She was so young, and so forlorn and ill, and had such a beautiful face (little Mary's is the image of it, 'specially about the eyes), and seemed so like a lady, that it was almost a sin, as I thought, to send her to such a place as a workhouse.
"Well: I went and told Jemmy all I had got out of her--my own baby kicking and crowing in my arms again, as happy as a king, all the time I was speaking.

'It seems shocking,' says I, 'to let such as her go into a workhouse.

What had we better do ?'--Says Jemmy, 'Let's take her with us to the circus and ask Peggy Burke.' "Peggy Burke, if you please, sir, was the finest rider that ever stepped on a horse's back.

We've had nothing in our circus to come near her, since she went to Astley's.

She was the wildest devil of an Irish girl--oh! I humbly beg your pardon, sir, for saying such a word; but she really _was_ so wild, I hope you'll excuse it.