Sometimes he was lucky enough to win a
pound or two on a race, and that was his only means of support. The
children were ragged; Letty tried to live on tea and bread, but the lack
of food soon brought her low, and from sheer weakness she became a
pitiful slattern.
Mr. Billiter was informed that a woman "like a beggar" wanted to see him
particularly. He was about to order her off at first, but he finished by
going to the door, and the beggar-woman went on her knees to him. He
trembled; then he fairly lifted the poor soul up in his arms and sobbed
hard. "My gal, my pooty as was. My little gal. To think as you never
come before you was like this. I've bin dead since you was away. My 'art
was dead, my little gal. And you're goin' away no more, never no more,
with no hactors. Sit down. Give me that shawl. Lord bless me, it's a
dish clout! And your neck's like a chicken's, and your breasts is all
flat, as was round as could be. O me!"
But the good fellow's moanings soon fell on deaf ears, for Letty
fainted.
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