"It's all along of poor Nora and that child, as I'm thought ill on by
the women and insulted by the men! Yes, it is, you miserable little
wretch!" she added, speaking to the baby, who had opened his big eyes to
see the cause of the uproar. "It's all on her account and yourn, as I'm
treated so! Why do you keep on living, you poor little shrimp? Why don't
you die? Why can't both of us die? Many people die who want to live! Why
should we live who want to die? Tell me that, little miserable!" But the
baby defiantly sucked his thumb, as if it held the elixir of life, and
looked indestructible vitality from his great, bright eyes.

Hannah never ventured to ask another favor from mortal man, except the
very few in whom she could place entire confidence, such as the pastor
of the parish, the Professor of Odd Jobs, and old Jovial. Especially she
shunned Nutt's shop as she would have shunned a pesthouse; although this
course obliged her to go two miles farther to another village to procure
necessaries whenever she had money to pay for them.

Nutt, on his part, did not think it prudent to prosecute Hannah for
assault. But he did a base thing more fatal to her reputation. He told
his wife how that worthless creature, whose sister turned out so badly,
had come running after him, wanting to get goods from his shop, and
teasing him to come to see her; but that he had promptly ordered her out
of the shop and threatened her with a constable if ever she dared to
show her face there again.

False, absurd, and cruel as this story was, Mrs. Nutt believed it, and
told all her acquaintances what an abandoned wretch that woman was. And
thus poor Hannah Worth lost all that she possessed in the world--her
good name. She had been very poor. But it would be too dreadful now to
tell in detail of the depths of destitution and misery into which she