"I must have looked a terrible little savage on that next morning,"
Ida went on, smiling sadly. "Oh, how hungry I was! I was awoke by a
woman who came out of one of the rooms, and I asked her if she'd
give me something to eat. She said she would, if I'd light her fire
for her, and clean up the grate. I did this, gladly enough. Then she
pretended I had done it badly, and gave me one miserable little dry
crust, and told me to be off. Well, that day I found another woman
who said she'd give me one meal and twopence a day for helping her
to chop wood and wash vegetables; she had a son who was a
costermonger, and the stuff he sold had to be cleaned each day. I
took the work gladly. She never asked me where I spent the night;
the truth was I chose a different house each night, where I found
the door open, and went up and slept on the stairs. I often found
several people doing the same thing, and no one disturbed us.

"I lived so for a fortnight, then I was lucky enough to get into
another eating-house. I lived there nearly two months, and had to
leave for the very same reason as at the first place. I only half
understood the meaning of what I had to resist, but my resistance
led to other unbearable cruelties, and again I ran away. I went
about eight o'clock in the evening. The thought of going back to my
old sleeping places on the stairs was horrible. Besides, for some
days a strange idea had been in my head. I had not forgotten my
friend Jane, and I wondered whether, if I went to Tottenham, it
would be possible to find her. Perhaps she might be well off there,
and could help me. I had made inquiries about the way to Tottenham,
and the distance, and when I left the eating-house I had made up my
mind to walk straight there. I started from Hoxton, and went on and
on, till I had left the big streets behind. I kept asking my way,