Ugh! How cold it was!--sleet driving in your face, wind whistling about your ears, cold penetrating everywhere! "A regular nipper," thought Dick Kelsey, standing in a door-way, kicking his feet in toeless boots to warm them, and blowing his chilled fingers, for in the pockets of his ragged trousers the keen air had stiffened them. He was revolving a weighty question in his mind. Which should he do,--go down to "Ma'am Vesey's" and get one of her hot mutton pies, or stray a little farther up the alley, where an old sailor kept a little coffee-house for the benefit of newsboys and boot-blacks such as he? Should it be coffee or mutton pie? "I'll toss up for it!" said Dick, finally; and, fumbling in his pockets, the copper was produced ready for the test. Just then, his attention was suddenly diverted. Close to him sounded a voice, weak and not very melodious, but bravely singing: "There is a happy land Far, far away, Where saints in glory stand Bright, bright as day!" Dick listened in silence till the last little quaver had died away, and then said: "Whew! That was purty, anyhow. Where is the piper, I wonder!" He looked about for the musician, but could see no one. He was the only person in the alley. Again the song began, and this time he traced the voice to the house against which he had been leaning. The window was just at his right, and through one of the broken panes came the notes. Dick's modesty was not a burden to him, so it was the work of only a moment to put his face to the hole in the window and take a view. A small room, not very nice to see, was what he saw; then, as his eye became used to the dim light, he espied on a low bed in the corner a little girl gazing at him with a pair of big black eyes. "I say, there! Was it you pipin' away so fine?" began Dick, without the slightest embarrassment. "If you mean, was I a-singin'?--I was," answered the child from the bed, not seeming at all surprised at this sudden intrusion upon her privacy. "I say, who are you, anyhow?" "I'm Gerty, and I stay here all the day while mother is away washing; and she locks the door so no one can't get in," explained the girl. "My eye!" was Dick's return. "And what are you in bed for?" "Oh, I have a pain in my back, an' I lie down most of the time," replied Gerty in the most cheerful manner possible, as if a pain in the back were the one desirable thing, while Dick withdrew his head to ponder over this new experience. A girl locked in a room like that, lying in bed with pain most of the time, with nothing to do, yet cheerful and bright--this was something he could not understand. All at once his face brightened. Back went his eyes to the window. "I say, got anything to eat in there?" "Oh yes, some crackers; and to-night maybe mother'll buy some milk." "Pooh!" said Dick, with scorn. "Crackers and milk! Did you ever eat a mutton pie?" "A mutton pie," repeated Gerty, slowly. "No, I guess not."