"Oh, yes, I know you, Isaac Dent," she said; "but I ain't in no mood
to talk now. Good-bye, father."

"I'll be home presently," called out Granger. "Have a bit of dinner
ready for Dent and me-we'll be looking in presently;" and Bet, taking
a small brother by each hand, walked away at a good pace.

She had not replied to her father, and there was a very dogged,
determined look on her handsome face. The two small boys chattered to
one another, looked proudly down at their boots, which had been bought
new for the occasion, and often glanced at Bet. She did not pay the
slightest heed to their shrill childish chatter. Presently she hailed
a passing tramcar, and delighted her little brothers by taking them
for a ride outside. The three got down at the nearest point to Sparrow
Street, which was the name of Bet's old address. They reached the house
and went upstairs. The one room where they had all lived for the last
couple of years looked deserted, ugly, desolate. The bed on which the
dead woman had lain was empty, the fire was out in the grate, and the
broken cups and saucers, out of which the little party had breakfasted
before they started for the funeral, stood unwashed on the deal table.

"Now, boys," said Bet, the minute she had got the two little fellows
into the room, "you ha' got to obey me. I'm your mother in future. Do
you mind?"

She had seated herself on a low chair, and drew her little brothers
in front of her. They looked at her with their impudent and bright
eyes.

"The Cap'n says," began Nat, glancing in his eager, quick, bird-like