“You must tell me what I can do for you, Betty my friend,” said Mrs. Boffin confidentially, “if not today, next time.”

“Thank you all the same, ma’am, but I want nothing for myself. I can work. I’m strong. I can walk twenty mile if I’m put to it.” Old Betty was proud, and said it with a sparkle in her bright eyes.

“Yes, but there are some little comforts that you wouldn’t be the worse for,” returned Mrs. Boffin. “Bless ye, I wasn’t born a lady any more than you.”

“It seems to me,” said Betty, smiling, “that you were born a lady, and a true one, or there never was a lady born. But I couldn’t take anything from you, my dear. I never did take anything from anyone. It ain’t that I’m not grateful, but I love to earn it better.”