baker added a piece to make up the weight. Clare took this for
liberality, and returned hearty thanks, which Mr. Ball, I am sorry to
say, was not man enough to repudiate. The other penny he laid out on
milk--but oh, how inferior it was to that the farmer's wife had given
him! The milk-woman, however, not ungraciously granted him the two
matches he begged for.

On his way to baby, he almost hoped Tommy would not return: he would
gladly be saved putting him in the water-but!

He forgot him again as he drew near the nursery, and for a long while
after he reached it. He found the infant and the dog lying as he had
left them. The only sign that either had moved was the strange
cleanness of the tiny gray face which Clare had not ventured to
wash. It gave indubitable evidence that the dog had been licking it
more than a little--probably every few minutes since he was left
curate in charge.

And now Clare did with deliberation a thing for which his sensitive
conscience not unfrequently reproached him afterward. His defence was,
that he had hurt nobody, and had kept baby alive by it. Having in his
mind revolved the matter many a time that day, he got some sticks
together from the garden, and with one of the precious matches lighted
a small fire of coals that were not his own, and for which he could
merely hope one day to restore amends. But baby! Baby was more than
coals! He filled a rusty kettle with water, and while it was growing
hot on the fire, such was his fear lest the smoke should betray them,
that he ran out every other minute to see how much was coming from the
chimney.