'A guinea that we knew of; but I've had plenty in my time, and how do
you know this is not one we had overlooked?'

'We've wanted a guinea too much to overlook one,' answered she. 'But
never mind, father; eat your gruel, and don't think of it: your cheeks
are getting quite red with talking so, and you won't be able to sleep
when you go to bed.'

'I don't expect to sleep,' said the man peevishly; 'I never do sleep.'

'I think you will, after that nice gruel!' said Mary, throwing her arms
round his neck, and tenderly kissing his cheek.

'And a guinea in it to give it a relish too!' returned the father, with
a faint smile and an expression of archness, betokening an inner nature
very different from the exterior which sorrow and poverty had incrusted
on it.

His daughter then proposed that he should go to bed; and having assisted
him to undress, and arranged her little household matters, she retired
behind a tattered, drab-coloured curtain which shaded her own mattress,
and laid herself down to rest.

The apartment in which this little scene occurred, was on the attic
storey of a mean house, situated in one of the narrow courts or alleys
betwixt the Strand and Drury Lane. The furniture it contained was of the
poorest description; the cracked window-panes were coated with dust; and
the scanty fire in the grate, although the evening was cold enough to
make a large one desirable--all combined to testify to the poverty of