the avenue, followed by the eyes of the crowd and by atrail of the more curious.
"Better give it another swig, mum," counselled her companion; and thegirl, going on her knees, raised the head, and administered a secondswallow of the brandy. She did not resume her seat, but kept her arm aboutthe boy, in an attempt to render his position easier. It was a wizened,pinched little face she gazed down at, and now the mouth was drawn as ifthere was physical suffering, even in the unconsciousness. Neither headnor hands had apparently ever known soap, but the dirt only gavepicturesqueness, and, indeed, to Miss Durant an added pathos; and thetears came into her eyes as she noted that under the ragged coat was onlya flimsy cotton shirt, so bereft of buttons that the whole chest wasexposed to the cold which but a little while before the girl, clad in fursand sheltered by the carriage, had yet found so nipping. She raised herfree hand and laid it gently on the exposed breast, and slightly shiveredas she felt how little warmth there was.
"Please put the fur rug over him," she requested; and her companion pulledit from under their feet, and laid it over the coiled-up legs and body.
The weight, or the second dose of the stimulant, had an effect, for MissDurant felt the body quiver, and then the eyes unclosed. At first theyapparently saw nothing, but slowly the dulness left them, and they, andseemingly the whole face, sharpened into comprehension, and then, as theyfastened on the blue coat of the policeman, into the keenest apprehension.
"Say," he moaned, "I didn't do nuttin', dis time, honest."
"I ain't takin' you to the station-house," denied the officer, colouringand looking sideways at his companion.
"You were run over, and we are carrying you to where a doctor can see howmuch you are hurt," said the gently.
The eyes of the boy turned to hers, and the face lost some of its frightand suspicion. "Is dat on de level?" he asked, after a moment's scrutiny."Youse oin't runnin' me in?"
"No," answered Miss Durant. "We are taking you to the hospital."
"De horspital!" exclaimed the little chap, his eyes brightening. "Is Isein de rattler?"
"The what?" asked Constance.
"De rattler," repeated the questioner, "de ding-dong."
"No, you ain't in no ambulance," spoke up the officer. "You're in thisyoung lady's carriage."
The look of hope and pride faded out of the boy's face. "Ise oin't playin'in no sorter luck dese days," he sighed. Suddenly the expression of alarmreappeared in his face. "Wheer's me papes?"
"They're all right. Don't you work yourself up over them," said theroundsman, heartily.
"Youse didn't let de udder newsies swipe dem, did youse?" the lad appealedanxiously.
"I'll pay you for every one you lost," offered Constance. "How many didyou have?"
The ragamuffin stared at her for a moment, his face an essence ofdisbelief.
"Ah, hell!" he ejaculated. "Wot's dis song an' dance youse givin' us?"
"Really, I will," insisted the girl. She reached back of her and took herpurse from the rack, and as well as she could with her one hand opened it.
The sight of the bills and coin brought doubt to the sceptic. "Say," hedemanded, his eyes burning with avidity, "does youse mean dat? Dere oin'tno crawl in dis?"
"No. How much were they worth?"
The boy hesitated, and scanned her face, as if he were measuring the girlmore than he was his loss. "Dere wuz twinty _Joinals_" he said, speakingslowly, and his eyes watching her as a cat might a mouse,"an'--an'--twinty _Woilds_--an'--an' tirty _Telegrams_--an'--an'--" Hedrew a fresh breath, as if needing strength, shot an apprehensive glanceat the roundsman, and went on hurriedly, in a lower voice, "an' tirty-five_Posts_--"
"Ah, g'long with you," broke in the policeman, disgustedly. "He didn'thave mor'n twenty in all, that I know."
"Hope I may die if Ise didn't have all dem papes, boss," protested theboy.
"You deserve to be run in, that's what you do," asserted the officer ofthe law, angrily.
"Oh, don't threaten him," begged Miss Durant.
"Don't you be fooled by him, mum. He ain't the kind as sells _Posts_, an'if he was, he wouldn't have more'n five."
"It's de gospel trute Ise chuckin' at youse dis time," asserted theyoungster.
"Gospel Ananias--!" began the officer.
"Never mind," interrupted Miss Durant. "Would ten dollars pay for themall?"
"Ah, I know'd youse wuz tryin' to stuff me," dejectedly exclaimed the boy;then, in an evident attempt to save his respect for his own acuteness, headded: "But youse didn't. I seed de goime youse wuz settin' up right fromde start."
Out of the purse Constance, with some difficulty, drew a crisp ten-dollarbill, the boy watching the one-handed operation half doubtingly and halfeagerly; and when it was finally achieved, at the first movement of herhand toward him, his arm shot out, and the money was snatched, more thantaken. With the quick motion, however, the look of eagerness and joychanged to one of agony; he gave a sharp cry, and, despite the grime, thecheeks whitened perceptibly.
"Oh, please stay quiet," implored Miss Durant. "You mustn't move."
"Hully gee, but dat hurted!" gasped the youngster, yet clinging to the newwealth. He lay quiet for a few breaths; then, as if he feared the sight ofthe bill might in time tempt a change of mind in the giver, he stole thehand to his trousers pocket and endeavoured to smuggle the money into it,his teeth set, but his lips trembling, with the pain the movement costhim.
Not understanding the fear in the boy's mind, Constance put her free handdown and tried to assist him; but the instant he felt her fingers, histightened violently. "Youse guv it me," he wailed. "Didn't she guv it me?"he appealed desperately to the policeman.
"I'm only trying to help put it in your pocket," explained the girl.
"Ah, chase youseself!" exclaimed the doubter, contemptuously. "Dat don'tgo wid me. Nah!"
"What doesn't go?" bewilderedly questioned Miss Durant.
"Wotcher tink youse up aginst? Suttin' easy? Well, I guess not! Yousedon't get youse pickers in me pocket on dat racket."
"She ain't goin' to take none of your money!" asserted the policeman,indignantly. "Can't you tell a real lady when you see her?"
"Den let her quit tryin' to go tru me," protested the anxious capitalist;and Constance desisted from her misinterpreted attempt, with a laugh whichdied as the little fellow, at last successful in his endeavour to secretethe money, moaned again at the pain it cost him.
"Shall we never get there?" she demanded impatiently, and, as if an answerwere granted her, the carriage slowed, and turning, passed into aporte-coch?re, in which the shoes of the horses rang out sharply, andhalted.
"Stay quiet a bit, mum," advised the policeman, as he got out; andConstance remained, still supporting the urchin, until two men with astretcher appeared, upon which they lifted the little sufferer, whoscreamed with pain that even this gentlest of handling cost him.
Her heart wrung with sympathy for him, Miss Durant followed after theminto the reception-ward. At the door she hesitated, in doubt as to whetherit was right or proper for her to follow, till the sight of a nursereassured her, and she entered; but her boldness carried her no fartherthan to stand quietly while the orderlies set down the litter. Without amoment's delay the nurse knelt beside the boy, and with her scissors beganslitting up the sleeves of the tattered coat.
"Hey! Wotcher up to?" demanded the waif, suspiciously.
"I'm getting you ready for the doctor," said the nurse, soothingly. "It'sall right."
"Toin't nuttin' of de sort," moaned the boy. "Youse spoilin' me cloes,an' if youse wuzn't a loidy, you'd get youse face poked in, dat's wotwould happen to youse."
Constance came forward and laid her hand on the little fellow's cheek."Don't mind," she said, "and I'll give you a new suit of clothes."
"Wen?" came the quick question.
"To-morrow."
"Does youse mean dat? Honest? Dere oin't no string to dis?"
"Honest," echoed the girl, heartily.
Reassured, the
boy lay quietly while the nurse completed the dismembermentof the ragged coat, the apology for a shirt, and the bit of twine whichserved in lieu of suspenders. But the moment she began on the trousers,the wail was renewed.
"Quit, I say, or