to recover her garments from the pawnshop, a
considerable sum out of a wage of about L18 a year.
I asked her why she did not take away this very fascinating child
altogether, and arrange for her to enter one of the Army Homes. She
answered because, although the mother would be glad enough to let her
go, the father, who is naturally fond of his children, objected.
'Of which the result may be,' remarked Lieut.-Colonel Jolliffe grimly,
'that about a dozen years hence that sweet little girl will become a
street-walking drunkard.'
'Not while I live,' broke in her foster-mother, indignantly.
This kind-hearted little woman told me she had been six years in
service as sole maid-of-all-work in a large house. I inquired whether
it was a hard place. She replied that it would be easier if her four
mistresses, who are sisters and old maiden ladies, did not all take
their meals at four different times, have four different teapots,
insist upon their washing being sent to four different laundries,
employ four different doctors, and sleep in four different rooms.
'However,' she added, 'it is not so difficult as it was as there used
to be five, but one has died.
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