Adventures of a Sixpence in Guernsey by A Native by Anonymous
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page 8 of 16 (50%)
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her, the sixpence which I have occasionally thrown to a beggar to quiet
my conscience was only half charity, because I did not add 'kind words,' as she would say. But I wonder what people would say if I were to inquire after the birth, parentage, and education of every street-sweeper I came across? No, my vocation is to defend my Queen and country, and not to act the charitable." Something whispered, "Cannot you do both?" but Edward would not listen, and soon arrived at his destination. The door was opened by the sick girl's mother, who, with her "_Bon jour, monsieur! Entrez, s'il vous plait_," took Edward rather by surprise, and would by no means hear of receiving the gift outside the door. This was more than he had bargained for; he had come on a message from Ellen, not for a charitable visit on her own account: but there was no alternative, and go in he must. The woman spoke a little English; and while she poured forth her gratitude to Miss Crawford, together with a long account of her daughter's maladies, saying so much in one breath that it became a question whether she would ever breathe again, Captain Crawford looked at the sick girl lying pale and thin by the fire; and when he thought how miserable her lot was compared even with his sister's, whose sufferings were soothed by all that affection could suggest or that money could buy, his heart--for he had a heart, and a warm one too--was touched, and his hand went to the waistcoat pocket where the sixpence had been deposited in the morning. He was disappointed to find so little there, and wondered whether it was worth giving her. "If Ellen were here to add some of her 'kind words,'" he thought, it might do very well; "however, I'll try." Next time Mrs. Tourtel stopped to take breath he went and stood by the poor girl, and said,-- "Miss Crawford is ill too and cannot come to see you, but she often |
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