He sank upon the ground with a wild shudder, and lay as if death had overtaken him. At the same moment there issued from the corner of the room where the deepest shadows gathered, a child-girl, so marvellously like him, with her fair waving hair, her large beautifully-shaped mouth, her white teeth, and her great restless gray eyes, that Joshua knew at once that they were father and daughter. Minnie crept to the man, and sat beside him. She spoke to him, but he did not reply. And then she looked at Joshua and Susan, whose forms were dimly discernible in the gathering gloom. "What is the matter with father?" she asked of them in a faint moaning voice. "Some bad boys threw a stone at him, and hit him on the forehead," Joshua answered. "He will be better presently, I hope." Minnie did not heed what he said, but felt eagerly in her father's pockets, and, not finding what she searched for, began to cry. "No, no," she said, beating her hands together; "it is not that. He is weak and ill because he has had nothing to eat. I thought he would have brought home enough to buy some bread, but he hasn't a penny." Joshua remembered the man's words, "Money! I want money!" and he immediately realized that the poor creatures were in want. "Are you hungry, Minnie?" he asked. "I have not had any breakfast," she answered wearily. "No more has father. Nor any dinner. We had some bread last night. We ate it all up. Father went out to-day, hoping to earn a little money, and he has come home without any. We shall die, I suppose. But I should like something to eat first." "How do you know he has had nothing to eat?" asked Joshua; the words almost choked him. Minnie looked up with a plaintive smile. "If he had had only a hard piece of bread given him," she said in a tender voice, "he would have put it into his pocket for me." "Stop here, Susan," said Joshua, a great sob rising in his throat. "I will be back in ten minutes." He ran out of the room and out of the house. Never in his life had he run so fast as he ran now. He rushed into Dan's room, and said, almost breathlessly,-- "Where is the money-box, Dan? How much is there in it?" "Fourteen pence," said the faithful treasurer, producing the box. "What a heat you are in, Jo!" "Never mind that. I want every farthing of the money, Dan. Don't ask me any questions. I will tell you all by and by." Dan emptied the money-box upon the table, and Joshua seized the money, and tore out of the house as if for dear life. Soon he was in the actor's room again, with bread and tea. Susan had not been idle during his absence. She had bathed the man's wound, and had wiped the blood and mud from his face and hair. He had recovered from his swoon, and was looking at her gratefully. Joshua placed the bread before him, and he broke a piece from the loaf and gave it to Minnie, who ate it greedily.