The Duchess of Rosemary Lane

undress the baby-child whom Sally had already adopted as her own, and she was fille

Sally's petticoat, hard and unsympathetic; this was thick, and soft, and cosy to the touch--there was real warmth and comfort in it; then the pretty white stays; and the child lay in Mrs. Chester's lap, in her chemise, with its delicate edgings of lace round the dimpled arms and fat little bosom--lay like a rose dipped in milk, as the good woman afterwards expressed it to neighbouring gossips. The lovely picture was to Mrs. Chester like sparks of fire upon dry tinder. Soft lights of memory glo

g away her tears, "just you get to bed. I shall be havi

d that her thoughts

ter then the collerbine that dances in the street.

lly wriggled herself between the bedclothes, and holding out her arms received the pretty child in them. Supremely

s as she dwelt upon the bright promise of the first years of her married life and the marring of her most cherished hopes. Absorbed in these contemplations, she did not notice that the candle was almost at its last gasp; presently it went out with a sob, leaving Mrs. Chester in darkness. Wearied with a long day's toil, she closed her eyes; her tear-stained work fell to the ground; her

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d, the very opposite to Sally; full of spirit and mischief; always craving for pleasure and excitement, always being indulged in his cravings to the full extent of his mother's means. This unvarying kindness should have influenced him for good, but he glided into the wr

grounds. He had a "gift" on his thumb, and

seers of old--never mind what seers--declared that the child that was born with a mole on h

followed his father's footsteps to the public-house, and,

t that one fine morning the young thief found himself in a police-court, and

d not go home immediately; he thought i

e charmed and soothed the tender nature of his mother, and the less impressionable nature of his father, who thoughtlessly helped him in his downward course by taking him to the public-house, where he delighted all around him. There he got his fill of drink, from the customers, and in after days, when the lovely lad's character was about as bad as his worst enemy could have desired, it caused the

but her thoughts dwelt lovingly upon him. He had caused her the

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nd shakes as though an ague were on him. It is a terrible fit, and lasts for minutes; when it subsides, he looks around him fearsomely, and sees monstrous shapes in the air coming towards him. Descending from the dark clouds, uprising from the black pavement, emerging from the viewless air, with e