"
"Poor child!" said Waymark, looking into her face, which had become
very animated as the details of the story succeeded each other in
her mind.
"I must have looked a terrible little savage on that next morning,"
Ida went on, smiling sadly. "Oh, how hungry I was! I was awoke by a
woman who came out of one of the rooms, and I asked her if she'd
give me something to eat. She said she would, if I'd light her fire
for her, and clean up the grate. I did this, gladly enough. Then she
pretended I had done it badly, and gave me one miserable little dry
crust, and told me to be off. Well, that day I found another woman
who said she'd give me one meal and twopence a day for helping her
to chop wood and wash vegetables; she had a son who was a
costermonger, and the stuff he sold had to be cleaned each day. I
took the work gladly. She never asked me where I spent the night;
the truth was I chose a different house each night, where I found
the door open, and went up and slept on the stairs. I often found
several people doing the same thing, and no one disturbed us.
"I lived so for a fortnight, then I was lucky enough to get into
another eating-house. I lived there nearly two months, and had to
leave for the very same reason as at the first place.
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