, I can assure you, very nasty, for they live on filth. Now Mr. Barn-rat is a plump fellow, and live on the best of everythink, and he ain't so poisonous. Sewer rats is shocking for dogs." " Tou may say that, and for men too," cried Jack Pike. " I was once, gentlemen, bit on the muscle of the arm, and I shall never forget it if I live twenty thousand year. It turned me queer aU of a sudden, and made me feel upheaving, and there I was kept in bed for two months, and my ai-m swole, and went as heavy as a ton weight pretty well." " Curse 'em, it's true," cried Captain Merton Crosier, looking at Lord Oaks, who was beginning to feel uncomfortable, lest any acci- dent should happen to him during the match. " What dithguthting beaths," lisped his lordship. 148 PAVED WITH GOLD " Ot, I've been bit by 'em hundreds o' times," continued Jack Pike ; " it's a three-cornered bite, like a leech's, only deeper, of course, for it goes right to the bone, just as if you had been stuck with a pen- knife. And the quantity of blood that comes away, dear ! dear ! The best thing I ever found for a bite was the bottoms of a porter-cask as a poultice." "It's all gammon," exclaimed Tom Oxendon. "I've seen fellows handle them as coolly as possible." " Ay, and I've handled many a hundred," said Jack Pike, calmly ; " but they don't bite the less for all that. Look here, and here," he added, showing some scars on his hands. "Right through this thumb-nail, too, yet Alf Cox has seen me handle 'em; hav'n't you, AK?" " That I have, my noble friends," replied the landlord, " and much do I admire your nerve, Jack. Why, I've seen him put rats inside his shirt next his bosom, and into his coat, and breeches-pockets, and on his shoulder — in fact, anywhere. He let 'em run up his arm while he was stroking their backs and playing with 'em. Would you like to see him do it, my esteemed friends P " " No, hang it, not here. Make a fellow sick," cried the patrons ; on which le Colonel Rattaplan, seeing that there was a fail- opportunity for showing off, pretended to be much grieved at the timidity of his companion, and said something about un brave not being alarmed by une pauvre bete. "The most dreadfullest, spitefullest rat I know of is the snake- headed rat, as we calls it, gents," observed Jack Pike, who, during the silence, had been taking a long pidl at the champagne-pot. " So it is, my friend, a vei'y ugly customer," said Mr. Alf Cox, in corroboration. " They are what we calls the blood rat, gentlemen,'' continued Jack ; " and I give you my word, I've known 'em attack children asleep in their cot, and gnaw their little hands and feet." " How could you tell that rats did it P " asked Viscount Ascot. " Because, your honour," he replied, " I traced the blood which then- tails had trailed through the openings in the lath and plaster. Ah, what two pretty little children them was — uncommon handsome. Whenever they see me now, they says, ' Oh, here's Ratty, ma ! ' " " I can't sthand thith any longer," said Lord Oaks. " Itth enough to make you ill." And, despite the assertions of le Colonel Victor Baudin Rattaplan that it " woss meare shild's play talk," the whole body of the patrons rose from their seats, and whilst Mr. Cox returned to the parlour to make his peace with the crowd, the " distinguished desire " was con- ducted to the room above, where the 'pit had been erected for the purposes of the match. To avoid all reproaches, Mr. Cox, as he entered, cried out, as if addi-essing somebody, " Let me know directly the shutters is closed in the room above, and the pit lighted up." This announcement PAVED WITH GOLD 149 seemed to raise the spirits of the impatient assembly, and even the dogs tied to the legs of the tables ran out to the length of their leathern thongs, and their tails curled like eels, as if they \mderstood the meaning of the words. But although pacified, the customers were surly at the delay. So the cunning Mr. Cox had to win their esteem once more, by noticing their dogs. " Why, that's the little champion," said he, pattiag a bull-terrier with thighs like a grasshopper, whose mouth opened back to its ears. " Well, it is a beauty ! I wish I could gammon you to take a fiver for it." Then, looking round the room, he added : " Well, gentlemen, I'm glad to see you do look so com- fortable." At last word was brought that all was ready, and instantly a rush was made to the door, which caused dogs to yell and growl, and men to swear and oUrse. In a few moments aU the customers were mounting the broad wooden staircase, which led to what was once the drawing-rooms, and having dropped their shillings into the hand of the doorkeeper, entered the rat-killing apartment. What was called the pit looked like a small cu'cus, some six feet in diameter, about as large as a centre flower-bed, with strong wooden sides, reaching to elbow height. Over it the branches of a gas-lamp were arranged, which lit up the white painted floor and «very part of the little ai-ena. On one side was a recess in the room, which the proprietor calls his " private box," and this apax-tment the noble pati-ons had taken possession of, whilst the audience clambered into convenient places upon the tables and forms, or hung over the sides of the pit. All the little dogs which the visitors had brought up with them, the moment they saw the pit, began to squeal and bark, struggling in their masters' ai-ms as if they were thoroughly acquainted with the programme of the evening's sport ; and when a rusty wire cage of rats, filled with the grey moving mass was brought forward, the noise of the dogs was so great that Mi-. Cox was obliged to shout out, " Now, you that have dogs, do make em shut up, or take 'em out of the room." The captain was the first to jump into the pit. A man wanted to sell him a bull-terrier, spotted like a fancy rabbit, and a dozen rats was the consequent order. The captain, to show off before his friends, insisted upon pulling the rats out of the cage himself, laying hold of them by their tails and jerking them into the arena. He was cautioned by Mr. Cox, with great tenderness of manner, to desist, lest any of the brutes should bite him, for, "Believe me," were the words, " you'll never forget it ; these here rats are none of the cleanest." Whilst the rats were being counted out, those that had been jerked into the arena innocently amused themselves by snifBng about the white-painted floor, little knowing the fate that awaited them. Sometimes one of the poor doomed brutes would cause great merriment by running up the captain's trousers, making that gallant 150 PAVED WITH GOLD officer sliake Ms leg vigorously as lie exclaimed, " Get out, you varmint ! " Miserable little wretches ! some of them were even sit- ting on their hind paws cleaning their faces. When the dog that was to massacre this dozen was brought iato the room and saw the rats, he grew excited, and stretched himself out straight iu his owner's arms like a Gothic water-spout, whilst all the other animals in the apartment burst into a full chorus of whining. " Chuck him in," cried the captain ; and over went the dog, and in a second the rats were running round the circus, or trying to hide themselves between the small openings in the side-boards. Although Mr. Alf Cox, who was very intimate with the owner of the spotted tenier, endeavoured to speak up for the dog, by declaring " it was a good 'un, and a very pretty perfomier," still it was evidently not much worth in a rat-killing sense. If it had not been for his " backer," as the youth who accompanied the terrier into the arena was called — if this boy had not beaten the sides of the pit with his hand, and shouted " Hi ! hi ! at 'em ! " in a most bewildering manner, it was very doubtful if the terrier would not, as far as he was concerned, have pi'eferred leaving his antagonists to themselves to enjoy their lives. Some of the rats, when he advanced towards, them, sprang up like balls in his face, making him draw back with astonishment. Others as he bit them, curled roimd in his mouth and fastened on his nose, as that he had to carry them as a cat does, its kittens. It also required many shouts of " Drop it — dead 'un," before he would leave those he had killed. We have never been able to ascertain from Captain Merton Crosier whether he eventually bought the dog ; but from its owner's saying,, in a kind of apologizing tone, " Why, he never saw a rat before in all his life," we fancy no dealings took place. The captain seemed very anxious to afford his friends as much sport as he could before the grand match came off, for he frequently asked those who carried dogs in their arms whether " his little 'un would kill," and seemed angry when such answers were given as " His mouth's a little out of order," or " I've only tried him at very small 'uns." " Here, let my young 'un have a snifE at the dead 'uns," said a coachman, who had a rough-haired little ten-ier under his ai-m. As soon as the animal was in the pit, it seized hold of a carcase almost as big as itself, shaking it furiously, till it thumped the floor like beating a tamboui-ine. A shout of laughter burst from the audience, and Alf Cox, looking at the coachman, said pati-onizingly, " I say. Mews, he's a good 'un at heads and tails, ain't he ? " Preparations now began for the grand match of the evening. The- bodies of the rats slaughtered in the last match were gathered up by their tails like so many candles, and flung into a comer. The arena was swept clean, and a boy sent downstairs with orders to tell Tom to bring up " that basket which had the rats picked for the match — ^the one that came from Enfield ditches." PAVED WITH GOLD 151 During this delay in the performance, the following dialogue took place between Viscount Ascot and Fred Tattenham. "Who the devil's that Pi-ench fellow P" asked the nobleman, nodding with his head in the direction of le Colonel Victor Baudin Rattaplan, du 11« Leger. " I don't know," answered Tattenham ; " he's a friend of Crosier's. I never saw him before." " Hang me if I like the fellow's face at all. It has a kind of hang- dog look about it. Don't you think so P " "It strikes me I've seen him before, but I don't know where," replied Fred Tattenham. "He speaks English very well for a Frenchman. Didn't you hear him saying, ' Go it, you cripple P ' That doesn't sound as if it was his first visit to England, does it ? " " I don't like him at all," continued the Viscount. " Has Merton spoken about him P " " Why, Crosier's as much puzzled as we are," was the reply. "I'm told he brought excellent introductions with him, and, what is stranger than all, he seems to have known a good deal about Merton's family affairs — at least, so he told me." This conversation was put an end ,to by the entrance of men carrying a big flat basket, like those in which chickens are brought to market, but it had a wirework top, xmder which were moving mounds of closely packed rats. Au attempt was made among the lookers-on to do a little betting, but nobody seeming inclined to " make a book," the pugilistic land- lord cried out that, for the sake of sport, he would make a wager, and straightway offered to lay his eldest son a bottle of lemonade on the match, stipulating, however, that he should have first drink ; and he added, " As your mother says you take after me in a'most every- thing, you shall take after me ia lemonade. Tou won't drownd in what I leave, I can tell you." Of all the sights of the evening, the one which most seemed to astonish the noble patrons was the daring manner in which Mr. Alf Cox's first-bom introduced his hand into the basket of rats, some- times keeping it there for more than a minute at a time as he fumbled about and stiiTcd up with his fingers the living mass, picking out, as he had been requested, " only the big 'uns." WTien one hundred animals had been flung into the pit, they gathered themselves together into a mound, which reached one-third up the sides, and reminded one of the heap of hair-sweepings in a barber's shop after a heavy day's cutting. They were all sewer and water-ditch rats, and the smell that rose from them resembled in ofEensivenesa that from a hot drain. Captain Merton Crosier was immensely excited by these prepara- tions. He amused himself by flicking at the rats with his scented pocket handkerchief. For the fun of the thing he offered the little brutes the lighted end of his cigar, which they ran up to and tamely sniffed at, and then convtilsed the company by the droU manner in 152 PAVED WITH GOLD wMcli they drew back after singeing their noses. It was also a favourite amusement of the captain — who was allowed to do any- thing he chose — to blow on the grey pyramid of rats, and so much did they dislike the cold wiad, that it completely broke up their gatherings, and sent them fluttering about like so many feathers ; indeed, whilst the match was going on, whenever the little animals collected together and formed a round mass, into which the dog dare not force its nose, the cry of " Blow on 'em ! blow on 'em ! " was given by the spectators, and the dog's backer pufEed at the rats as vigorously as if he were extinguishing a fire, and away they darted like so many sparks. The company was kept waiting so long for the match to begin that the impatient captain at last threatened to leave the house, and was only quieted by the proprietor's reply of " My dear friend, be easy, the lad's on the stairs with the dog." True enough, a noise of wheezing and screaming was heard in the passage without, as if some strong-winded animal were being strangled, and presently a boy entered, carrying in his arms a bull- ten-ier in a perfect fit of excitement, foaming at the mouth, and stretching its neck forward, so that the collar which held it back seemed to be cutting its throat in two. It was nearly mad with rage, scratching and struggling to get loose. " Lay hold a little closer up to the head, or he'll turn round and nip yer," cried Alf Cox, in tenderness, to his son. "Whilst the gasping dog was fastened up in a comer to writhe its impatience away, inquiries were made for a stop-watch, and also for an umpire to decide, as it was comically observed by Mr. Cox, " whether the rats were dead or alive when they're killed, as Paddy says." When all the arrangements had been made, the second and the dog jumped into the pit, and after allowing the terrier to " see 'em a bit," he was let loose. The moment he was free, he became quiet, and in a most business- like manner rushed at the rats, burying his nose in the mound of fur, snapping and snuffliug until he brought out one in his mouth. In a short time a dozen rats, with necks wetted by the terrier's mouth, were lying bleeding on the floor, and the white paint of the pit became grained with blood, as if hens had been scratching about on a wet red flooring, or a painter had been imitating some crimson-veined wood. Everything was proceeding very pleasantly for the dog, when a rat, more bold than the rest, fastened on to its nose, and, despite his tossing, still held on dangling there. In vain the terrier dashed the pendant rat against the sides, for though it left a patch of blood, as if a strawberry had been stuck there, still it clung to the snout. " He doesn't squeal, that's one good thing, but he looks rare and silly over it," said one of the lookers-on. " He's lost forty-two seconds by that ornament on his snout,'' cried the time-keeper when this brave rat had at last been shaken ofE and kiUed. PAVED WITH GOLD 153 Wlien any of tlie hundred fell on their sides after a bite, they were ■collected together in the centre, where they lay quivering in their death gasps. " Hi, Butcher ! hi. Butcher ! " shouted the second. " Good dog ! Hurr-r-r-r-h ! " and he beat the sides of the pit, like a drum, till the ■dog flew about with new life. " Dead 'un — drop it ! " he howled, when the terrier "nosed" a rat kicking on the floor, as it slowly expired of its broken back. When four out of the eight minutes allowed for the match had expired, "Time!" was called out, and the dog was seized by the hacker, and forced to repose itself. Panting, as if it had been running miles, with its neck stretched ■out like a serpent's, it remained staring intently at the wounded rats which crawled about the floor. The poor little wretches that had as yet escaped, as if forgetting their danger now their enemy was held back, again commenced cleaning themselves, some nibbling the ends of their tails, others hopping about, going close up to the legs of the lad in the pit, smell- ing at his trousers, or advancing, sniffing, to within a few paces of "their executioner, the dog. After all his panting and screaming the dog lost the match by half a minute. Mr. Cox most honourably paid the bottle of lemonade to his son ; but he was evidently displeased with the dog's behaviour, for he said, " He won't do for me — ^he's not one of my sort ! Here, Jim, tell the first costermonger that passes he may have him if he likes, for I won't give him house-room." The conduct of le Colonel Victor Baudin Rattaplan, du 11« Leger, vras, whilst this match was going on, in the highest degree remarkable- With every rat the dog killed he seemed to grow more and more excited, beating the pit sides with the backer, and laughing louder than anyone in the room. Strange to say, too, he suddenly began to speak English with almost a pure accent ; indeed, if he had been bom in the metropolis itself, the pronunciation could not have been much better or clearer. " Good dog ! at 'em ! pitch into 'em ! hi, hi ! bite their d — d heads off! hah! hah! hah!" cried le Colonel Yictor Baudin Rattaplan, urging on the terrier. Even Mr. Cox was startled by the Frenchman's sudden improve- ment, for he urbanely remarked to him, — "Very good, mounseer — you tree bong. Learn very well here, good lesson — see kill rat." And, turning to his other noble patrons, he added : "Tou must bring the mounseer here again, my esteemed friends, and by , after three ratting matches, he'll speak like a Member of Parliament." The French officer, who at first had seemed slightly agitated by Mr. Alf Cox's remarks, soon recovered himself, and, indeed, joined with great good-humour in the laugh which had been raised against him. " Qu'U est drole, ce Corx," he remarked to Viscount Ascot; but the 154 PAVED WITH GOLD nobleman either paid no attention to tte observation, or else was ratber deaf. During the pause which now took place in the proceedings, the gentlemen were again requested by the landlord to " give their minds np to drinking." " Tou know the love I have for everybody here, and that I don't care a cus for any of you," jocosely remarked AJf Cox, though there was more truth in the observation than many fancied. " Any other gentleman like to have a few rata P " asked the first- bom, whilst he was gathering up the halfpence which had been thrown into the pit as a reward for his exertions in backing the dog. " Let's have a dozen," cried a man, who spoke as if he had been struggling to resist the temptation, but could not. Another batch of rats and another bull-terrier were thrown into the pit. This dog did his work so well — cracking the necks of the rats like so many walnuts — that the admii-ation of the spectators was focussed upon him. " Ah," said the owner, " he'd do better at a hundred than twelve, I know;" whilst another, hanging over the pit, observed, "Rat killing's his little game, I can see;" and Mr. Cox himself, in his admiration, cried out, " She's a very pretty performer, and though not my own dog, and no ways interested, I'd back her to kill against anybody's at eight and a half, or niue." It was nearly twelve o'clock when the noble patrons rose to depart. There were a good many persons on the staircase as they went down, and a little pushing took place, despite all that Mr. Cox could do to prevent his esteemed friends being in any way annoyed. They parted outside the door, the Viscount and Fred Tattenham going one way, and the remainder of the party directing their steps towards the Haymarket, it being their intention to treat le Colonel Victor Baudin Rattaplan to a night on town. When Viscount Ascot reached his club, he found, on searching for his purse to pay the cab, that his money was gone. " It's a good haul, too, for the fellow that's got it," he said, " for there were thirty odd pounds in it, and I never bother myseK about the number of notes. It's a nuisance to lose so much though, isn't it P There was a blank unsigned cheque in one of the pockets, but that doesn't matter so much." "I'd give notice to the Bank about it, all the same," suggested Fred Tattenham. " It might be fiUed up for you." As they were going up the steps the Viscount stopped suddenly, and taking hold of his companion's arm, said, earnestly, "Do you know, I half suspect that Fi-ench colonel of the robbery. I can't be certain, on account of the pushing on the stairs, but I remember he kept y&iy close to me as we came down." " Confound him ! " replied Tattenham. " I have my suspicions, too." What these ended in remains to be told. PAVED WITH GOLD 155 CHAPTER X. FRIENDS AERIVB. One day, whilst the boys were waiting for a turn to go out with a job, Mr. Sparkler, casting his eye over the Heath, saw a young woman, whom he instantly recognized as the maid-servant from Madame de Blanchard's establishment for young ladies, advancing in the direc- tion of the donkey-stands. Being a thorough business man, and knowing that such orders were generally very excellent and extensive,. Mr. Sparkler did not think it beneath his dignity to play the part of touter, but hurried forward to meet the young woman with a rapidity which showed that he was rather nervous lest anybody else should snatch the chance from him. The reason of Mr. Sparkler's sudden departure was soon discovered by his brother proprietors, and as they were all well acquainted with the girl from the school, a pang of jealousy passed thi-ough all their hearts, and the quiet of the Heath was disturbed by angry voices. In the heat of the moment, masters began to strike their boys for not being on the look-out, and boys to squeal and abuse their masters for taking the law into their own hands. All Mr. Sparkler's move- ments were watched with the greatest interest. He was seen to touch his hat with great politeness to the girl, and it was concluded, from his respectful demeanour, that the expense of a first-rate job formed the subject of conversation. " It's a good thirty donkeys at least," cried one owner, shaking his whip at his boy, who had retired to a safe distance. It was in vain that preparations were set on foot to try and cut the ground from under Mr. Sparkler, for the herd of animals hurried ofE towards the servant had scarcely been roused into a trot, before Mr. Sparkler was seen returning, his countenance so beaming with inward satisfaction, that the four-legged deputation was ordered back again, it being evident that every arrangement had been concluded, and the job secured. The Hampstead donkey-masters, although they will fight amongst themselves for a sixpenny ride, and seem influenced by feelings of the deepest hatred when any business is on foot, are, nevertheless, an amiable and accommodating race of men, assisting each other on half-profits with the greatest cheerfulness when an order of any magnitude has to be executed. Hence, when Mr. Sparkler rejoined his fiiends with the announcement that eighteen donkeys were- wanted at the ladies' school by one o'clock, he found no difficulty in securing long-eared steeds to that number. " Here, you Phil, you'U have to be one to go along with this lot," 156 PAVED WITH GOLD said Mr. Sparkler, beginning tis preparations ; " and mind old Indy Rubber is for the governess, for she's a mortal fine woman, and takes a deal of carrying, so the girl telled me." For at least half an hour every hand in Mr. Sparkler's employment was hard at work, tidying up and arranging saddles, so as to make the cavalcade look as respectable as possible. The patronage of the ladies' schools in the neighbourhood was very much sought after, for although the prices given were not high, still the orders were extensive, and came at a time in the day when business was ex- tremely slack. All the time that Mr. Sparkler was adorning his steeds, by hiding the ends of straps, stuffing straw under the saddles, or arranging the linen covering so as to hide, as much as possible, the faulty condition of his harness, he continued giving his directions to Phil. " Put one o' the young 'uns on Laura Smith," he said, " she's very tender on the back ; and keep your eye on Bobtail, or he'U be up to kicking, and breaking some of their necks, if he have a chance. And, Phil, mind you be particidar civil to the girl's missus, and don't let's hear of youi' being up to your larks, getting any of the young 'uns chucked ofE. You'd better let old One Eye go alongside of Crazy Jane, or she'U be a lying down in the road, or some other wicious- ness." And as he spoke of the bad-hearted One Bye, he tapped her smartly on the shoulder with his stick, to show that he disapproved of her general behaviovu-. " Mind, too, Phil," he continued, " they're only out for two hours, and don't you go running their legs off, and knocking them up for their afternoon's work." Eighteen handsome donkeys, accompanied by five sluiced and combed boys, di-ew up, as the clock struck one, before the iron gates of Madame de Blanchard's establishment. The effect was very im- posing, and everbody who passed stopped to admire the gaily attired stud, and to glance at the windows, where the young ladies, with their bonnets on, were impatiently peeping over the blinds, and gazing wistfully on the donkeys. The establishment gained great glory that day, and many were the praises uttered about the great affection Madame felt for her pupils, and her motherly treatment of them. Presently the doors of the academy opened, and out marched the young damsels, trying, by screwing up their little lips to the size of chen-ies, to look as serious as they could in the presence of their governess, but every part of the face was laughing except the mouth. These attempts at solemnity were nearly choking some of the little misses, and making their faces as pink as rose-leaves. All the young ladies were dressed in their best clothes, and looked very prim and pretty, with their smooth hair so neatly di-essed and tucked behind the ears that it seemed a sad pity to derange it with galloping. Their little collars and cuffs, too, were so brilliantly white it was sorrowful to think how soon the dust would soil them. As they stood in the front garden — the prettiest flowers there, be PAVED WITH GOLD 157 it understood— the governess said there was a great deal too much chattering ; and we are sorry to have to relate that a little pushing and quarrelling occurred whilst the young ladies were being placed in their saddles. One Miss Wagbii'd— a terrible, wicked gu-1, as the mistress called her — was ordered to write out " Do not push ! " one hundred times, in play hours, for disorderly conduct. Then one Miss Olara Marsh had to be severely reprimanded, and threatened with being sent back, for taking a violent prejudice against the Duke of Brunswick, whom she declared to be a dusty thing, with a sore on its back. Another young lady — Miss Twining, who wore her hair down her back, and had dimples under her eyes — was rated for her affectation in pretending to be neiTous when Sam Curt was helping her on to the saddle; and, worse thanall, she showed some temper, asserting that she couldn't help it, for it tickled. Tet the governess preferred believing Master Curt's explanation of " It's her skin's so creepy, ma'am. It itches in a moment." The governess — a fine, tall thin woman, but inclined to wither— endeavoured to govern the young ladies in. a half -military fashion, calling out their names in succession when it came to their turn to mount. There was a great deal of confusion caused by some of the little misses putting the wrong foot in the stirrup, and a great deal of time was wasted in fidgeting about in the saddle to get comfortable, and in altering straps which were either too long or too short. If the mistress had not been a woman of great nerve she would never have been able to preserve order among her pupils. Cries of " Adone, Mary ! " or, " Let me alone, Tilda ! " evinced the unsettled condition of some of the scholars' minds. Others would grumble because then- donkey was the worst of the lot, or because its knees were broken : and one even took a strong prejudice against her steed because she said its eyes were full of flies. " Miss Smith, I'm ashamed of you ! What are you about, Miss Collis P Pull the other rein directly — where are you to going to ? Arrange your dress, for goodness' sake. Miss Trelawny ; and take your parasol out of that donkey's ear, Miss Simpson." There was one young lady — she oovli not have been older than fourteen — who caused more disturbance than all the school put together. Somehow or other, whenever Philip was about to lift her on the saddle, the donkey was sure to hop out of the way ; and as all the other young ladies laughed, it certainly did appear as if it was no accident. " Kick that patient animal again. Miss Crosier, and you shall be sent back," at last called out the governess. What made the pupU's conduct look very black indeed, was, that the very next attempt after this threat the young damsel was jumped on to the back with as little trouble as a circus-rider. When the cavalcade was mounted, the governess, with much dignity took her seat on India Rubber ; and whilst she was doing so, it was painful to hear the tittering which crackled among the 158 PAVED WITH GOLD pupils. She must have heard it, poor lady, for she blushed a deep cinnamon colour. Philip could not take his eyes ofE this Miss Crosier, for he had re- cognized in her the little girl who one day, when he was seated under the avenue by the Heath side, had called him " ce sal petit garsong- la." He did not know what the words meant, but he had a half- notion that they were shghtly complimentary, and had been spoken in pity. Once he asked Swinging Fred what " oe sal petit garsong- la" meant, but Mr. Jackson, being unacquainted with the French language, had replied that he could not " tumble to it," and that it was a " regular jawbreaker." So, as he was unable to obtain a trans- lation, Phil contented himself with his own notions on the subject, and felt convinced that the little lady was commiserating with his forlorn lot, and very thankful he felt for her sympathy. She had a wicked, pretty little face, that would have made any- body like her. It is very difficult to say whether her eyes left ofE laughing even when she was asleep, and how she ever managed to close them, with all those lashes about the lid, must be guessed at. She had the strange power, too, of working her eyebrows about as a horse does its ears ; and if a fly happened to settle on her forehead, or her hair got out of its place, she would frown like the Saracen's Head on Ludgate Hill, though the next moment the semi-circles were Iiack on her forehead again, and very lovely to look at. The last time she rettumed home from the holidays her mamma wrote a letter to Madame de Blanchard requesting that Helen might never be permitted to go out in the sxm vrithout some covering to protect her skin ; and nobody who has seen the pretty child could object to such a precau- tion, for her complexion is so clear that you can see the blue veins on her temples as distinctly as if she had traced them with cobalt, and •even now there are some haK-dozen golden spangles of freckles, where the sun had caught her, on the top of her little nose, where the skin is extremely delicate and sparkles like a lily-leaf. The cavalcade moved along so slowly that this Miss Crosier did nothing but grumble at the pace, and ask Emma Tvdning, who was next her, " When that old thing " — meaning, we are sorry to say, the governess — " was going to let them gallop P " She was evidently a very rebellious young damsel, and far from settled in her mind. Whenever the mistress called out, " Throw your shoulders back. Miss Crosier, you're stooping dreadfully," the wicked child, far from feeling grateful for the kind reproof, as we should, only shook herself, and pouted, and her eyebrows moved about so rapidly with frowning, that it seemed as if they would never become round again. The cavalcade was going along very prettily, all the pupils holding themselves delightfully upright, and looking very solemn and lady- like, with the mistress in the rear, keeping a strict eye over them to see that there was no talking whilst they were passing through the town. But what did Miss Crosier care for the governess P She was determined not to hold her tongue for anybody, but would speak as PAVED WITH GOLD 159 mucli as she liked, and to •whom she Uked. Now, Emma Twining was a much better-behaved young lady, and when the insun-ectionary Helen whispered any question, the only reply she received was, " Don't — she's looking," or, " Don't — she'll hear us," or some such nervous repulse. So Helen called Emma " a disagreeable thing," and determined, as there was nobody else to chat with, she would talk to the donkey -boy, Phil. But first of all, with a cunning far beyond her years, she warned the lad not to look at her when he answered her questions, but to keep his head straight in front of him, so that the mistress might suspect nothing. " What's your name, boy ? " she asked. " Philip Merton, miss," was the reply. On hearing this she gave a laugh, which made the governess call out, " Pray be more steady. Miss Crosier ! " but she didn't seem to attend in the slightest degree to the warning, but continued the conversation. " Merton ! " she said, in an astonished tone ; " la ! what a curious thing ! my brother's name is Merton. I wonder if you're a rela- tion ? " and as she felt she must laugh, she pushed her bonnet strings into her mouth. After a moment, she added: "Where do your parents hve, boy ? " " My mother's dead — the heavens be her bed ! " was the sad reply. " I never saw my father, and I don't know where he is." The pretty maid was sorrowful when she heard this answer. As if she was comparing the happiness of her lot with the misery of his, she said, — " Both my papa and mamma are alive. I have a brother, beside, who is an officer in the army." Another cry of, "No talking. Miss Crosier," came from the governess. After a moment, when she thought the governess's suspicions were allayed, the simple child asked, " Shouldn't you like to see your father?" The boy, forgetting the warning she had given him, looked up in her face, and answered sorrowfully, " I would walk miles even to see where he was buried, if I knowed the spot. I have been told he was a gentleman, but even if he was the poorest man living, I'd crawl on my hands and knees — ay, hundreds of mUes — if I knowed where to see his face." Here the conversation dropped, for Helen, who was a gentle- hearted girl for aU her laughing, seeing with what earnestness Philip had spoken, began to upbraid herself for having \mconsciously wounded his feelings. When she heard Emma Twining sigh and mutter, in her rich, soft voice, " Poor boy ! " Helen took it as a rebuke for her thoughtlessness, and whispered back, exousingly, " I did not mean to hurt him, dear." The dreams and fancies that used to fill the lad's mind even when 160 PAVED WITH GOLD lie was a mere infant at the pauper school — the strange ideas to which he had often, as he lay on the grass with his face turned up to the clouds, sought to give shape and truthfulness, again came rising to his brain. He seemed to have forgotten that anybody was near him, and walked along in a kind of somnambulistic condition, talking to himself aloud : " They nerer would teU me anything about her ; no, not even nurse wouldn't. If she was a lady, as that Miss Perriman said she was, where was the harm of my knowing it P Of com-se I ought to know. They ought to tell me everything. I can't even see her when I want to, because they wouldn't tell me what she was like. I dream of Sam Curt and a lot of others, but I can't dream of her, and all through them." For the next few moments not a fault had the m.istress to find with Miss Merton's behaviour, for the little donkey-boy's soliloquy had frightened her into silence. The first to renew the conversation was Philip. One of the animals stumbled, and called him back to him- self again. He was a singular, fitful youth ; in tears one second, and laughing the next. Directly he saw the little ladies' faces, he seemed to wake up from his dreams ; he even thought it was an excellent opportunity for obtaining a translation of the French words the little lady had spoken about him, so, haK turning round, he said, " I've seen you before, and you called me a ' sal petit garsong-la.' Wbat does that mean ? " At first Miss Helen blushed as scarlet as her brother's brightest regimentals, and then she began to shake with laughter, so that Emma was obliged to think of the mistress, and say to her, " Oh ! don't, there's a dear ! " When she had partially recovered from her excitement, she felt embarrassed as to what answer to give. She did not dare to tell Philip to his face that she had called him a dirty little boy ; it would be much kinder, she thought, to deceive him by telling a fib, and, looking him full in the face, she replied, with the gi-eatest sang-froid, " It means, ' What a handsome young man that is.' " Now it was Philip's turn to look sUly, and feel uncomfortable, whilst Emma Twining was so astounded at her friend's duplicity, that she began to splutter with giggbng, whilst her cheeks pufied out, and her eyes puckered up, in endeavouring to restrain her mirth. Then came the terrible voice of the governess again, "Miss T-\vinlng, copy out ' I must not laugh,' fifty times, when you get home, and as for you. Miss Crosier, I shall report yov\." Poor Emma began to ti-emble like a mariner's compass, and once again did the other wicked child shake herself as if she was trying to slip out of her clothes, and the eyebrows bobbed up and down into all manner of shapes. " The nasty old thing ! " said the bad girl, " I wish that donkey would kick up behind and thi-ow her oif, that I do.'' Being close to her side, Philip heard her wish, and so anxious PAVED WITH GOLD 161 was he to do something in return for the complimentary "ce sal petit garsong-la," that he turned round and said, " I could make old Indy Ruhber, wot she's riding of, kick in a minute, if I choosed." " Can you P " was the quick reply ; " mind she doesn't see you talkiag to us. I'U give you a penny if you'll make old India Rubber kick." " I don't want your pennies," said Phil, indignantly. " I'U do it for nothing, for you." " Well, look here, boy," continued the little tempter ; " my pa's coming to see me on Thursday next, and I'U make him hire you to give me a ride ; only mind and bum^p her well." This was enough for Philip, and pleased him better than all the pennies in the Bank of England. So he dropped behind, and aUowed the cavalcade to pass until he was near the mistress, and under the pretence of asking which way they were to go, he kept by her side waiting for his opportunity to torment her. He weU knew that one of India Rubber's pecuUarities was extreme irritability whenever anybody placed the hand on her backbone. She could bear a good deal of flogging without evincing much restlessness, but the moment she felt a pressure behind the saddle, she became frisky and gay, and spitef uUy Uvely in her demeanour. The poor governess could not imagine what had come to her hitherto docile steed. She felt herself raised up behind as suddenly as if she had been lifted by a wave, and bumped forward several times in succession — a sensation somewhat resembling that of being churned. India Rubber was lashing her tail about, and throwing her legs vigorously in all directions. " Go away, boy, it's you frightening her," cried the lady, in alarm ; but Phil remained, protesting his innocence, and at the same time pinching India Rubber harder and harder, until at length the enraged animal threw up its heels with as much violence as if it were going to turn a somersault, and the lady, being totaUy unprepared for this evolution, was propelled forward with the velocity of a champagne cork, although her progress through the air was fortunately checked by the stirrnp, which forced her back again to her seat with the jerk of a lasso. The dignified, upright position which had hitherto distin- guished her deportment in the saddle vanished entirely, for her body f eU down like a Kd over the animal's neck, and for a few seconds she remained in an attitude similar to that which Johnny Gilpin is sup- posed to have assumed when passing through Edmonton. All the young ladies heard their mistress caU out, " Oh, take me off this donkey ! take me ofE ! oh, oh, oh ! " And as they turned round, and saw her clinging to the pommel, the mirth and enjoyment they were trying to conceal came gurgling up to their little mouths. It is a painful portion of our duty to be obliged to state that Miss Crosier so enjoyed the scene, that her head feU back on her shoulders, and the only sound that came from her open mouth was one which resembled that produced by a person whilst using a gargle. At length M 162 PAVED WITH GOLD her full tlu'oat began to work like ttat of a canary ia song, making her tonnet-strings tremble as her laughter streamed up, and then such a flood of rich, melodious chuckles gushed forth, that she must have been heard a mile off, and made evei-ybody within that distance cachinnate from sympathy. The expression of the countenance of the governess, as she heard the wicked Helen's bursts of delight, was sublime from contempt and fearful with anger, and the remarkable vigour which she threw into the words, " Miss Crosier, write out one hundred times, ' I should not laugh at the misfoi-tunes of others,' " ought to have made that young lady sink to the ground with shame and contrition. The most melancholy result of this revengeful proceeding was that the governess insisted upon quitting the back of India Rubber, and as she was forced to proceed at a walking pace, she issued an order that all the young ladies should follow her example. So, much to Miss Helen's disappointment, all hopes of a gallop were dispelled. " Never mind, miss," said PhU, consohng her, " wait tUl Thursday, and then I'U give you such a run as shall make you stiff for months to come." For two or three days after this memorable academic expedition, Philip was so wrapt in thought that his bearing towards his com- panions seemed haughty and distant, and in retaliation it was resolved the nickname of " My nobs " should henceforth be conferred upon him. Whenever he appeared on the Heath the boys used to grin at him, and shout out " My nobs " in full chorus. He did all he could to try and convince his friends that he was not proud, but pensive ; yet he met with no success. He tried to sUence their evil tongues by lending them money, but though they were civil enough until the monetary ti'ansaction was completed, yet no sooner had the coin changed hands than once more he became " My nobs." Even sharing his food with his enemies did not soften their hearts. If Phil was thoughtful and abstracted, and did not talk and mingle with the other boys as he had formerly done, it was not, as they thought, because he had suddenly given way to pride, but for a far deeper reason. What on earth was a poor donkey-boy to be proud of P He was continually thinking over the words httle Helen Crosier had spoken. He would say to himself, " What a curious thing that her brother's name should be Merton as well as mine ! She said she wondered if I was a relation, but she was only laughing at me. Tet everybody used to say my mother had been a lady. Only fancy if we was actually relations ! " And this idea would torment him until it monopolized all his time and thought. He and the other boys were one afternoon bathing in the pond by the KUbum Fields, when a direct set upon Phil was made by the satirical young rogues. Nothing was addressed directly to him, but it was evident that he was intended to hear aU that was said. He clenched his teeth together very tightly as he heai'd one ask " Whether PAVED WITH GOLD 163 it was true that ' nobs' ' father had once been King of England before he took to keeping an oyster-stall P " and his muscles tightened when another replied, as soon as the laughter had subsided, " I've heard ' My nobs' ' mother was a heiress, and married the dandy dogs'- meat man." In despair of being able to put an end to these annoyances by any pacific means, Philip uttered the tremendous threat that " The very next person who insulted him should receive such a drubbing as should ensure civility for years to come." Now donkey-boys are notoriously brave, and will never allow anything like intimidation. The consequence was, that Phil had scarcely spoken his big words before BUI Kumey, one of Slopman's boys, shouted back in defiance, " If you want to fight, ' My nobs,' here's for you," and into the water he leapt. Now began the horroi-s of war. First they skirmished about, splashing each other with water, imtil at last the savage Merton waded towards his opponent with clenched fists, whilst the deter- mined Kumey, daring to the last, hissed and shouted out, " My nobs ! " as if he was singing his war-song. They ducked each other unmercifully, wrestling as well as their wet arms would let them. Sometimes they held each other's heads under water until the bub- bles of their breath came to the surface as rapidly as the gas in soda water. Then, black in the face, and panting, they would rise to wipe the moisture from their eyes, and prepare for another tussle. Philip's rage made him stubborn, and gained him the victory, for though he was sometimes nearly sufEocated, he would give no signs of his discomfiture, whilst Kumey no sooner found himself over- whelmed by difficulties than he roared out at the top of his voice, " Murder, murder, help ! I'm getting drownded ! " At last it was determined by the lookers-on that the scene of the combat should be changed from the water to the dry land, and both combatants, who had apparently had enough of the nautical engage- ment, willingly assented to the proposal. Whilst the boys were slipping on their clothes, Jack Burt remarked to a friend of his, " I never saw two such hard ones ; Phil's as tough as cow beef." " Tes," joined in Snorting Sam, " but if Kumey holds his head up I don't believe he'll get the worst of it now." Sam Curt never did like Phil much. Perhaps he was a little jealous of him. Whilst the boys were dressing, they continued crowing at each other like a couple of game cocks, threatening to inflict all sorts of injuries. Whilst menacing each other, they adopted the slang in fashion among donkey-boys, so that their threats, though very fearful to their understanding, had rather a comic meaning to the uninitiated. Philip intimating that, as soon as he had put on his trousers, he would blacken BUl's eyes, roared out, " Wait till I've togged my ' round-the-houses,' and then I'U cook your ' mince-pies ' for you." To this Kumey retorted, " I'U have yer down on ' the last card of 164 PAVED WITH GOLD your pack ' as soon as I've laced my ' German flutes ' " — meaning thereby that when his boots were arranged he would throw Philip on his back. " Ton won't know yotir ' lump o' lead ' when I've finished with you," cried Merton, referring to his antagonist's head. " I'll smash your ' glass case,' and damage your ' north and south,' " roared Bill, referring to the face and mouth of his opponent. In this curious language did they defy each other, speaking of the jaw as a " jackdaw," caUing an arm a " five-acre farm," and terming a nose an " I suppose," and, in fact, never making use of the word they intended, but employing in its stead some expression which rhymed with it. When the young urchins did begin to fight they had a very terrible set-to, and hurt each other as much as ever they could, but it happened most providentially that their limbs were not so power- ful as their rage, or they must have knocked each other to atoms. Whilst they were sparring up to each other, Phil would cry out, passionately, " My mother married a dandy dogs'-meat man, did she ? " or, " My father was King of England, was he P " and then rush head first at his enemy, who, determined not be intimidated, would growl back in defiance, " Yes, ' My nobs,' that's the exact state of things." They fought long enough, however, for each of them to discover that they were very well matched, and for the future it would be more prudent to remain friends instead of foes. So Phil allowed Mr. Kumey from that day to call him, behind his back, " My nobs," and never afterwards was Bill heard to threaten young Merton either with " punching his lump of lead," or " throwing out his five-acre farm," or " stopping Phil's jackdaw with a crack on his north and south." Ton may be sure that Phil never forgot the promise the little school-girl made him. When Thursday came, he seated himself on the wooden railings near Jack Straw's Castle, and he passed the morning as contentedly as a parrot on its perch. He listened for the roll of carriage wheels, and kept his eyes moving in every direction so as to be the first to discover when a certain pink muslin dress should come fluttering down the road. He was in a dreadful state of anxiety lest any other boy should speak to her before him. Many times when a caiTiage passed did he rush into the road and, at the peril of getting run over, peep into the comfortable interior, hoping to catch sight of the little lady's bright face. He had made up his mind that her papa must keep an equipage, for he had noticed that Miss Helen was the only girl in the school who had a gold watch and chain. His greatest fear was, that he should be ordered out with any donkeys, and so miss the damsel. He let Sam Oui-t go out thi-ee times running, and although it was a good sixpence out of his pocket, PAVED WITH GOLD 165 yet he never thought of that, but was only glad to shuffle the job off to some one else. " I don't know why I should like her," he thought. " She ain't haJf so pretty as Bertha, for her eyes is always laughing and making fim, but sister's has such a. fond look in them, they wouldn't frighten a bird away. I suppose it's because she said something about my being a relation, though she was only larking." The afternoon was passing rapidly, and yet he was still on the look- out, though he was getting rather tired and impatient at being made a fool of, as he called it. Several times he had complained to a brick wall close by, asking the soKd masonry, " Why did she say she was coming if she wasn't ? " Often and often he would run to have a look at the hotel clock, making up his mind he would give her a quarter of an hour longer, and if she didn't come by that time there was an end of the matter. He was, indeed, so doubtful about seeing her, that he had even tossed up some halfpence to see how his luck stood, but the hope was so strong within him that, although he lost five times out of six, he phUosophicaUy refused to believe in that method of divination. At length, just as he was on the verge of despair, and had raised his closed fists preparatory to uttering some dreadful imprecation on the bonnet of the unconscious school-girl, he heard a voice close to him which made him jxunp off his rail with the vigour of a grass- hopper. " This is the little boy with the same name as yours, Merton," cried Helen, the owner of the voice. " How do you do, little Merton ? I've brought big Merton to see you." And then she began to laugh and nod her head alternately to Phil and a tall young gentle- man, with a dropping moustache, who had fixed his glass in his eye and was examining his namesake. He did not seem pleased with the inspection, for he said nothing, but let his glass fall, and then moved his brows about as if he was getting them right again after frowning. It was evident that the old gentleman with the tawny, unbleached face, that seemed hard as if it had been carved in bees'-wax, was Miss Helen's papa, for she held his long thin hand in hers, and seemed very happy to be by his side. This old gentleman, although he was trying to smile, looked very severe, for his features were not flexible, but seemed tough and hard as saddle leather, and his expression was more as if he had a nasty taste in his mouth than anything else. His cold eyes, with wrinkles starting in every direction like the cracks in starred glass, made Phil feel uncomfortable when they looked at him. The boy, too, could not help noticing the gentleman seemed to have lost his lips, for there was no red edging to the mouth, but it closed as a slit in an orange would. He was dressed in black, and was solemn and heavy as a hulk, with just one dub of white, like a port-hole, where the shirt showed above the waistcoat. Indeed, PhU half wished that this old gentleman had not come with his little daughter. 166 PAVED WITH GOLD " So this is the little fellow, is it P " said papa. " Come, sir, you must be kind enough to let us have your best donkey, to give this young lady a ride." " Then, if you'U take my word for it, have Light Heart, the best as ever carried a saddle," answered Phil, starting ofF to fetch the vaunted animal. The big Merton laughed affectedly at the little Merton's earnest manner. He was a very handsome young fellow, despite a certain languid expression, which gave you an idea that he was ready for bed- time. The keys of a piano were not more regular than his teeth, and his nose was as aquiline as a ratchet cut. As for whiskers, his were so bushy birds might have built in them, and on his chin was a tuft nearly as big as a rabbit's tail. He was not dressed in black, but wore a shawl-patterned waistcoat, and his blue coat was thrown back over his shoulders as open as folding-doors. He seemed very mildly happy, and proud of being able to keep his eye-glass fastened under his eyebrow, though it gave him somewhat the appearance of an owl blind of one eye. There was a third gentleman present, who was evidently a French- man, for whenever he addressed the big Merton he called him " Mon cher Mareton," and gesticulated like a preacher. He had shaved off his whiskers, but you could stiU trace their shape by a bluish granu- lar stain. His heavy moustache had been clipped over his mouth as regularly as thatch over a cottage window, and he had the faculty of laughing instantaneously and stopping as quickly. One or two donkey-boys, who were watching him, were astounded at the size of his ears, which stood out like handles on each side of his cleanly- shaved face. In his moments of polite men-iment, his round, smooth countenance became dimpled and nobbed by the forcing up of the cheeks. Whoever his tailor was, he understood the art of cutting trousers, though his coat fitted his plump body too m^uch like a pudding-bag, and Phil at one time thought he wore stays. This foreign gentleman also seemed to be very good-natured, for when Redpoll Jack recommended him to have a donkey as well as the young lady, he laughed till he had to wipe his forehead, and told Helen that her friends the boys were " des gamins and tres droles, and wanted to make a donkey of him, he should think, ha ! ha ! " He made one observation, which was very curious. He pointed out to his friends that Phil's face was not at all like that of an English boy's, for the features were too round and formed, and in fact, resembled those of the children in his own country. He even went so far as to ask the lad whether either of his parents was an etranger. There is no sensation more annoying than feeling certain you have seen a face before, and yet being unable to call to mind the when and the where. Philip was turning over all the leaves in his memory endeavouring to satisfy himself where he had seen the big Merton before. He remembered the face as distinctly as he did the statue at PAVED WITH GOLD 167 Charing Cross. Later in the day the mystery was cleared up, and in ■the languid youth Phil recognized one of the officers who one night in the Haymarket, when he (PhU) was a crossing- sweeper, had ordered the Duck to throw mud at Niu-se Hazlewood. " I wish I dare send a stone at him," thought little Merton. They stroUed along as far as Highgate, chatting and talking to- gether, papa never addressing the French gentleman without a great show of courtesy, and pompously calling him Monsieur le Colonel (only he pronounced it Mussu). The foreign officer also behaved with excessive politeness, and whenever he spoke to the languid youth, called him " mon ami Mareton," or " mon oher capitaine." Indeed, it was truly delightfxd to witness the glossy elegance of manner all the gentlemen displayed. Even laughing little Helen herself felt awed by their imposing conduct, for as she afterwards told Emma Twining, it was like being in school again. It did not make much impression on Phil though, biit he walked quietly along, leading the donkey, and never opened his mouth unless it was to check symptoms of frivolity on the part of Light Heart by such exclamations as " No, you don't, you hussey ! " or " Steady, you warmint ! " to bring her back to a sense of her servitude. Presently the old gentleman, who was apparently fond of inquiring into the condition of the lower orders, asked Phil, in a condescend- ingly kind tone of voice, such questions as " How many donkeys his master had, and how much the boys naiade at the business P " He also called the boy " his young friend." He listened with the greatest attention as Phil replied, — " Well, there's eleven masters altogether, and mine — which is Sparkler by name — has got six donkeys, and one on 'em he wouldn't take Si for. He had another first-rater as we called Lord Cocktail, but she was drowned last winter in the Vale of Health — got on the ice under the hedge for warmth, and the thaw came, and in she went, .and then the frost came again, and regular potted her. He gave over ^63 for her, for donkeys is wonderful scarce. Tou can't look at one under fifty shillings. As for what he earns," he continued, remem- bering the second portion of the question, " that's according to what we brings home. If it's a good day, we get maybe three shillings, or if it's a bad one, only eighteenpence, per'aps ; but we depends most upon what gentlefolks give us," he added, giving the old gentleman ^ strong hint. " And I hope you're a good boy, and don't use bad language, but go to church regularly, eh P " continued Mr. Crosier, senior. Philip, who every Sunday had to fetch an old lady home in a Bath- chair when divine service was over, answered without hesitation that he never missed attending church unless it was very wet, which, of course, was perfectly true. The quarrels he had lately had with his companions seemed to have greatly influenced the description he gave of the deplorable and benighted condition of the other donkey-boys. Be was evidently avenging himself by slandering them. 168 PAVED WITH GOLD " They never goes near a cliurcli,'' said Phil, " unless it's to play at ■ chuck and toss ' on the tombstones ; and there's one boy, of the name of BiU Kumey, he's got the awfuUest foul mouth for swearing you ever came near. You'd wonder his teeth wasn't blighted and turned black in his head with the words he uses. Tou shall hear him when we get back." If Captain Merton Crosier had been by himself, he would have been stu-e to burst out laughing at this last speech, but the stem-looking father evidently was a great restraint on the son's conduct, and as Mr. Merton, senior, was muttering, " This is sad, very sad," Mr. Merton, junior, thought it more pi-udent to appear deeply afflicted by the terrible account. "Never use bad language, my young friend," said the papa, eihortingly. " I never do, sir, only to the donkeys," answered PhU, putting on a look of innocence. " But why swear at all P " iirged the kind gentleman. " Tou will tell me that it gives force to your language. Tou will say that it ensures obedience through fear ; but since it is only the sound of your voice, and not the words, that these animals obey, what need is there for you to blaspheme when a shout would answer as well ? Do you understand, my young friend ? " Here the little lady, coming to Phil's defence, said, — "Tou mustn't scold him, papa. Remember, I told you he never had any parents to watch over him." Everybody stared at Phil with curiosity. The French officer appeared quite overcome with sympathy and cried out, " Pauvi-e mou- tard ! " and the English one looked knowing, as if he suspected that the boy had been gammoning his sister. The solemn Mr. Crosier ,^ senior, shook his head, and asked, — " Are both your parents dead P " " My mother's dead," replied Phil. " She went away before I can remember her; but perhaps my father's alive — though it wotddn't matter, as far as I am concerned, for he never seems to have cared much about me, or else, why did he leave a fellar P " " Did he desert your mother ? " inquired Captain Merton Crosier. " I don't loiow if he deserted her, because she died," continued Phil ; " but he seems to have left me to take pot-luck." " Quel scelerat ! " exclaimed the French colonel, looking the picture of indignation — as if he would like to pvmieh the villain. " Now, with us in France, such a similar thing is impossible. Our system of passports, however you Anglais grumble at them, prevent such affairs." " And was your father called Merton ? " inquired the old gentleman. PhU answered, " I don't know about that. I'm called Philip Merton, and Katherine Merton was the name my mother went by — so Nurse Hazlewood told me." PAVED WITH GOLD 169 " Katierine Merton ! " he cried, with a tone of surprise. Then, in a more quiet voice he added, " And who is Nurse Hazlewood, my little man P " For a moment the hoy hesitated, as if ashamed to reply; but at length, as if he had conquered any feeling of pride, he answered,^ " I ought to call her mother ; and I used to when I was young, for she was as good and kind to me as she was to her own ohUd. But if you want to know who she was, she was nurse at the workhouse where I was sent, and it was she as told me my mother was a lady." There was no reason on earth why the solemn old gentleman should have suddenly become so excited, and anxious to leam more of the history of this boy. Over and over again did he ask, " And are you sure, my young friend, you cannot remember your father's name ? " And although Philip answered, " I tell you I never knowed him,'' until he was tired by the monotony of the reply, yet Mr. Crosier, senior, seemed unwilling to drop the subject, so often begging of the boy to try and remember, that at last little Helen, not understanding what such questionings could lead to, turned round laughing to her father to tease him for his curiosity. Then she saw that his face was pale and his eye unnaturally brilliant with excitement, and involim- tarily she cried out, — " What is the matter, papa ? Are you ill ? Tou are so dreadfully pale ! Merton, dear, make him sit down." The solemn papa did not like to be stared at and pitied. He said it was aU nonsense, and, forcing up a laugh, asked how they imagined that one of his age could walk so great a distance without feeling dis- tressed? But that was only an excuse, for he was suffering from excitement, and not fatigue, as was evident by his manner. There was a dead silence among the party when the next question was put, and even Phil was frightened at finding so much interest taken about him. " Did you ever, my boy — now tiy and remember — don't be afraid to take your time — did you ever hear anybody mention a person named Vautrin ?" He waited almost breathlessly, untQ Phil replied,— " No, I can't say I ever did hear of such a name ; but there's a boy on the Heath as is called Volby, if you think he'd suit you." What should have made the French colonel start and fall back, as if somebody had suddenly called out his name P On the cards he carried in his pocket was engi'aved "Le Colonel Victor Baudin Rattaplan, du ll'' Leger." Then what should he care for such a person as Vautrin? And when the papa took out his pocket- book to write down the name of the workhouse where Philip had passed his infancy, why did this French officer keep on repeating to himself, " St. Lazarus Union," as if he was afraid of forgetting the address P What wUl not people do for a few hours' pleasure ? There were two maid-servants living in a big white house on the right-hand side 170 PAVED WITH GOLD of the Heatli — where the ivy on the walls stands out like a portico, so that when it rains the cows will go there for shelter— and these two poor girls would get up at four o'clock in the morning for what ? — to have a donkey ride. They had got their long day's work before them, and anybody would fancy that every moment of sleep would be of consequence to give them strength for the day's labour, but merely for the pleasure of sitting upon a donkey's back, and feeling it move along with them, they did not mind rising betimes, before any of the family were stuTing. They would go to Phil overnight, and coax him to be waiting round the comer, and as the clock struck four they wo\ild come out of the back garden gate, and be off on the romp. It was not a bad job for Philip, although it did come rather too early in the morning, for when they returned back again at six, they would give the boy such a big bundle of bread and meat that he had no occasion to buy any more food for that day at least. They never met with anybody during such rides, unless it was old Tom Pugh, the water-caiTier, who, striding his tub on wheels like a temperance Bacchus, sat looking at his white horse, whose wabbling ears dangled about almost as loosely as the pails swinging behind the vehicle. " Good morning, Tom," the girls would cry out. " Don't you tell you saw us, or we'll beat you as black as a cinder." While Philip was galloping these gii-ls across the Heath, he saw something lying on the ground, and as the donkey-boys are always on the look-out for treasure, the moment Phil saw this something, he dropped his stick as if accidentally, as an excuse for lagging behind, and returning to fetch it, picked up a purse. Judging from human nature, and having closely watched the man- ners and habits of infants of a tender age, we have come to the con- clusion that honesty is enth'ely a matter of education, and is no more an instinct bom in us than forgiving your enemy, or eating with a fork. Now, as the education of donkey-driving boys may be safely quoted at nil, much honesty caimot be expected of them, and even if it was, the expectation would most certainly be disappointed. When Sam Curt one day picked up a gold snufi-box, he never for one moment thought it might possibly belong to somebody, but jerking it hastily among some ferns, he marked the spot well, and fetched the treasure at night. As there was not a' soul to be seen stirring on the Heath, Philip did not think it worth whUe to take any such precaiition with his god- send, but with a clown's rapidity slipped it into his pocket, thinking to himself " the early bird catches the early worm," and a very pretty worm too. He was all impatience until the two servant girls had re- turned home again, for his fingers wei'e itching to open the clasp and peep into the interior. He was quite astonished at his good fortune, for it was along that very road that he had passed on the previous evening when he was escoi-ting the little school-girl. He felt sure the purse was not there then, or he must have seen it. When the PAVED WITH GOLD 171 ride was over he did not wait to take the donkeys back to the stand, hut sought out some very secluded spot and took out the treasure. " It's a first-rate looking thing," he thought to himself, " and must have gold in it. If there ai-e only a few shillings, however, I shan't mind." When he opened it, the features of his face relaxed with astonish- ment, and he flung the purse away with disappointment. There was not a single coin in any of its pockets. The only thing he could find was an old douhled-up card, with "Viscount Ascot" printed in minute letters in the centre and surmounted by an imposing crest. He could not help exclaiming in disgust, " A viscount, and not a farthing! Why I'm as good a viscount as he is! Call hisself a nobleman, and not carry even such a thing as a pint of beer about him. If that's your aristocracy, why a donkey-boy's a king — that's aU." There was a certain stout foreigner with a thick moustache who would have given Phil a golden sovereign to have regained that purse, although there was not even a farthing in the pockets : but how was the boy to know that P CHAPTER XI. CAPTAIN MBRTON CEOSIEE AT HOME. With a handsome allowance from his father, and sick leave of absence from his regiment. Captain Crosier leads the happiest life of any man in London. He has capital rooms in Harley Street. He has bargained for a latch-key, and every morning of his life his breakfast is brought up to him in bed. If the stem papa, who has just Icome up from Swanborough to settle some business in town, had the least idea that his son was such a dissipated young dog, it would have caused him not only to feel great parental grief, but also to diminish, by at least one half, the cheques that every three months were paid in to Captain Merton's account. But whilst the " governor " is stopping at !&iddle's Hotel in Brook Street, the son is on his best behaviour, and conducts himself with the decorum of a bishop. He bewails in private, to a few intimate friends, what a dreadful bore it is to him to be always bothering about with the old gentleman, and complains of the slow hotel dinners, and being doomed to drink glass for glass from the one bottle of port. But, as he says, " one must be civil to one's own father, you know." When Captain Crosier dines and spends the evening with his parent, he rings for his hat and gloves as the clock strikes half -past ien, apologizing for his early departure by saying, " I'm sorry to 172 PAVED WITH GOLD leave you so soon, sir ; but I'm on sick leave, and eleven o'clock is my time for bed." Then tbe father, delighted to see such prudence in his boy, mutters to himself, " I'm glad to see Merton so steady and careful," and shakes his hand almost with gratitude for such exemplary conduct. But, instead of bending his steps towards Harley Street, Captain Crosier lights his cigar and saunters towards the Haymarket, there to mingle with choice spirits like himself, and pass the night in visiting the saloons and night-houses, until he has spent all the money in his pocket but just sufficient to pay for his cab home. It is his boast that he was never yet so " cut " but what he could, after a little fencing with the keyhole, open the street-door for himself. The captain has been fortunate in finding such excellent apart- ments, for they have all the convenience of chambers, without their solitude. He seems to do just as he likes in the house. Sometimes, when he comes home at four o'clock in the morning, he wiU begin to play the piano, but no complaints are ever made about the unreasonable hour of the performance, although the captain, at such times, generally presses down the pedal, and his touch, if not musically correct, is, however, both brilliant and powerful. The handsomest piece of furniture in the room is decidedly a tulip-wood cabinet for holding cigars. There are only one or two chairs, which it is not safe to sit down upon, and the carpet, which was once very handsome, would have a cheerful effect still if the captain and his friends did not spill beer on the white parts and tread cigar-ashes in the dark ones. The walls had a more furnished look when the dissipated lodger first came, but he insisted upon having the three- quarter portrait of the late Mr. BuUunty, by Tomeston, removed from the chamber, giving as a reason, that whenever he returned home at night the head used to stare at him. He threatened that if it was not taken away he should be forced to smash the masterpiece. About twelve o'clock in the day. Captain Crosier, with his dressing- gown on, throws himself upon the sofa, ready to receive any friends that may drop in upon him. In they come, one after another, Fred Tattenham and Tom Oxendon, both calling out lustily for bitter ale, then Charley Sutton to borrow a clean collar and a razor, and after a time le Colonel Victor Baudin Rattaplan, who makes himself so thoroughly at home that, without being invited, he helps himself to a cigar, and sends clouds of smoke down his nose, as he exclaims, " Dese cigar is capital, mon cher, but dey wants to be kep." " How did you manage Oakes, last night, after I went away P " asks the captain. " We put him in a cab, and sent him home,'' answers Fred Tatten- ham ; " I never saw a fellow so utterly done up." " I wonder what's become of Tom Garden ? " inquu-es Charley Sutton. " Oh, he's gone to Boulogne, or the Bench," suggested his friend PAVED WITH GOLD 173 Tattenham. " Where did you disappear, colonel P " he adds, after a time, turning to the Trenchman. " We play at eoarte till breakfast-time," is the answer. " Then you haven't been to bed P " inquires the captain. " Ma foi, non. I never care to sleep ; " and he smiles as if he thought everybody was saying, " What an extraordinary man he is ! " He is asked if he won, and he shrugs his shoulders in reply, that being a kind of answer which can be taken either way, although if the truth must be told, the colonel seldom loses at cards, although he generally plays high. Whilst Captain Crosier is lighting his cigar, a sudden thought strikes him. He says between the whiffs, " Oh, I've had such a jolly letter f i-om Yiscount Ascot, saying that he can't go to the prize-fight on Monday." As he is rather proud of his aristocratic friend, he takes this letter from his pocket and i-eads it aloud : — " ' Dear Cbosiek, — A hundred thanks, but I'm engaged, though I'd give pounds to be with you. Tou must be the bearer of my apologies to our different friends. Tours, &c., " ' Ascot.' " When he has finished reading he throws the letter down on the table, adding, " Isn't that like the old fellow — short and joUy P " Le Colonel Victor Baudin Rattaplan, dn H^ Leger, says, " The style is quite Anglais," and picks up the note. Whilst the others are chatting, he appears to be making quite a study of the hand- writing. The words which seem to interest him most are " hundred," " pounds," and " bearer." The signature of the noble lord he appar- ently admires excessively, for he twists the paper about, and peers into it with extraordinary curiosity. When he puts the note down again, he gives a hasty glance round the room, as if to see if his actions have been noticed, and then, finding nobody had paid the least attention to what he was doing, he slips the epistle imder a book, and assuming his most careless manner, walks up and down the room with his hands in his pockets. He is in such excellent spirits, and laughs and jokes with so much vivacity, that it is impossible to believe that he has been up all night. All the fellows agree that the French are a wonderful people and never seem to be tired of amus- ing themselves, but as the colonel says, " He has passed too many sleepless nights encamped in de plains of Algeria to feel ' epuised ' with a little card-playing." When he is asked to tell some of the French stories, he makes the young fellows shout again with his wit, and, indeed, we regret deeply that we cannot introduce some of his capital anecdotes into these pages, only sometimes gentlemen in the army meet with adventures that are not exactly fitted for the ears of civilians. When le Colonel Victor Baudin has concluded his little perform- ance, the chatting again commences. 174 PAVED WITH GOLD " Any of you fellows going to Cressy's party? " asks Charley Sutton. " I can't stand their sherry," mutters Tom Oiendon. " The Oressy girls are pretty," remarks another, affectedly. " I like Julia, the youngest — she is the best of the batch," murmurs the captain ; and then, looking up at the ceiling, he adds, " The little devil squeezed my hand whilst I was dancing with her." The windows were open, and Fred Tattenham had been smoking a cigar on the balcony. He seemed very busily engaged watching the house opposite, staring up at one of the upper windows so earnestly, that Charley Sutton calls out, " What the deuce is Fred up to P " This made everybody else want to know what has so interested their friend, and in a body they darted towards the balcony. The apartments of the gallant Captain Crosier were exactly in front of the excellent brick-built tenement of which Miss Tomsey held the lease. Following the direction of Mr. Tattenham's up-turned face, everybody discovered the reason why the sly Fred preferred lounging on the balcony. At one of the upper windows sat Bertha, doing needlework, and looking so innocent and beautiful it made you think better of the world to look at her. Charley Sutton gave Tatteniiam a tremendous slap on the back, and cried, " Ton dog ! I thought there was a woman somewhere ! " A 11 the other fellows had something to say to the detected delinquent, and in rapid succession he was either poked in the side, or jocularly termed " a scoundi-el " or " a villain," but which terms, although they have a harsh sound, had really a compKmentary meaning, and were intended to refer to the gay Lothario's usual gallantry and great affection for the female sex. The little girl was stitching away quite unconscious of the commo- tion she had caused on the other side of the way. If she could have had the least idea that five men were staring at her, and watching all her actions, you must not imagine that she would have remained by the open window. "No: in less than a minute she would have jumped ofi her chair, and, blushing as red as the cherry riband round her neck, have retired into the dark recess of the room, where most likely she would have muttered something about impudent fellows, and began working again. There was not a more modest or better-hearted girl in Harley Sti-eet than Bertha, but nothing annoyed her more than being stai-ed at. Thoxisands of times had Captain Crosier seen her working at that window before, and he knew as well as possible how easily the girl was driven away, because one moraing he had ventui-ed to give a " hem ! " in the hopes of making her look at him, and captivating her with his good looks. But as the only effect his " hem ! " had was to drive the girl away, he had never repeated the experiment. Of an afternoon, whenever Bertha took her seat by the window, the cap- tain's usual practice was to half conceal himseK behind the chintz drawing-room curtains, and watch the girl through his opera glass. ' 2>€'^--i^a^ '■'■c6-/.^ -^i''^ '?pta-'.- -t^^n.(2^ . PAVED WITH GOLD 175 He would remain for hours enjoying himself in this manner. Hfr had confessed to Lord Oakes that there was " a little devil of a witch in his street on whom he was quite spooney." He became quite anpfry when Charley Sutton, in the exuberance of his high enjoyment, ex- pressed his intention of whistling to " the little thing " so as to see what kind of a face she had. It happened most conveniently that Captain Crosier was the pos- sessor of three opera glasses, which, on the impulse of the moment, he produced. Whenever his friends came to see him, he did all he could to amuse them. The telescope which it was his custom to take to the sea-side with him was offered to and accepted by Tom Oxendon, and then did these wild young gentlemen proceed to examine the unconscious Bertha as deliberately as if she had been a dancer at the opera. How pretty the innocent child looked with her head bent down over her work, and her white face shiuing with a soft, pearly lustre against the dark interior of the room. Her hair was of a rich autumnal brown, and her neck being arched forward, exposed to view the thick coil circling at the back of the head, which, if it had been londone, must have reached down to her knees at least. How many ladies would have given the last ten years of their lives to have had such hair as that ! But Bertha wore her glory without any attempt at display, the rich glossy bands being plainly smoothed down over her temples, and, crossing to the back, hiding aU of the ear but the little cherry end. " These beauties did the gentlemen discover in less time than it has taken us to relate them. They declared Bertha to be so pretty that she amply repaid the exertion of looking at her. Each one en- deavoui-ed to be the first to point out some new charm, and a kind of race of discoveries commenced. " These are capital glasses, Merton," said Fred Tattenham, peering so intently that his face was screwed up as if he had the sun in his eyes. " I can actually see the creases in her plump, creamy little- throat." After everybody had noticed these creases, Charley Sutton ex- claimed, " The little darling ! I wish I could see her eyes. Ain't they rather goggly, Merton ? " " If you mean large — yes," answered the captain ; " as large as a fawn's, and as gentle." " If she had ten thousand pounds I'd marry her," volunteered Mr. Sutton; and after a second he added, "Ah! I'd do it for eight thousand — down ! " The Frenchman, who had been having a peep at the girl, determined, as everybody seemed to admire her so much, to be original, and differ from the general opinion. So he said, with indifference, " Tase, she is varry well, my dear feUows, but in Paris I could show you tousands like her, and with plus d'esprit in the face." This so enraged Fred Tattenham, that his patriotism was roused,. 176 PAVED WITH GOLD and lie answered, very rudely, " Tten I wisli I'd known you wlien I was in Paris, colonel, for I never saw a pretty woman all the time I was there." But "Victor Baudin merely shrugged his shoulders in. reply, as if it were a loss of time to argue with one so blind. Everything that poor Bertha did was noticed with great exactness. A lock of hair shorter than the rest was seen to flutter on her fore- head, and everybody watched the rebellious curl with absorbing interest. " I vrish she'd give it to me,'' sighed Oxendon ; " I'd have a pocket- handkerchief marked with it." By-and-by Bertha raised her hand and scratched the end of her arm, which was obviously tickling. " Let me do that for you, dear," muttered Fred Tattenham, speak- ing at the girl. How long these gentlemen would have remained looking through their opera-glasses and telescope was uncertain, but when Bertha suddenly rose from her chair and disappeared there was a cry of regret from them all, and a discussion was commenced as to whether she would come back again. The Frenchman burst out laughing. " My dear enfants," he re- marked, shaking his head, "do you fajicy she not know that you looking at her P I tell you she know. That is the way with your froides Anglaises. It is prudery, not what you call modesty." If ladies could occasionally overhear the conversations that take place at these bachelor meetings, no doubt theii' opinions of man's character would be greatly altered. In the same way, if it were possible to gain admission to any of those friendly chats that take place between young ladies, what a flood of light it would let in upon the mysteries of the female heart ! As Bertha did not return to her chair, the gentlemen grew tired of staring up at the window for nothing, and again adjourned to the room to smoke and drink bitter ale. The first thing Fred Tattenham said, as he threw himself into an easy-chair, was, " I shall look after that little darling, she's too pretty to be lost." This speech roused the captain, who, lifting his eyebrows in astonishment, cried, " Well, that is cool ! No poaching here, Fred." " Poaching ! " answered Tattenham. " I discovered her first, my good sir, five weeks ago. I take possession of her by right of dis- covery." " Ton discovered her — you ? " roared Merton, in disgust. " Why, I have known her these six months. No ! honour amongst thieves ! Don't rob a poor man of his girl ! " They quarrelled for a little time longer as to whose property Bertha reaUy was, and at one time the words grew very high. Tou would almost have imagined that they were a party of American planters talking about their slaves, for they made use of such phrases as, " The gii'l's mine" — " I won't part with her"^ — and " Tou have no right to PAVED WITH GOLD 177 her." If Bertha covild have known how quietly she had been disposed of, she would have been rather startled. " Ton are only wasting your time running after the girl," sneered Tattenham at Merton ; " you had better give her up to me. You'll never succeed. Tou haven't the industry." To have his reputation as a successful man among women attacked^ and in his own house, and before so many people too, made the cap- tain feel very savage. " What wiU you bet P " he cried out. " Make it fifty." " But how on earth are you to settle it ? " asked Charley Sutton. " The best method," suggested le Colonel Rattaplan, " is to ask us aU to a dinner at Richmonds dis day six month, and she shall be de queen of de festin — if Crosier can bring her." " Done ! " said Crosier, " and the fellow who loses pays for the dinner as well." It was nearly six o'clock when the smoking party broke up. When they were gone, Crosier had occasion to refer to the note he had re- ceived from Viscount Ascot, but though he and Mr. Cutler, his man, searched for nearly a quarter of an hour, the note could not be found. " Let me see, who was reading it last P " said the captain, search- ing in his memory. " I think it was the French colonel. I suppose he must have lit his cigar with it." And consoling himself with the philosophy that " if it was lost that ended the matter," he dismissed the subject from his mind. CHAPTER XII. THE FIGHT TOE THE CHAMPIONSHIP. We are going to a prize-fight with Captain Crosier and his friends. We are obliged to go, because the captain is supporting Jack Hammer, one of the combatants — indeed, the last deposit of jEIS which was made for this important and interesting affair at Alf Cox's " JoUy Trainer " came out of the gallant oficer's pocket. But, before starting, we can promise those who accompany us on this valorous trip that the combat will not be nearly so terrible as they imagine it to be. How is it that they have never been enabled to put down prize- fights in England P They could stop bull-baiting and cock-fighting, but it seems as if pugilism defied every attempt at its suppression. The most curious circumstance is, that this propensity to fisti- cuffing seems bom in the British subject. Little boys of seven and N 178 PAVED WITH GOLD eight, who, if they know anything of the use of the fist, must do so by instinct, will square up to each other and begin to pummel their poor little roimd faces, and all the time they seem to be acquainted with the rules of the ring, and no matter how blinded they may be by rage, they subscribe to the professional etiquette. Look at an English boy in a French school, and see what deference !is paid to the boxenr by his companions, and how carefully they avoid bringing themselves under the penalty of his fist. How to goodness can anybody fancy that it is possible to do away with prize-fighting in England ? It's bom in us, and is not the cause, but the result of, our bravery. We are a hard-muscled race, and as long as we consider it our right to eat meat at our meals, just so long will our deltoid muscles be as hard as those of a gladiator, and our courage as reckless and impulsive as that of a bull-dog. The only good resulting from racing is the improvement of the breed of English horses. You have only to ti'avel twenty miles out of England to understand the difference between the round-nosed, big- headed steed of the foreigner, and the high-spirited, exquisitely proportioned animal of our own country. This training of horses is as much English as the art of boxing, and whether it be on the Champ- de-Mars, or the Petroveski plains outside Moscow, yoa will find your English trainers great persons in authority. Pugilism has done for Englishmen the same as high breeding has done for British horses. The mere men who fight are of themselves low and useless. The result of their lives may be put down at a two hours' fighting match. But these mere sloggers and bruisers have a great influence over the courage of the nation, and in judging them, we have no more right to look only to the brutalities of the combat than we have to object to the dressing of a field because the manure has a disagreeable odour. The men who marched up the steep accli- vities of the Alma owed their coui-age to the influence of pugilism. The sailors who, to prevent the escape of the enemy's ship, will lash the vessels together, owe their daring to the influence of the prize- ring. As long as we are Englishmen, so long will pugilism endure ; and when we cease to enjoy that brave character which influences the entire world, then the fist will be superseded by the dagger, and the " fair " fight give place to the midnight assassination. We admit it is a low kind of warfare, but still it is not a mere brutal display of strength. It is a science of great difficulty, and governed by laws wonderful for their genei-osity to the conquered, and their restraint upon the conqueror. These scenes are the last remnants of the days of the tournament, and if they have not all the trappings and display of the mediaeval combat, they have in its stead more generous chivalry. The day when the celebrated Ned Tongs, through the medium of a well-known sporting paper, challenged the renowned Jack Hammer to fight him in five or six months for any sum from dElOO a side up to ^500, the pugilistic world was quite taken aback by the temerity of PAVED WITH GOLD 179 the man. Every niglit the parlour of the " Jolly Trainer " was noisy with the discussions upon Ned's foolhardiness. It seemed to be the general opinion that Mr. Tongs had overrated his capabilities, as he would find out by the " thumping damages " when the cause came to be heard. Jack Hammer was the champion of England, — a man standing over six feet, with a paving-stone of a fist, a chest like a di-ay-horse, and weighing almost as much as a prize ox. He fought his first battle when he was seventeen, and was then considered the most promising little big one of the day. He kept on fighting steadily up the road to glory untU, when his face was dented in like an old hat, he attained the highest honours the boxing profession can award, and became champion of England. He was celebrated for being a terrific hitter with his right, and if any of his blows got home, a coroner's inquest was sure to follow. Now, on the other hand, Ned Tongs was both a middle height and a middle weight, and it was a matter of wonderment why he took so strong a fancy to try conclu- sions with Jack Hammer. He was known by his brother pugs to be one of the gamest hands in the ring, but as for having a chance for the victory, that was absurd and silly. It is true that Ned Tongs had done some work in his time, and was rather looked up to as an enterprising bruiser ; but, as A If Cox remarked, " It was backing a fly against a bird. What chance," he asked, " can ten stone eight have against fourteen stone six ? Why, no more than a pane of glass against'a sledge hammer. And," added Mr. Cox, prophetically, " if Ned gets one of Jack's ' hot 'uns,' he must say good-bye to day- light!" The place of meeting for all those who wished to witness this great championship fight was the railway station, and as the clock struck seven. Captain Crosier and his friends drove up to the terminus, and being well-known " Corinthians," as the patrons of the ring are called, were received with much respect by the different members of the " milling " profession. The crowd assembled must have numbered some five hundred men, all dressed in the fancy fashion, wearing shooting jackets and cloth caps of every colour. They were all pushing very savagely to reach the ticket-box, and the uproar was increased by those in the back- ground shouting out to their friends who were getting their passes such directions as, " BUI, get three for me— Tom Mitchett ; " or, " Just coUar mine, will you, Fred ? " Having secured their seats, our Corinthians passed the time in looking at the boxing celebrities walking about the platform. In rapid succession Captain Crosier pointed them out to his friends : " There's the ' Clapham Smasher ' and his crew, and there's the ' Southwark Pounder,' who gave Tom Fig such a licking the other day." " Where are our men ? " asked Tom Oxendon ; and he was in- formed that in order to keep clear of the police, they had been " for- warded" overnight. 180 PAVED WITH GOLD It was an ordinary train by which they were travelliag, and among the passengers were a few women, who cotdd not for the life of them imagine why all the carriages should be full of ugly-faced men with broken noses. They were afraid to trust themselves among such a savage-looking crew, and seemed as much alarmed as if they had suddenly tumbled among a band of brigands. During the journey, the captain, who knew the country well, endeavoured to chat away the monotony of a three hours' run. " It's a nasty country for hunting — so full of rabbit-holes," he would say at one time ; and if any one asked whose pack was there, and if there were any foxes, he seemed able to give the required information. He would point out farmers' houses where he had many a time taken a glass of brandy, or, coming to some little secluded woody spot, he would describe a picnic he once had there, and detail a very curious adventui-e, in which a very lovely young lady acted very imprudently. It had been arranged by those in power that, to avoid the rabble who always flock to such sights, the train should travel out some seventy miles towards the coast, where a steamer would be in wait- ing to convey the select party to the place of combat. At evei-y station it was noticed that policemen had been sent down to seize the combatants if they showed themselves. At one stopping-place a crowd was seen to hurry along the platform, following a brown-faced man. " There's Jack Hammer ! " cried Captain Crosier, springing to the window. " What a man he is ! If Ned has a taste of his right, he'U be done for." " Ay, that's Jack, true enough," said a stranger in the carriage, ■' and as good-hearted a man as any in England. Tou might throw a glass of ale in his face, and he wouldn't hurt you." Presently another man, equally brown but not so tall as Jack Hammer, passed along, and this time everybody recognized Ned Tongs. " How well he looks,'' cried Crosier. " Confound him ! who's his trainer, I wonder ? " Great excitement was produced at this station by a man running from carriage to carriage, offering to bet five to four on Tongs. Alter everybody had many times inquired how much farther they had to go, the terminus was reached, and the crowd mshed towards the steamer. The two combatants had already been taken out, and were seen trudging along far ahead, surrounded by their backers and seconds, concealing them as much as possible, for fear of the police. Now boats of every kind came rushing up to the water's edge to carry the passengers to the steamer lying in wait at a slight distance from the shore. Cockle-shells intended to carry four were crammed with twelve, and so tossed about by the waves every moment, that you expected to see them sink ; but none of the small craft, from the PAVED WITH GOLD 181 " Lively Jane," scarcely bigger than a sofa, to the " Saucy Ann,'' a large fishing-smack, met with any accident. There was a dreadful scuflSe hefore any one was received on board the steamer, for the admission was by a two-guinea ticket — an expense which many were desirous of escaping. " Where's your ticket? " shouted the man at the gangway ; " can't come up here without a ticket. Pay the two sovereigns, then. Here, take money from this gentleman, sir." This reads very quietly, but it was spoken with foaming of mouth and shaking of fists. Some, who endeavoured to push their way into the vessel, were hurled back again at the risk of death by drowning, for an order had been given to call some fighting men to keep order, and such gentlemen do not stand on trifles. When the man with the ropes for forming the ring and an interesting cargo of hampers had been taken on board, the steamer began to paddle away. Then, from the cabin beneath, up stepped a man wearing a blue velvet cap. He was brown as a Spaniard, and his close-shorn face and short hair — where gripping was impossible — told you that he was one of the heroes of the day. He looked as hard as iron, and there was great strength in his thick neck, and carelessness in his bulldog air. He lay down on the ground, with a horsecloth over him, supporting his head on the big brown hand that was soon to do such execution. When people asked Ned Tongs whether he felt " up to the mark," he smiled and showed his white teeth, but would not bother himself to answer. On the other side of the boat was another man with a blue velvet cap, lying down with his head in the backer's lap. He, too, was as brown and silent as an Indian, and only revised himself when he was brought some food. Then the lion stood erect — a heavy man, taUer than any about him, with a flat, battered face, on which the scars showed like white streaks. The Corinthians were very numerous, and Captain Crosier met with many majors and lieutenants from such and such a regiment, who talked alternately of the opera last night and the fight to come. Sandwiches were ofEered, and pocket-flasks passed round. In the fore-cabin the contents of the hampers had been laid out, and half- cold ribs of beef, chickens that had been roasted into only a pink state, veal, and lettuces, wei-e spread upon the table in picnic con- iusion. Bottled ale had risen to three shillings a bottle, and wine had reached a fabulous price. Men with stone jugs under their arms paraded the deck, calling out, " Who's for a go of brandy ? " It was not like the ordinary cognac, but an opaque liquid, brown as strong tea. How could they have known on the other side of the river that the fight was to take place there ? yet the shores were crowded with men, and as the steamer approached the shore a regatta of Uttle boats came ofE to keep her company, and follow her as a flock of swallows chase a, hawk. Tired with the length of the journey, the fighting community began 182 PAVED WITH GOLD to gamble on the deck. They had brought dice with them, and sat down to play at hazard. Men in dirty clothes pulled out sovereigns from their pockets, and when they were lost borrowed more from their friends. There were other gentlemen who had got, somehow or other, on board, who were also fond of gambling ; but they only played a very safe game with three cards, out of which they wager that nobody will discover the jack. At length the place of disembarkation was reached. An embank, ment of big stones, a, dyke half -covered with sea- weeds, formed a kind of screen, hiding the fields on the other side from any one passing on the river. It was a capital snug place ; and the httle fleet of saUing- boats circled round the steamer in miraculous numbers, and carried to the shore as many as could be crammed on to their benches. The river was covered with craft. Another steamer, which had come from London at cheap fares, came panting up, and poured out its rough, noisy passengers. There were barges, and fishing-smacks, and little sailing-skifEs, and they crept up one after another untU the water was crowded as at a regatta. The passengers were landed in the water, and had to scramble up the steep embankment, sUpping over the sea- weed or wrenching their feet between the stones. The field of rich gi-ass was soon trampled down by the crowds rushing in the direction of the men who were already measuring off the ring, inside which the fight was to take place. Whilst the stakes were being driven into the ground, those who had bought tickets for the inner ring stuck the blue paper in their hatband, and took up their places near the ropes. The card-sharpers, too, commenced business with their thi'ee-card trick, and picked up the sovereigns as fast as the Corinthians chose to stake them. They spread a little green baize upon the grass, and as they shifted the cards about pattered in the old style — " These two you lose ; this one you win. I bet any- body fifty sovereigns that they cannot discover the jack.'' Then up would come the accomplice, and instantly win five pounds. But Jack Anderson, who was '' working " the trick, seemed to take such losses very easily, and cried out, " I never mind losing, gentlemen ; if I didn't lose sometimes everybody would win always, and then there would be an end to sport. I'd sooner wager fifty sovereigns than ten, and ten than five." Now the preparations for the fight were proceeding with rapidity. Some three thousand persons had gathered round the ropes, and formed a sloping amphitheatre of heads, the nesirest to the ring lying down, those further beyond standing up, and the mob behind raised up on platforms. Bundles of straw were distributed to the different Corinthians to soften theii- seats on the ground. Boys with dinner-knives were busy clearing away the grass in the ring> and the fighting-men who were appointed i-ing-keepers, to keep order, were provided with gutta pei'cha whips to beat back the crowd. But suddenly aU heads were turned towards the fields, and PAVED WITH GOLD 183 a cry of disgust was raised as a farm labourer on horseback was seen galloping towards them. For a moment the proceedings were stayed, until Captain Crosier could square the man with half a sovereign. The yokel remained to see the sight. There was a cheer as the two combatants appeared, their seconds conveying the carpet-bags which contained their professional cos- tume. They had taken ofE their coats, when another cry of despair was raised, and climbing over the ditches were seen the five dark forms of policemen. " The peelers ! " shout the mob ; and the nmpire, springing to his feet, cried, " Take the men on board; " and before the constables had neared the spot, the boat which carried the heroes of the day was alongside the steamer. There were at least three thousand men, and yet five policemen were suflBcient to disperse them. It is true that a little joking took place, and the sergeant was asked, " Now you've come, what have you got P " Those who were pulling up the stakes inquired of the police " How they enjoyed their walk, and when they had ordered their carriages to fetch 'em ? " Back went the boats to the steamers, the river was dotted with the craft going and returning, andithe black specks of passengers were seen climbing the vessel's side. Before he entered his boat. Captain Crosier called out, " Mind, none of you watermen help the police ; " and by the unanimous " All right ! " shouted in answer, there was no mistaking which side the watermen took. OfE went the steamer again, followed by the fleet of small craft, leaving the five policemen standing on the embankment. A shout of laughter was raised in derision against them, but it soon ceased when a pigeon was seen to fly up into the air, for everybody knew that an express had been sent ofE to warn the station higher up. Now came the hunt aiter another and safer fighting-place, and at length the order was given to " stop her " opposite some fields, in the centre of which was a quiet farm, from which a sheep-dog rushed out and barked violently. This time, at any rate, there was no chance of interruption, for the farmer longed to see the combat himself, and ofEered to lend a meadow at the back of some sheds for the battle to be fought in. Once more the stakes were driven into the earth, and the spectators took their places. Even the tops of the sheds were seized upon by some as a kind of gallery from which to see the fight. The two men stripped to the waist, and clothed only in the lightest of drawers and the neatest of ankle-jacks, entered the ropes, smiling in the most amiable manner. When time was cried they shook hands heartily, and then stood facing each other as if to allow the crowd an opportunity of examining the build and condition of their bodies. But although each man looked the picture of good temper, and was smiling until his teeth looked white as almonds against the raisin-coloured skin, yet each countenance had a difEerent kind of expression. The big man seemed to despise his diminutive rival, 184 PAVED WITH GOLD and looked on Mm with pity and half contempt ; he had told his seconds that he would soon bring the drop scene down. But the bold Ned Tongs appeared so impudently brave and so fuU of con- fidence, that many who were against him in the morning now began to change their opinions. There was great excitement about this contest, because it was deemed to be a decisive trial between the old and the new styles of boxing, whether the skiU and activity of Ned were a match for the weight and strength of Jack. It was remai-ked that the giant was looking pulpy about the chest, and his back was pronounced to be too fleshy, but the little 'un seemed like a model in wax, so firm and hard did he look. But, after all, how was a rat of a man like Ned to overcome such a bull-dog as Hammer ? Betting began at foxir to five on the " big 'un." At length the men, still smiling as jollily as if black eyes and broken noses were the best fun in the world, fell into their attitudes, and the contest commenced. The spectators were divided into two factions, and each, when their man gained the least advantage, shrieked and howled with de- light. The groans and abuse with which they visited the fighting of the man they bet against — the coarse praise with which they urged on their favourite, was the music to which the battle was fought. The combatants themselves paid no attention to the riot, but con- tinued to fight and smile, never appearing so thoroughly delighted and amiable as when a blow told and left undeniable evidence of its severity on the face or body of the receiver. Each of the men had, previous to the fight, done a little profitable business by selling pocket-handkerchiefs, which they called their colours. The supporters of Hammer wore their white spotted silk tied loosely roimd the neck, whilst Ned's friends sported a similar ornament, but of an orange colour. The first round was soon terminated, for Jack got a " cracker on his nut " which knocked his " rammers " from under him, and the only wonder was that he did not lose his head instead of his feet. A shout of delight rose up from the white spots. Some cried, " Ah ! where was you then. Jack P " and one or two offers were made of five to six on Tongs. The mob pressed forward and were beaten back by the ring- keepers, who lashed the hats with their gutta percha whips, and shouted, " Tah ! yah ! move back'ards, you roughs ! what are you bursting the ropes for ? " At the second round, the men seemed to have made up their minds what their play was to be. Ned saw that his only chance of victory was in tiring the giant out, so whenever the huge machine advanced towards him, he retreated, skipping like a harlequin. In vain did the white spots howl out, "He's like a d — d lambkin, that ain't fight- ing." After some sparring, Jack threw out his " pile-drivers " and caught Ned on the " sniffer," but the nose didn't suffer much, and the return blow came quick as a racer's kick, and "dabbed the PAVED WITH GOLD 185 paint " about the giant's " meat-minoer," making the lip rise like haJm. " How did that taste P " roared the yellows. The ibetting, despite some who still cry out, " The old 'un for a hundred," is now in favour of Tongs. Although he smiled most blandly. Jack rushed like a Blunderbore up to the little 'un, but Ned waltzed out of the way, administering a " full stop " on Jack's " head- lamps," which changed the colour about the eye to a bright puce. But the giant only laughed and shook his head, whilst the yeUows cried out, " An eye ! an eye ! " in a paroxysm of delight. Next came some more dancing, which roused the indignation of the white spots to such a fury that some yelled with rage, and others called it " a game of touch;" but the yeUows were in high glee, and asked Hammer how the last blow tasted. They soon went to work again, and then Ned sent his " hard dumplings " against Jack's " organ- pipes," and upset the " port wine," the blood squirting from the nose in such quantities that some shouted out in delight, " By God, he's sick ! he's sick ! " But no such thing, Hammer was not sick, but foaming with rage. He shook his head, and whilst the mob shrieked out " He's lumpy ! " herushed in like a bull, and if his right had told, where would Ned Tongs have been P But the giant is too slow with his blows. When he struck he frowned with the strength he put into his thrusts, and the active Tongs had plenty of time to ward them ofE, though the immense force of the lunge was shown by the red and blue marks that appeared on that part of the arm where the blow was stopped. The little 'un again took to his legs and stepped away grinning, but when he found Hammer hunting him he turned round and administered a " chipper," which dented the snufPer-tray, opening the nose like a ripe pea-pod. How the cheeiing burst forth from the yellows as the blood fell drop by drop, fast as the dripping of melting snow ! The giant shook his head and gazed after the nimble Ned ; then he smiled and shook his head in despair, as much as to say, " He runs away from me." But before long he again went to business, banging out heavily as a cart-horse, and Ned got a biter on his " day-opener" which made him wink the eye violently, whilst the return compliment was on Jack's " heaver," putting a dab of rouge on the breast. Being both of them tired, they began to spar, so as to recover their breath. Standing face to face, they began working their arms about, and with won- derful dexterity did they stop each other's thrust, the arms, when they met, smacking together with the crack of a whip. After a time. Jack jerked his drumsticks against Ned's " bone-box " with a force that must have loosened every tooth, but, although the blood gashed out, he continued to smile, and nodded approvingly to the leviathan, caring little for the shout of " There's a doser ! " raised by the white spots. Watching his opportunity, he most amiably returned the compliment on Jack's cheek, " peeling the bark," setting the " red ink " running, and the blood streaming from the woimd so covered 186 PAVED WITH GOLD the face that the man was obliged to retire to his seconds, and get hia face wiped with a wet sponge. Sniffing and working his tongue about, he returned to the fight, but his eye looked so vicious that Ned took to hopping, and shuffled off, leaving the elephantine Hammer to wear out, his " shufflers " chasing him. Many were the howls of " Stand stilly you running flunkey," and " He thinks it's a foot-race." But Ned paid no attention to the criticism, but followed his own tactics,, dodging under the giant's arm when the latter had pinned him up in a comer, and wriggling like an eel until he had cleared himself from the perils of close quarters. The active skirmisher, watching hia chances, made Hammer's pui-suit one of difficiilties, by administering another " clipper " into Jack's cheek, opening the old wound afresh, and completely " smashing his panels," and " knocking ofE the veneer." The giant tried to return the favour, but the little 'un was quadrilling on the light fantastic. So Hammer took advantage of the pause in the performance to go up to his comer, and once more get the " liquid rouge " wiped off his " wig-block." Up to this time, Ned's countenance was almost without a scratch, and presented a strong contrast to that of his wounded antagonist— as the white spots called it. When Hammer's face had been washed, he returned to his work and the game of touch was renewed. Tongs skipping actively round the ring, and the big 'un so intent on the chase that he gave Ned time to administer a stinger on the wounded cheek, which this time quite upset the bottle, and drenched Jack in a plentiftil supply of " his own training-oil." Some spaiTiug and neat stopping followed, winding up with a chipper on the giant's " snufE-box," on the old sore. Then they went to work sloggiag. Jack delivering a " head- aoher " on the "' wool-grower," and Ned one not to be winked at on the " peepers," both loud double knocks. Before this round was con- cluded. Jack took a heavy instalment on his " turret," which must have damaged his " weathercock ; " and then he once more retired to do his toilet and get his " red ink " blotted up, after which followed a little more chevy chase, ending in Ned touching up for the third time the giant's " snorer," in return for which Jack tapped with his fives on the little 'un's Hid, and completely knocked him off hia castors. Before the fight was finished there were nine such rounds, but it would be monotonous to detail them at f vdl length, for the description would too closely resemble what we have already attempted to pic- ture. Captain Crosier and his friends were seated near the umpire, and although the combat ended in the defeat of the man he had backed, still he always speaks of this fight as being one of the most interesting sights he ever witnessed. " I wouldn't have missed it for thousands," he says, rather pompously, for he is known to be up to his eyes in debt. Some of the blows were truly terrific. By continually hittiug on the wound in Jack Hammer's cheek, it at last opened so that the 4 ■J if \ PAVED WITH GOLD 187 quarter of an orange might have been placed in the cut, and the blood flowing from it trickled on to his breast, until his whole body was red,^ as if he wore a huntsman's coat. Then the mob yelled with delight, and the fellows vied with one another which should say the most insulting things to the wounded man, the most successful of which was, " S'help me, I should like to have your photograph." When a round was ended, the men were seized by their seconds, and carried, as in a chair, to their comers, where they were made to rinse their mouths, and water was spui-ted iato their faces to freshen them. From loss of blood and fatigue in chasing his rival. Jack Hammer at last grew so distressed that his head began to reel, but he still struck out vigorously, doing himself great harm by the useless energy of his wild thrusts. Whenever the moments of rest arrived >. the seconds would rub his legs vigorously, endeavouring to remove their stiffness, and the yellows never failed to notice this, screaming out with joy, " Look what they're doing ! " or, " Go it, Ned, he hasn't got siipenn'orth in him." It was certain that the giant would be conquered. His friends, in alarm, tried to assist him with advice, and his backers asked him " Why he didn't throw out his left ? " They endeavoured to inspirit him by hooting at the dancing Ned such remarks as, " Dear, dear, what a pity to fight such a foot-race ! " But it was evident that Hammer would have to yield up his title of champion of England before many rounds were fought. It was terrible to look on when the men were fighting what proved to be their last round. The excited mob were pressing forward, caring nothing for the whips and orders of the ling-keepers. The worn-out giant seemed now more intent on defending himself than attacking his adversary. " At him, Ned," screamed the yellows. " Make him run about ! " " Break his heart ! " Whilst the only thing the white spots could, in their despair, think of, was to call out hope- lessly, " Keep up, old man ! " If the staggering Jack received a blow^ there was a yell of, " Tou went up for something that time ! " When- ever any of his vigorous lunges failed, a laugh of " Ha ! ha ! " burst out on every side. The man was fearful to look at. His face was like a ripe plum with the bruises, and the gash on his cheek was still streaming with blood. At length the final blow was given. It came with a crash upon his lip, tearing it like paper, and making the jaw swell out like the muzzle of an ape. Almost fainting, the big man was carried to his comer. The brave fellow would have come forward again, but a shout of sympathy arose among the people, and Tongs was told not to touch the old man. The gallant Ned, folding his arms, and looking like a. gladiator, stared at his brave foe, and then shrugged his shoulders, as much as to say, " What am I to do if he doesn't know when he'& beaten P " Some shouted, " Get a cradle for the old 'un ! " Others, roared, " Send him home ! " until at last those who had been backing Jack Hammer, seeing that the mob were opposed to anything like brutality, declared that their man shoxdd fight no more. So the 188 PAVED WITH GOLD combatants shook hands, and smiled blandly on each other again. A sponge was thrown up as a signal that the combat was over, and Ned Tongs, amid the cheers of those who had been betting on him, was declared champion of England. The crowd got back to their boats just as another bevy of police were seen advancing in the distance. Such an uproar of laughter greeted these constables that they heard it in the far off and stood still, as if aware that they had come too late. On board the steamer, the conqueror of the fight collected subscriptions among the passengers for the benefit of the conquered, and after he had handed over the twenty-five sovereigns to the dejected Hammer, he gene- rously proceeded to plaister up the wounds that an hour before he had taken such trouble to inflict. CHAPTER Xni. ALL VyOEK AND NO PLAT. Thbkb must have been a dash of the vagabond in Phil's disposition, for he hadn't been on the Heath a fortnight before he was perfectly disgusted with donkeys and driving. He repeated so often to himseK that " it was the worst day's work he ever did when he first made the acquaintance of Mr. Tobias Sparkler," that at last he con- vinced himself the remark was true. He was restless and impatient ; ajigi-y if anything was given him to do, and jealous if the job was handed over to another. The authoritative manner in which Swinging Fred ordered him about was especially displeasing to his pride, and many a time he had been on the verge of rebellion, and of telling the overseer to do it himself, and not to " come the bully over him." Good Friday had invariably been an immense day for letting. Mr. Sparkler, with his six donkeys, took fifteen pounds, and one man, who had only two animals, earned nearly five sovereigns. So any- body can easily conceive how busy the Hampstead proprietors must have been, and how hard Phil and the other boys were obliged to work. The holiday people were pouring on to the Heath, all vei'y warm from climbing the hills, but all very good-tempered, and laughing with delight now they had " got there at last." Tou could tell by the gills' giggling faces that they had come out determined on a romp among the tall ferns and roxmd the furze-bushes. The clean muslin •dresses were to be soiled and tumbled tUl they were not fit to be seen. Jtlost probably gathers would be torn out, and repairs made with pins, PAVED WITH GOLD 189 before nipht came. The young men, who now looked so genteel and spruce, would march back to town with their coats off and waistcoats undone, singing in chorus, and caiTying boughs of trees or big bundles of buttercups. Directly the donkey-stands were visible, everybody began to laugh afresh and talk of having rides. The little children became un- manageable, pointing at the poor beasts and crying out that they " wanted them ; " big girls, with manly limbs, hinted unmistakably at being treated. Even elderly matrons, stout enough to test the strength of gig springs, did not seem averse ito a sixpenny jolt, though, it is true, they simpered modestly when the proposition was made, and said, " Go along ! " and " To think, now ! " The crowd around the donkeys increased every moment, until at last the animals themselves were hidden by the ring fence of petti- coats encircling the stand. Even those who did not intend to be customers felt a pleasure in witnessing the modest stragglings of mounting or the accidents of the start. The road becomes little better than a donkey race-course. The 'people on the paths seem almost as much amused with the sight as the riders with the exercise. So long as the troop is proceeding in an outward direction, the pace of the animals — except when just started — is easy enough, and there is no difficulty in keeping on. It is at this period of the trip that young ladies endeavour to give the bystanders an idea they are accomplished horsewomen. They rise in the saddle, and hold themselves in an upright attitude. Some of them will whisper to their friends that they find donkey-riding so different to going on horseback, and hint that, if they were moimted on a fiery, prancing steed, they would be in their glory. And all this time the donkeys, half -concealed under the flowing muslin skirts of the maidens, are ambling along at a shuffling, dust-making pace. But how different is it when the heads are turned homewards ! How soon aU the harmless bragging is put to the proof ! Three or four smart blows send the squadron tearing down the road. The girls scream, and hold on by the pommels ; back hairs come undone, and curls are soon jolted out of place. Bonnets are blown on to the back of the heads, and mantles nearly torn from the neck by the wind. One frightened maiden calls out as well as the bumping will let her, " Oh ! don't, boy, don't ! " and another implores the lad to ''make him walk," and yet, between each supplication, comes a burst of laughter ; and they roll about upon the saddle so that the lookers-on are expecting every moment to see them fall off. Many rude observations, too, are made by the young gentlemen strolling on the paths. They are particularly delighted if the wind should blow aside the petticoat sufficiently to discover the foot and ankle, for on such occasions they most indelicately shout out, " There's a leg ! " Imaginary Christian names, too, are made use of by these rude fellows, and they exclaim, " Oh, Sarah ! ain't it nice?" Never had Mr. Sparkler been seen in better spirits. He was 190 PAVED WITH GOLD stuffing the sixpences and slullings into Ms pocket so fast tkat lie began to doubt if it were in the power of calico to bear such a weight of coin. The young ladies that surrounded him were all grumbling about whose turn it was to have the next ride. No sooner did one party return than, even before the saddles were emptied of their flushed and tumbled occupants, the animals were seized upon and almost fought for. On such a day as this prices rose. The ride which, on ordinary occasions, cost sixpence, was in great request at ninepence. The donkey market, like all others, follows the law of demand and supply. The boys, too, were ordered to forget their moral trainings, and in- structed to cheat the distance as much as they could ; and many an imprudent party that, before starting, had paid their two shillings a head for a trip to Highgate, were disgusted to find that, before they had gone one-third the distance, the order was given to return. "Why, you're not going to call this Highgate?" one young damsel would, with great indignation, exclaim. " It's been Highgate as long as I ever knowed it," Master Curt would reply. What did he care when all the young women screamed out, in every tone of voice, " We insist upon going further " ? He did not even pay the slightest atten- tion to their commands, but turned the donkeys round, and sent them galloping homewards at such a pace that the maidens were obliged to give over the dispute, and devote their entire attention to preventing themselves from being tossed off the saddle. How many dreadful accidents did Phil have to witness in the course of these holiday experiences ! And with how many sixpences was he bribed not to say anything about these fearful occurrences ! Some young ladies would be so overcome with laughter that they be- came completely helpless and limp, and would fall backwards as if they had been on a sofa instead of a saddle. Others would have their gowns torn to pieces by the hoofs of their steeds, and be forced to return to their friends in petticoats of remarkable shortness, which ■set off to great advantage the black sandal crossing over the open work stocking. Sometimes gentlemen of such lax morality that they had permitted themselves to indulge too largely in ardent drinks, would undertake "to escort ladies on their sixpenny excursions. Their grotesque be- haviour in the saddle, their wild shoutings, and unsteadiness of jockey- ship, added considerably to the hilarity of the multitude. Perhaps Mr. Sparkler was wrong in letting out his donkeys to such disorderly persons, but his excuse was, that, although they ill- used the animals shamefully, yet they paid him like princes— very often in the obliquity of their senses giving twice the sum they had bargained for. The way of the world — the donkeys receive the blows and the Sparklers take the salve. And so these jolly days passed, the whole Heath ringing with laughter, and everybody almost wild with enjoyment, as if people came to Hampstead not merely to taste pleasure, but to gorge andgluttonize PAVED WITH GOLD 191