I was standing by the door, caressing Tinker, who was in a frolicking mood this morning, when I saw Mr. Hamilton cross the road; he wore a dark tweed suit and a soft felt hat,—­a costume that did not suit him in the least; he held open the gate for me, and made a sign that I should join him.  As I approached without hurrying myself in the least, he looked inquiringly at the basket I carried.

‘I hope you do not intend to pauperise your patients,’ was his first greeting.

‘Oh no,’ was my reply, but I did not volunteer any information as to the contents of the basket.  There was certainly a jar of beef-tea that Mrs. Drabble had given me, and a few grapes; but the little store of soap, soda, fine rags, and the two or three clean towels and cloths would have surprised him a little, though he might have understood the meaning of the neat housewife.

‘I am glad you wear print dresses,’ was his next remark; ’they are proper for a nurse.  Stuff gowns that do not wash are abominations.  I am taking you to a very dirty place, Miss Garston, but what can you expect when there are seven children under thirteen years of age and the mother is dying?  She was a clean capable body when she was up; it is hard for her to see the place like a pig-sty now.  Old Mrs. Marshall is blind, and as helpless as the children,’ He spoke abruptly, but not without feeling.

‘The neighbours are good to them, Uncle Max tells me.’

’Oh yes; they come in and tidy up a bit, that is their expression; now and then they wash the baby or take off a batch of dirty clothes, but they have their own homes and children.  I tell my patient that she would be far more comfortable in a hospital; but she says she cannot leave the children, she would rather die at home.  That is what they all say.’

‘But the poor creatures mean what they say, Mr. Hamilton.’

‘Oh, but it is all nonsense!’ he returned irritably.  ’She can do nothing for the children; she cannot have a moment’s quiet or a moment’s comfort, with all those grimy noisy creatures rushing in and out.  I found her sitting up in bed yesterday, in danger of breaking a blood-vessel through coughing, because one of the imps had fallen down and cut his head and she was trying to plaster it.’

‘Her husband ought to be with her,’ I said, somewhat indignantly.

’He is on a job somewhere, and cannot come home; they must have bread to eat, and he must work.  This is the house,’ pointing to a low white cottage at the end of a long straggling street of similar houses; two or three untidy-looking children were playing in the front garden with some oyster-shells and a wooden horse without a head.  One little white-headed urchin clapped his hands when he saw Mr. Hamilton, and a pretty little girl with a very dirty face ran up to him and clasped him round the knee.

’’As ‘oo any pennies to-day?’ she lisped.

‘No nonsense; run away, children,’ he said, in a rough voice that did not in the least alarm them, for they scampered after us into the porch until an elder girl, with a year-old baby in her arms, met us on the threshold and scolded them away.