One day entering the passage of his little counting-house, as she was going out, I heard her say, 'The child is very weak; she cannot live long, she will soon die out of your way, so you need not grudge her a little physic.' "'So much the better,' he replied,' and pray mind your own business, good woman.' "I was struck by his unfeeling, inhuman tone of voice, and drew back, determined when the woman came again, to try to speak to her, not out of curiosity, I had heard enough, but with the hope of being useful to a poor, outcast girl.
"A month or two elapsed before I saw this woman again; and then she had a child in her hand that tottered along, scarcely able to sustain her own weight.

They were going away, to return at the hour Mr.Venables was expected; he was now from home.

I desired the woman to walk into the parlour.

She hesitated, yet obeyed.

I assured her that I should not mention to my husband (the word seemed to weigh on my respiration), that I had seen her, or his child.