close by, although the little girl had not noticed her, rose, and
came toward her.

"What's the matter, young one?" asked the old woman harshly.

"I don't know the way home, and I'm lost!" said 'Toinette, wiping
her eyes, and looking doubtfully at the old woman, who was very dark
and hairy as to the face, very blinking and wicked as to the eyes,
and very crooked and warped as to figure, while her dress seemed to
be a mass of rags held together by dirt.

"Lost, be you?" asked this unpleasant old woman, seizing Mrs.
Legrange's beautiful breakfast-shawl, and twitching it off the
child's shoulders. "And where'd you git this 'ere pretty shawl?"

"It's my mamma's, and you'd better not touch it; you might soil it,
you know," said 'Toinette anxiously.

"Heh! Why, I guess you're a little lady, ain't you? B'long to the
big-bugs, don't you?"

"I don't know. I want to go home," stammered 'Toinette, perplexed
and frightened.

"Well, you come right in here along o' me, and wait till I get my
pack off; then I'll show you the way home," said the woman, as,
seizing the little girl's hand, she led her to the bottom of the
court, and down some steps into a foul-smelling cellar-room,
perfectly dark, and very cold.