customer. 'It's the chaney again,' she said; 'an' ye know I shall cum for 't mich as usal.'

'Ay,' he answered, 'I've had some experience o' ye; an', as a matter o' coorse, I can trust ye.'

Half an

He handed her ten shillings and a ticket, and without troubling to examine the basket, the contents of which he thought were longer in his possession than in hers, he continued to read and to moralize. hour passed. The pawnbroker's quiet was disturbed by two welcome calls, and he judged it expedient to light up his shop and refresh himself with a cup of coffee. He had to get this for himself, as the one member of his establishment, a broken-down servant maid, who was perpetually boasting of having seen a better service, had gone to her mother's to be doctored for a bad cold. Her absence had its inconveniences, but he had said significantly, 'Sartinly Ah can dispense wit' poor lass for a few days; when for ought Ah cauld see wimmen might ha' been dispensed wi' altogither.'

This from a political economist could only be a gruff joke; but he said it with a sardonic emphasis, which implied that women had their place in the scale of existence as a necessary evil. He drank his coffee, stuck a short pipe into his mouth and then commenced putting up the shutters. While doing so his eye fell on the basket on the counter, and, to his consternation, there was a movement He stood rooted to the spot, though he could not but admit that his senses might be deceived, till a movement more decided than the first left no room for doubt.

of the cover.

'Whativer can t' jade ha' left me for her chaney,' he said. 'Why, it moves, it kecaps on movin'; as a matter o'coorse, then, it's alive. Happen it's rats. I've hauf a mind to pitch t' basket it street an' set dogs on 't. O! she's a bad un, but I'll

VOL. II.-SIXTH SERIES.

fahnd her aht, an' hev' her up for this gam.'

He approached the basket and put his hand upon it; but a fresh movement made him withdraw it, as if he had been stung. He was glad there was no witness of his nervousness; and if he really had any intention of pitching it into the street, as containing something uncanny which the wretched woman had placed there, to spite the man to whose wealth her self-entailed misery contributed, he soon changed his mind, for the occupant of the basket sent up a feeble wail, protesting in time against the threatened fate. Horror overspread his face.

'Hev' marcy on us! it's a baby! Whativer mun I do wi' 't? T' jade's, then, run off frae her man or he hes frae her; for I've noticed a weddin' ring o' her finger that one 'ud ha' thowt shoo 'd ha' pawned afoor nah, as a matter o' coorse. An' shoo's put her baby in pawn. Marcy on us! It's a pledge 'll niver be redeeamed.'

Cautiously he undid the cover; which had been contrived with a due regard to the necessity of admitting air into the wicker cradle; and his eyes met the tearful gaze of a baby of some three or four months old, dressed in a little blue cotton gown, and awaking, not from natural sleep, but from the effects of a frequently exhibited drug. The removal of the cover giving it free play for its hands and feet, it naturally set them in motion as an accompaniment to its cry. James Bellaby took it into his arms with an air of greater perplexity than he had worn while ruminating on the government of the world.

'I wish I hedn't let Sally go to Gildersome,' he said; though shoo'll be noan so glad to see tha. Shoo drahned all t' black cat's kittens. Still, as a matter o' coorse, she shoo'd ha' known better ha' to fend for tha nor I do. Some one mun tak' care

F

o''t bairn while t' pollis is after t' faither and muther.'

He had no sooner spoken of the mother than the infant began to roar more loudly, the effect no doubt of breathing a freer air than that which had penetrated to its narrow lodging upon the counter.

My, what a noice! As much aht o' reckonin' wi' its size, as the chirp o' a cricket is wi' t' cricket. Wisht then! wisht!' he whispered vigorously, swaying it with a rocking-horse motion, which he believed to be necessary to the solace of aggrieved baby hood.

Tha may weell cry; thi muther's dun varry badly by tha, but hud ye're din if ye can. We'll hev her towt better, though happen she's one as can't le-arn. Theer'll be them as 'll keeap t' drink fro' her longer nor she thinks fur.'

Notwithstanding this address the small creature still lifted up its voice and wept sore.

'It mun be hungry,' he ejaculated, 'an' it owt t' hev some milk; but I moant say a woord tit t' neighbours afoor Sally cooms, else I'se get sone made game on. Ha ockard things allays happens? Ha could I tell when I sent her whooam wi' her lang face tiv her muther, 'at I'd hev a baby to fend for? Theer's nowt I can think on but coffee, an' that's noan baby's stuff; but it's better, happen, nor what it's beean gettin'. I'll try it wi' some coffee.'

On the introduction of a spoon into its little soft mouth, the baby ceased from its shrill screams to close its poor little unaccustomed gums over it. Half of the contents trickled down between its neck and frock; the rest almost sufficed to choke it; which catastrophe Bellaby tried to avert by patting it on the back and trotting it up and down on his knee with a force that seemed sufficient to imperil the original adjustment of its frail anatomy.

Theer's t' pollis

'Here's a go,' cried he, when the choking fit had subsided, and left the baby free to cry again. 'If I'm not fair beeat! I mun goa t't' neighbours fur some milk. I neadn't say what I want it fur. to look efter too. I'se fleeard tha's nobbut a cross brat,' he added, looking compassionately at the child; 'but nobody knaws what gin tha may ha' taken in wi' thi muther's milk gettin' thi temper sp'iled afoor t' warld sud ha' a chance fur spiliin' it fur tha.'

He returned the baby to its basket, placed it safely beside the kitchen. fire, and went to his next-door neighbour's for some milk. He also bade a small boy go to Miss Stewart's, Upper Head Row, and tell the nurse that he wanted to see her as soon as she could come; 'and mind,' he added, 'that ye send here t' first pollis officer ye meet; I want his advice abaht an article 'at's beean put i' pawn.'

'A stahlen article?' queried the small boy.

'Ax no queshtons; do what I tell tha, an' happen tha'll get twopence.'

till

Having succeeded in procuring some skim-milk, he felt that the baby's prospects had brightened, and he speculated as to the practicability of keeping the adventure snug, such time as he should be extricated from the dilemma. There was lurking a fear of the laugh that would be raised against him for the ease with which he had been taken in.

Few would resist asking how the china trade prospered, especially as he did a branch business in that ware; and for his bachelorhood and avowed contempt for the softer sex, the imposition of a baby upon him would be looked upon as a kind of poetical justice.

He had a consciousness of all this, though he could not have found any adequate expression for it. Returning to the house, on which he had been obliged to keep an eye whilst he was out of it, he found to his relief

that the baby had gone to sleep; and hungry though it undoubtedly was, he did not care to waken it for the purpose of feeding it.

Beginning in spite of himself to take some interest in the child, Bellaby gazed at its closed eyes and tear-beaded lids till he felt very sorry for it.

'It's noan sich an a bad looking little bairn for all it cooms of a bad muther. To think 'at for ten shillings she'd bring it here, whin shoo might ha' seean i' ma face that I hated childer, and hed niver a notion ha to fen' for 'em. If shoo'd ta'en it to some lady as had lost a baby, or some won as 'ad ha' beean fain t' hev a gell other oan rearin', to be like a oan child ti 'em, theer wad ha' beean some sense in't, an leetel thing wad ha' beean at leeast sure o' mutherin' till they'd maade up theer minds what to do wi' it. But to bring it here, why it were for t' sake o' raisin' twind and nowt but gettin' shut on't. Aah, it's an ill world for childers, as well as for grey-bearded sinners. Little Peggy 'at I lugged abaht when I was ight year old an' blubbered ower when I saw her in her caufin, was not sae much prettier, happen, nor this little un 'll grow to be, if it nobbut gets a fair chance, an' 's put i't' window-sill to catch t' sun "stead o' dahn i' t' cellar.'

Having arrived at this conclusion as to the possible development or blighting of the human plant, he was pleased to see a policeman enter the shop. Bellaby instantly emerged from behind his curtain to tell the officer of his singular pledge, and to urge him to procure a warrant for the apprehension of the woman who had deceived him. He knew nothing of her whereabouts or position in life; the name she had given him was possibly an alias, and as her design in getting rid of the child was, in all probability, that she might the more easily run away, the policeman

was afraid that no more would be heard of her, and that it would be difficult to find a clue to her movements.

'Well, I'm not called upon to do for a bairn 'ats no kin to meh,' said Bellaby, discontentedly. "Theer may be moor brats nor brass laaid upo' shop counters, if t' jades find they can be purvided for thet e-asy. If t' woman or her fr'en's can't be got at, t' bairn mun be ta'en to t'work'us, that's all.'

'You will hev first to state t' case before t' magistrates,' said the policeman, and then you are sure to get an order for the House.'

As he left the shop the small boy entered to deliver his message, and claim his reward. Nurse was very busy, but she would try to come along in an hour.

'I suppose that old dear of hers is troublesome,' was Bellaby's conjecture, founded upon his knowledge of nurse and the peculiarities of her lot. Then he began to warm the skimmilk, to be ready for the baby when it should again wake up. The reader will see that on that wet Saturday afternoon James Bellaby was a tried man; and when circumstances do conspire against a man they do it thoroughly. Simultaneously the milk boiled over, the baby woke, crying, and a customer entered the shop. He waited on his customer, perhaps I should say, accommodated his client, with a sound ringing in his ears that almost crazed him and with a desperate sense of inability to do what humanity rendered bounden on him. On his return to the kitchen there rose a fresh difficulty to encounter: he had thoughtlessly poured all the milk into the saucepan, it was hard to keep the little one waiting for it to cool; the milk was 'skim,' and he had nothing to cool it with but water. However, he added the water, compelled by the exigencies of the case; sweetened it, and then tried to feed the baby with

out choking it. This time he succeeded a little better, but not to his own satisfaction, much less to the baby's. Fervently did he long for the arrival of his warm-hearted cousin, Nurse Wilson, and obstinately did he resist an increasing temptation to call some other woman to his aid in the meantime. Ten o'clock found him still watching over his strange companion. It was useless then to expect the nurse. He regarded his prospects for the night with as much shrinking as he might have evidenced had he been asked to sit up with a criminal in a condemned cell. The poor baby might well be cross. The skim-milk had not agreed with it; it missed the dose of 'quietness' with which it had been familiar almost from its birth. In the interval of a deceitful calm, Bellaby carried it off with him to his bed. As to how the two got through the night, it is enough to say that our hero resolved to brave a tempest of ridicule, rather than subject himself to the penance of another such night. Sunday morning found his patience all but spent, and yet the small torment would not allow him to sleep. Its infantile energies having become exhausted, however, after the fire had been lighted and the master of the house had given it milk that was not skim, it slept peacefully in its basket until noon.

The Old Church bells were ringing musically. Church and chapel goers were abroad in the streets, carrying their Bibles and Hymn-books, or Prayer-books, with them; but James Bellaby felt no regret for having to stay at home. The newspaper and the Age of Reason lay ready to his hand; and in these he thoroughly engrossed himself, though with the contents of the latter he was only too well acquainted.

After church-time he put his room in order, hoping that nurse would drop in. While doing so he stepped

about as lightly as a harlequin or eggs, for fear of awaking the child, whom, it must be confessed, he liked best asleep.

It was not till afternoon that Nurse Wilson arrived. Then she beheld a strange sight. The child was again on full scream, drawing up its little feet, and Bellaby, as a last resource, was trying to squeeze the juice of a quarter of an orange into its open mouth, believing that children like

oranges.

'Little dear!' cried nurse in dismay. However has it come in your way?'

Bellaby answered fiercely: 'I'se fair beeat. T' bairn were put here

ï' pawn 'stead on its mother's chaney. I've let Sal go whooam to Gildersome; shoo wanted some doctorin' an' I's fair beeat what to do wi t' brat. It's niver awake but it's yelling like this, an' ye can hardlins feead it bi'aht chokin' it.'

'Here, give it to me,' said nurse, with a concentration of tone that conveyed to her respected cousin the opinion she had of him as an object of contempt and of the baby as an object of pity. She sat down before the fire with it and turned its feet to the blaze, that the genial warmth might soothe it.

When the little dears turn up their feet in that way,' she said, 'you may always know that they're in pain. I wonder if you'd spasms, if you'd thank any one to give you an ounce of lemon juice.'

'Why, as a matter o' coorse, it 'ud mak me warse,' said the pawnbroker, a new light dawning on him.

'Then how d' ye think a sour orange was to agree with a child in this state? Besides, we don't give the like of that to babies. You must step at once over to Dighton's and get a bottle of dill-water. Ask him for a feeding-boat as well, then I'll show you how to feed the poor little thing without choking it.'