of Bounce.

"Ah, my dear, and where are you off to?" he said, in his most facetious
voice.

"I am going away, Mr. Bounce," replied Bet, gravely; "you can tell my
father--he'll be in presently--as I ain't a-coming back. Neither me
nor the boys is a-coming back. Good-bye."

She did not wait for the landlord's surprised answer, but his rude
laugh floated after her down the street.

There are slums and slums in Liverpool, as elsewhere, and Sparrow
street, which Bet had left, seemed by contrast to Paradise Row, which
she presently entered, a thoroughly respectable, indeed genteel, place
of residence. Paradise Row was not very far from the river. It was
entered by a court, court of not more than twenty feet square. Under
one of the houses there was an archway, and it was only through this
archway that any one could approach Paradise Row, This charming and
most suitably-named place of residence consisted of twenty houses at
one side of the street and twenty at the other. The houses were high,
and the street between was not more than ten feet across. There were
no pathways, and no apparent drains of any sort. The houses got closer
together as they approached the sky, so that it would not be impossible
for an agile person in case of pursuit to throw a board across from
his window to the one opposite, and so effect an escape. There were
not a great many panes of glass in the windows--rags and pieces of
board taking the place of this precious commodity. It was an
evil-looking-place, and the two little boys, accustomed as they were
to a very rough life, looked at Bet in some surprise as she led them