OR, CLARENCE MORTIMER. a

 

-even while she was speaking to her children,
the poor woman had reached her miserable
lodgings and was entering the door.

3 ‘‘Her home was in the fourth story of a
tenement house. ‘here was no carpet upon
the floor, and the broken window-panes
were carefully stuffed with rags to keep out
the keen air of winter. There were but a
few coals upon the hearth, and over them
three children were closely huddled together,
while the snow which had drifted in
through the loose framework of the win-
dows, lay in little heaps about the room.
They sprang up as their mother entered,
and looked eagerly towards her, but they
_ did not advance to meet her. They seemed
scarcely to hope even that she had brought
them any relief, and it was so dark that
they could not see the basket which she

8