A Budget of Christmas Tales by Charles Dickens and Others by Charles Dickens Page A

waving its tail, fawning unsuspectingly against the arm that had threatened.
    With an impulse new to her misery-hardened heart, old Marg drew the animal in and closed the window. Far from resisting, the cat nestled against her with every sign of pleasure.
    "She's been somebody's pet," said the old woman, placing her on the floor. "She ain't always been like this."
    The divine emotion of pity, so new to this forlorn creature, grew and swelled in her bosom. The man at the hall had
not
lied, after all. Here was another of God's creatures as miserable as herself--nay, more so, for she had a roof to shelter her! And she could share it with this homeless one.
    "Poor puss!" muttered old Marg, stroking the rough fur. "You're starvin', too, ain't ye? an' I ain't got nothin' to give ye, not a bite or a sup. Ah!"
    Her eyes had fallen upon the discarded food. Eagerly she seized it and placed it before the cat; the starving creature gnawed greedily at the bone an instant, then looked up with a hopeless mew.
    The old woman felt a keener pang of pity.
    "Poor beast!" she said, with a bitter smile. "Ye can't eat 'em, can ye? No more could I! We're in the same box, puss! Old, an' toothless, an' nobody belongin' to us. We'll have to starve together, I guess. An' it's Christmas day! Did ye know that, puss? Christmas day! Lord! Lord!"
    The cat rubbed against her skirts, her eyes fixed upon her benefactor's. "Seems to understand every word I say!" old Marg muttered. "If only I had a drop o' milk for her now!"
    Hobbling to the stove, she examined the battered tin can, letting the moonlight shine into its rusty depths. A little water or tea remained in it, and with this she moistened some of the bread and placed it before the cat, which devoured it now eagerly. Then she took the animal in her arms and laid herself down on the mattress, drawing the ragged covers over them. The cat nestled against her side; the warmth of the two poor bodies mingled, and both slept.
    The moon-ray crept along and spread itself over the heap of rags, the knotted fingers resting on the cat's rough fur, the seamed old face; it passed away, and morning dawned, with a peal of bells and the sound of footsteps on the pavement below, and still the two slept on.
    Angela stood near the door, receiving her Christmas guests. They came straggling in, in twos and threes, some boldly and impudently, some shame-faced and shy, some eager, some indifferent, but all poverty-pinched. Each one was pleasantly welcomed, and passed on to the feast. Angela watched and waited, and at last the door opened slowly to admit old Marg, who stopped short on the threshold, with a look at once stubborn, appealing, suspicious, ashamed. Like a wild animal on the alert for the faintest sign of repulsion or danger, she stood there, but Angela only smiled, proffering her white, soft hand, destitute of jewels, but the hand of a lady.
    "A Merry Christmas!" she said brightly.
    "I was ugly to ye last night," said old Marg huskily, ignoring the beautiful hand she dared not touch.
    "Never mind!" Angela answered sweetly. "You were tired."
    "I am a bad old woman!" said old Marg, mistrustfully.
    "Never mind that, either!" said Angela. "Let me be your friend. If you will, you shall never be cold or hungry again."
    A profound wonder came into the old face--then it began to writhe, and from each eye oozed scant tears, seeking a channel amid the seams and wrinkles of the sunken cheeks.
    "You will let me be your friend," urged Angela.
    Still old Marg wept silently, the scant tears of age.
    "You shall have a pleasant home and----"
    A swift, suspicious glance darted from the wet eyes.
    "Not a 'sylum, miss, please!" said the old woman.
    "No," said Angela quietly. "Not an asylum, A home--a bright, clean, comfortable home----"
    "I can work, miss!" put in old Marg, doubling her knotted hands to show their strength. "I can wash, an' scrub----"
    "Yes," said Angela, "you may work all you are able, helping to keep things clean and