54 JESSIE’S ACQUAINTANCE MADE.

slight, delicate young creature, was decidedly en
déshabillé, a costume which, although it bore unequi-
vocal marks of having been supplied by a scanty
purse, was not unbecoming to her remarkably inte-
resting appearance.

The youth held both her hands in his, and gazed
with almost devotion into her face. She seemed to
have been weeping, but a faint smile, like April
sunshine, passed at that moment over her face, and
she replied, in answer to some remark of his, “ Oh,
no, the dear old creature, she is very deaf; she
hears nothing we say, and if she did, she would not
interrupt us. Ah, she 1s a good creature 1” ex-
claimed she, snatching away her hands from their
confinement ; and starting up to the old woman’s
side, she put them on her shoulder, and spoke in
her ear, but not loudly, “I have been telling him
how good you are to me, and how much I love
you,” added she, and kissed the old woman's
wrinkled cheek. ‘The old woman understood the
action, if not the words, and gave several little,
short nods, without turning her head, or apparently
lifting her eyes from the saucepan.

The young girl sat down again, and continued,
“Tf it were not for her, my life would be worse
than that of a galley-slave. She is not as poor as
she seems, and has managed to make herself of
‘ eonsequence to the company; and Mr. Maxwell,
the manager, consults her in everything. He hates
her, however, for all that, and they quarrel dread-
fully.”

Whilst these few words passed, the old woman
had dished her tripe, which she covered up with a
basin, and set within the fender, while she went out