FROM this time Elfie began to pay some attention to her personal appearance. She washed her face and hands, and combed her hair every morning, before she went out, and, of course, looked less wild; but her rags, poor child, were past mending, and there seemed no hope of ever being able to replace these with better clothes now. New ones—new frocks, new shoes, that gave other little girls so much pleasure—Elfie had never had. Sometimes she wore a pair of old shoes or boots picked up in the street, and sometimes she went barefoot. And it was much the same with frocks and bonnets: sometimes she picked up a rag that would cover her, or had one given her, and she wore it until it dropped to pieces. She had never been quite naked; but many times she had been almost so, until some one had given her something to put on. She began to wish now that some one would do so again; and formed all sorts of plans for saving enough money to buy herself a frock at a second-hand clothes' stall—plans that always failed, for winter was drawing near, and the two girls found it harder work than ever to pay the rent and buy bread to eat. "The rent must be paid," Elfie said over and over again, as if to convince herself of a fact she half doubted. Susie said nothing, but stitched away as fast as she could, and always contrived to have the shilling for the landlord when he called; for she knew if it were not paid, they would be turned into the street, and for Elfie's sake, as well as her own, she did not wish this to happen. Elfie said she did not care, she had always been used to a street life, but that it would never do for Susie; and so for her sake—to keep Susie's home for her—she grew more careful and steady, that she might be trusted by people to do odd jobs for them, and thus bring in a few pence to add to the weekly store. But with all Elfie's care and steadiness, and Susie's close stitching, they had a hard time of it to make ends meet; and Susie grew pale and weak, and often suffered from pain in her side. She went regularly to church on Sunday, but she could never persuade Elfie to do so. Church was for decent folk, not for her, she said; but she looked forward to sitting down with her arms round Susie's neck, to listen to her reading from the Bible, on Sunday afternoon. Sometimes they contrived to have a fire on Sunday, but it was not often they could have one all the week, except to boil the kettle occasionally; for Susie still kept up the habit of having regular meals, and was gradually winning Elfie to like this plan too. People began to notice the pale, pinched little face under the shabby black bonnet, that was seen so regularly every Sunday in a quiet corner of the church; and at length, a lady spoke to her as she was coming out one day. "Where do you live, little girl?" asked the lady kindly. It was very cold, and the lady could not help shivering in her warm furs, and she noticed that Susie had only a thin cape on.