Category: Novels
IT was an old old house, situated somewhere near the central parts of London. The street was narrow and gloomy, branching off at right angles from a frequented thoroughfare, and the lofty uppermost stories, rising tier above tier, and closing in overhead, left but a narrow str...
IT was an old old house, situated somewhere near the central parts of London. The street was narrow and gloomy, branching off at right angles from a frequented thoroughfare, and...
2. CHAPTER II.A SMALL room in the top story but one of the house, was that to which Ailie was led by her companion, with one long narrow window, the broken diamond-shaped panes of glass being...
3. CHAPTER III.DOWN flight after flight went Esther Forsyth and little Ailie Carter. One or two rough men, returning from the public-house, staggered past them, and Ailie crept closer to her p...
4. CHAPTER IV.SOMEWHAT late the following evening, John Forsyth walked into his room, and sat down at the table. Esther opened her lips to speak, but shut them again hastily, as she noted his...
5. CHAPTER V.Hor had just returned from his daily ramble in search of employment. Little hope had he now of finding regular work—he had tried so long in vain; but still he contrived to earn...
6. CHAPTER VI.NOT very far from the aged mansion in Ansty Court, where Ailie Carter's home had been so long, another old-fashioned house stood, in another old-fashioned street—narrow, but cle...
7. CHAPTER VII.THE floor on which the Forsyths lived was immediately below the garrets, and they too were inhabited. One sheltered a father, mother, and six children. In another a sickly shoem...
8. CHAPTER VIII.AILIE woke up slowly, wondering at first where she could be. Under the stairs was her first impression, but then she felt the quilt wrapped round her, and the little bundle unde...
9. CHAPTER IX."Look ye here," said Forsyth. "I've a wife an' five children o' my own, an' one not my own, as I took up an' 'dopted five years since, when I wasn't in my present circumstances....
10. CHAPTER X."Why, they was all made, gran'father, 'cause once father took me ever so long a walk, and there was all the rows and piles o' bricks, an' men a-making of them as fast as they co...
11. CHAPTER XI."A whole fortnight," said Leveson Therlock, stooping to kiss his little sister. Though only her half-brother, he loved her as much as ever brother loved little sister of his own.
12. CHAPTER XII.THAT same afternoon, the last ray of the setting sun, which shone brightly on Josie Therlock during her happy homeward journey, crept lazily, half-veiled by smoke, through the w...
13. CHAPTER XIII.THE two months' imprisonment was over at last, and Ailie knew that on the evening of this frosty November day, with its slippery pavements and misty air, she might expect to mee...
14. CHAPTER XIV."LOOK ye here," said John Forsyth, having found his way into Job Kippis' garret, "it's ten days gone by, an' nothin' heard o' Mrs. Carter. Now I don't want to be interferin', no...
15. CHAPTER XV.THE last crust was eaten; the last farthing was expended; the last piece of firing was burnt; and Job Kippis sat, with his sinewy hands lying idle upon his knees, and his eyes g...
16. CHAPTER XVI."Yes, I know," said Josie hastily, having a great dread of allusions which might end in weeping. "But I don't mean that. I mean that he is so very good—don't you think he is alm...
17. CHAPTER XVII.THEY stood looking each at the other,—the little daintily-dressed girl, in her warm winter clothing, with furs, and muff, and sheltering jacket; and the poor child, with wasted...
18. CHAPTER XVIII.AILIE walked home slowly after her interview with Josie Therlock,—slowly, and with failing limbs, though her heart felt lightened and more hopeful. Only a few more hours, and then—
19. CHAPTER XIX."Why, Josie, my dear little Josie, I am sorry I said anything to you of my secret, if it has agitated you like this," said Leveson. "And I have nothing but disappointment for you."
20. CHAPTER XX.TWO days of incessant inquiry passed by, leading to no result. Hour after hour Leveson wandered from street to street, from house to house, from shop to shop, asking the same qu...
21. CHAPTER XXI."NOW ain't it just wonderful?" said Esther Forsyth, in overwhelming astonishment. "To think o' that! Little Lettie as has lived with us all this while—an' for a gentleman like y...
22. CHAPTER XXII.THEY stopped at a baker's shop—Lettie still borne in the arms which could not weary of their burden—and there Leveson ordered loaves and rolls sufficient to supply the Forsyth f...
23. CHAPTER XXIII.LYING still upon the mattress of his garret bed, with only one thin blanket over him, his brown wasted hands clasped across his broad chest, and some flakes of silvery hair stra...
24. CHAPTER XXIV.And Ailie opened without delay. But there she turned shy, for before her stood a strange gentleman, and on one side of him was the very same little girl who had twice spoken to...
25. CHAPTER XXV.LETTIE settled down into her new home, slowly learning to love those around her, and gradually becoming accustomed to the strange restraints as to manner, behaviour, and speech,...
26. CHAPTER XXVI.AND as the light of dawn came into the garret, which for so many months had formed Job's home,—came resting in dull shades of gray upon the wall, and upon the face that lay so c...
27. CHAPTER XXVII.IT was a lovely day, out in the fair country, far away from the smoke and dust, the noise and turmoil, which had surrounded Ailie from earliest babyhood. Through the drive from...