Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed. [Illustration: "What is it? Haven't you got anything to eat?" she asked.] SAVED BY LOVE A Story of London Streets. By EMMA LESLIE. [Illustration] London: T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW. EDINBURGH; DUBLIN; AND NEW YORK. 1913 Contents. CHAPTER I. ALL ALONE IN LONDON II. GETTING A LIVING III. OUR FATHER IV. ELFIE'S SIXPENCE V. SAVED BY LOVE VI. WILL SHE CONQUER? VII. CONCLUSION SAVED BY LOVE. CHAPTER I. ALL ALONE IN LONDON. THERE are some places in London where King Dirt holds a carnival all the year round—narrow back streets, where the tall houses, almost meeting at the top, shut out every gleam of sunlight, except during the longest and hottest days of summer; and then only a narrow rift of golden glory lights up a strip in the centre, and makes the shady corners look more dark and desolate than ever. In one of the shadowed nooks of such a street sat a little girl, her head leaning against the brick wall for a pillow; and you might have thought her fast asleep, but for an occasional sob. She had cried so long that her eyes were swollen and heavy; and even the faint light of Fisher's Lane made them ache so much that she was glad to close them. No one noticed her for some time, but at length a girl about her own age stopped and looked at her, and at last spoke. "What's the matter?" she said, touching her shoulder. With a sob and a start the girl opened her eyes. "O Elfie, is it you?" she said; and then her tears broke out afresh. "What is it? Haven't you got anything to eat?" she asked. "I shall never want to eat anything again," sobbed the other. "O Elfie, mother's dead!" "Dead, is she?" said Elfie, but looking as though she could not understand why that should cause any one to cry. "I shall never be happy again, Elfie. O mother, mother, why didn't you take me with you?" wailed the poor little orphan. "Just because she didn't want you, I guess," said Elfie, but at the same time sitting down to soothe the grief she could not understand. "There, don't cry," she went on in a matter-of-fact tone. "My mother's gone away, but I don't cry after her; not a bit of it; I know better than that, Susie Sanders."