She
began some speech in a cringing tone to Ideala, but the tawdry girl
pushed her aside rudely.
"Hold your jaw, and get out of the way," she said. "I'll show the lady
up."
The woman muttered something which Ideala fortunately did not hear, and
let them pass. They went upstairs to the very top of the house, and
entered a low room, furnished with a broken chair and a small bed only.
On the bed lay a girl, who, in spite of disease and approaching death,
looked not more than twenty, and was probably two years younger. She
turned her haggard face to the door as it opened, and a gleam of
satisfaction caused her eyes to dilate when she saw Ideala. They were
large dark eyes, but her face was so distorted with suffering and
discoloured by disease, it was impossible to imagine what it once had
been.
"Here she is, Polly," said the Tawdry One, triumphantly. "I said I'd
bring her, now didn't I?"
Ideala knelt down by the bed.
"My! but you're a game un!" said the Tawdry One, admiringly. "You ain't
afraid of catching nothing! Now, I'd have asked what was up before I'd
have done that; and I wouldn't touch her with the tongs, nor stay in
the room with her was it ever so.
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