"I can't afford to buy any new things," said the poor lady.

"But a deal might be done in altering what I have got by me, if a clever person took the matter up." Who could resist that piteous appeal?
I resigned myself to the baby, the novel, and the children in general; and (Reverend Finch being out of the way, writing his sermon) I presented myself in Mrs.
Finch's parlor, full of ideas, with my scissors and my pattern-paper ready in my hand.
We had only begun our operations, when one of the elder children arrived with a message from the nursery.
It was tea-time; and, as usual, Jicks was missing.

She was searched for, first in the lower regions of the house; secondly in the garden.

Not a trace of her was to be discovered in either quarter.

Nobody was surprised or alarmed.