full of all sorts of old things, which seemed for the most part to be dirty too. Mr. Isaac himself was a bent old man, with a face which I did not like to look at, it was so ugly and so sly.

6. Very shyly Nelly told him that she wanted to sell her diamond. Mr. Isaac looked at her sharply, under his bushy eyebrows, and then took a pair of scales, and weighed the stone.

7. Then he looked at it, and turned it about. "Well, young woman," he said at last, "I will give you ten shillings for this stone. It will be dear to me at that price-very dear—but I like to be generous."

8. "Ten shillings!" cried poor Nelly. "But I cannot take that, sir. The stone is worth ten, and twenty times that, at least. Give it back to me; I will take it to some one else who will at least be honest."

9. "Not so fast," said the old man, holding the diamond fast in his lean fingers. Then he caught sight of me, for Nelly's other hand was open.

10. "Aha!" he said; "here is a nice young woman to talk about honesty! First she tries to sell a stolen diamond, and then she wants to pass bad money! I think it is time for me to send for the police."

wrung

XV.

grum-ble

qui-et-ly

vil-lain

THE STORY OF A BAD SHILLING.-Part X.

1. Poor Nelly wrung her hands, and cried out, "Oh, sir, for Heaven's sake, have pity on me; you have taken my diamond and my shilling, and then you talk of the police.

2. "I am alone in London with my sick mother, and, if I cannot earn food for her she will die. Do have at least some pity!"

3. "Well, well," said the old man, letting go her arm, which he had been holding, "I am sorry for you, though I am afraid you are not a very honest sort of girl. I will keep this stone, to try and find out the owner; as for this bad shilling, it will only get you into trouble if you try to pass it. But here is a good sixpence for you; it is a great deal for a poor man like me to spare you, but I like to be generous. Only be off as fast as you can, or I may still change my mind, and give you over to the police."

4. Poor Nelly tried to thank him, and turned away, with tears falling fast. But a man stepped out of the darkest shadow in the gloomy little shop.

5. You old villain!" he said to Mr. Isaac. "Give back that diamond this instant, or I will break every one of your bones!" And he shook his fist as if he meant to do it. It was a strong brown fist, and the man was a strong, sun-burnt sailor.

my

6. With a loud cry of "Father, dear father!" Nelly clung round his neck. "I thought it was little Nelly," he said, "so I slipped in after you to have another look. Now," he said again, to the old man, "will you give me up those things quietly, or let me take them by force?"

7. The old man grumbled to himself, but he put the diamond into the sailor's hand. He slunk away then to the back of his shop, and the happy father and daughter went away together.

8. Oh, how I wished they would take me too! But they forgot all about the poor bad shilling. After a time, the old man found me. "You will do as well as another," he said, and threw me into a box, where I stayed till a woman came in, to sell some old clothes.

9. Then I was given to her, with a worn old florin, and the woman put us in an old purse. "Ah!" said the florin, "you are a bad shilling, I see. Well, you look very smart and new, while I

am so worn. I hope I shall soon be melted down, and stamped again. You are good for nothing, you bad coins; but you look decent longer than we do, at all events."

XVI.

shel-ter-ing be-la-ted crouch-ing rus-tled

A NIGHT WITH A WOLF.

1. Little one, come to my knee!
Hark how the rain is pouring
Over the roof, in the pitch-black night,
And the wind in the woods a-roaring!

2. Hush, my darling, and listen,

Then pay for the story with kisses:
Father was lost in the pitch-black night,
In just such a storm as this is!

3. High up on the lonely mountains,

Where the wild men watched and waited;
Wolves in the forest, and bears in the bush,
And I on my path belated.

4. The rain and the night together
Came down, and the wind came after,

Bending the props of the pine-tree roof,
And snapping many a rafter.

5. I crept along in the darkness,

Stunned, and bruised, and blinded-
Crept to a fir with thick-set boughs,
And a sheltering rock behind it.

6. There, from the blowing and raining, Crouching, I sought to hide me: Something rustled, two green eyes shone, And a wolf lay down beside me.

7. Little one, be not frightened:
I and the wolf together,

Side by side, through the long, long night,
Hid from the awful weather.

8. His wet fur pressed against me;
Each of us warmed the other;
Each of us felt, in the stormy dark,
That beast and man was brother.

9. And when the falling forest

No longer crashed in warning,
Each of us went from our hiding-place
Forth in the wild wet morning.