"
"But we turned aside from the beaten path. We looked into a by-place
to us; or we would not have discovered her. She was not obtrusive.
She asked no aid; but, with the last few shillings that remained to
her in the world, had gone to recover, if possible, an unredeemed
pledge--the miniature of her mother, on which she had obtained a
small advance of money to buy food and medicine for the dying
original. This is but one of the thousand cases of real distress
that are all around us. We could see them if we did but turn aside
for a moment into ways unfamiliar to our feet."
"Did you learn who she was, and anything of her condition?" asked
Mr. Edwards.
"Oh yes. To do so was but a common dictate of humanity. I would have
felt it as a stain upon my conscience to have left one like her
uncared for in the circumstances under which we found her."
"Did you accompany her home?"
"Yes; I went with her to the place she called her home--a room in
which there was scarcely an article of comfort--and there learned
the history of her past life and present condition. Does thee
remember Belgrave, who carried on a large business in Maiden Lane
some years ago?"
"Very well.
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