"Well?"

"Then she gave me to understand, that if no one took the child, she
might be induced to board her for a while, until other arrangements
were made."

"Did you give her to understand that this was practicable?"

"No, sir."

"Why not? She will have to be boarded, you know."

"I neither liked the woman's face, manner, nor appearance."

"Why not?"

"Oh, she was a vulgar, coarse, hard-looking creature to my eyes."

"Kind hearts often lie concealed under unpromising externals."

"True; but they lie not concealed under that exterior, be well
assured, Mr. Jasper. No, no. The child who has met with so sad a loss
as that of a mother, needs the tenderest guardianship. At best, the
case is hard enough."

Jasper did not respond to this humane sentiment, for there was no pity
in him. The waves of feeling, stirred so suddenly a few hours before,
had all subsided, and the surface of his heart bore no ripple of
emotion. He thought not of the child as an object claiming his regard,