But they were not disreputable, they knew where to draw the line. Had Fan
been a coarse-fibred girl with a ready insolent tongue and fond of horse-
play, it would not have seemed so shocking; for such girls, and a large
majority of them are like that, seem fitted to fight their way in the
rough brutish world of the London streets; and if they fall and become
altogether bad, that only strikes one as the almost inevitable result of
girlhood passed in such conditions. That Fan was a shy, modest, pretty
girl, with a delicate type of face not often seen among those of her
class, made the case look all the worse for those who sent her out,
exposing her to almost certain ruin.

Poor unhappy Fan knew what they thought, and to avoid exciting remarks
she always skulked away, concealing her little stock-in-trade beneath her
dilapidated shawl, and only bringing it out when at a safe distance from
the outspoken criticisms of Moon Street. Sometimes in fine weather her
morning expeditions were as far as Netting Hill, and as she frequently
appeared at the same places at certain hours, a few individuals got to
know her; in some instances they had began by regarding the poor
dilapidated girl with a kind of resentment, a feeling which, after two or
three glances at her soft grey timid eyes, turned to pity; and from such
as these who were not political economists, when she was so lucky as to
meet them, she always got a penny, or a threepenny-bit, sometimes with
even a kind word added, which made the gift seem a great deal to her.
From others she received many a sharp rebuke for her illicit way of
getting a living; and these without a second look would pass on, little
knowing how keen a pang had been inflicted to make the poor shamefaced
child's lot still harder to bear.

She had never been out so late before, and hurrying along the wet