the children in their wanderings the day before, and again this morning, had quite unknown to themselves traveled quite away from bloomsbury, and when they entered the church, and sat down in that pew, and hid toby underneath, they were in the far-famed east-end quarter of the great town. they knew nothing of this themselves, though cecile did think the houses very poor and the people very dirty. they were, therefore, doubly fortunate in coming across mrs. moseley.
mrs. moseley was sextoness to the very new and beautiful church in mile end. her husband was a policeman at present on night duty, which accounted for his being at leisure to blow the organ in the church. this worthy couple had a little grave to love and tend, a little grave which kept their two hearts very green, but they had no living child. mrs. moseley had, however, the largest of mother's hearts—a heart so big that were it not for its capacity of acting mother to every desolate child in mr. danvers' parish, it must have starved. now, she put cecile and maurice along with twenty more into that big heart of hers, and they were a truly fortunate little pair when she took them home.
such a funny home was hers, but so clean when you got into it.
it was up a great many pairs of stairs, and the stairs at the top were a good deal broken, and were black with use, and altogether considerably out of repair. but the strangest part, though also the most delightful to maurice and cecile in their funny new home, was the fact that it had no door at all.
when you got to the top and looked for the door, you were confronted with nothing but a low ceiling over your head, and a piece of rope within reach of your hand. if you pulled the rope hard enough, up would suddenly jump two or three boards, and then there was an opening big enough for you to creep into the little kitchen.
yes, it was the queerest entrance into the oddest little home. but when once you got there how cozy it all was!
the proverbial saying, "eating off the floor," might have been practiced on those white boards. the little range shone like a looking glass, and cups and saucers were ranged on shelves above it. in the middle of the floor stood a bright and thick crimson drugget. the window, dormer though it was, was arranged quite prettily with crimson curtains, while some pots of sweet-smelling herbs and flowers stood on its ledge. there were two or three really good colored prints on the white-washed walls and several illuminated texts of scripture. the little deal table, too, was covered with a crimson cloth.
a canary bird hung in a cage in the window, and it is not too much to say that this poor bird, born and bred in the east end, was thoroughly happy in his snug home. a soft-furred gray cat purred before the little range. the bedroom beyond was as clean and neat as the kitchen, and the tiny room where cecile, maurice and toby were to sleep, though nearly empty at present, would, mrs. moseley assured them, make a sleeping chamber by no means to be despised by and by.
when they got into the house, maurice ran all over it in fearless ecstasies. cecile sat on the edge of a chair, and toby, after sniffing at the cat, decided to make friends with her by lying down in the delicious warmth by her side.
"what's yer name, dear heart?" asked mrs. moseley to the rather forlorn-looking little figure seated on the edge of a chair.
"cecile, please, ma'am."
"cecil! that sounds like a boy's name. it ain't english to give boy names to little girls. but then you're foreign, you say—french, ain't it? i once knew a girl as had lived a long time in france and loved it dearly. well, well, but here's dinner ready; the potatoes done to a turn, and boiled bacon and greens. now, where's my good man? we won't wait for him, honey. come, maurice, my man, i don't doubt but you're rare and hungry."
"yes," answered maurice; "me and cecile and toby are very hungry. we had bad food yesterday; but i like this dinner, it smells good."
"it will eat good too, i hope. now, cecile, why don't you come?"
cecile's face had grown first red and then pale.
"please," she said earnestly, "that good dinner that smells so delicious may be very dear. we little children and our dog we have got to be most desperate careful, please, mrs. moseley, ma'am. we can't eat that nice dinner if 'tis dear."
"but s'pose 'tis cheap," said mrs. moseley; "s'pose 'tis as cheap as dirt? come, my love, this dinner shan't cost you nothink; come and eat. don't you see that the poor little man there is fit to cry?"
"and nothink could be cheaper than dirt," said maurice, cheering up. "i'm so glad as this beautiful, delicious dinner is as cheap as dirt."
"now we'll say grace," said mrs. moseley.
she folded her hands and looked up.
"lord jesus, bless this food to me and to thy little ones, and use us all to thy glory."
her eyes were shut while she was speaking; when she opened them she felt almost startled by the look cecile had given her. a look of wonder, of question, of appeal.
"you want to ask me some'ut, dear?" she said gently to the child.
"oh, yes! oh, yes!"
"well, i'm very busy now, and i'll be busy all the afternoon. but we has tea at six, and arter tea my man 'ull play wid maurice, and you shall sit at my knee and ask me what you like."
