THE WILD-DUCK SHOOTER.
child, she opened the door a very little way, and demanded what he wanted.
'Good woman,' the youth began, 'I have had the misfortune to fall in the water this bitter night, and I am so numbed that I can scarcely walk.'
The woman gave him a sudden, earnest look, and then sighed.
'Come in,' she said; 'thou art so nigh the size of my Jem, I thought at first it was him come home from sea.'
The youth stepped across the threshold, trembling with cold and wet; and no wonder, for his clothes were completely encased in wet mud, and the water dripped from them with every step he took on the sanded floor.
'Thou art in a sorry plight,' said the woman, 'and it be two miles to the nighest housen; come and kneel down afore the fire; thy teeth chatter so pitifully, I can scarce bear to hear them.'
She looked at him more attentively, and saw that he was a mere boy, not more than sixteen years of age. Her motherly heart was touched for him. 'Art hungry?' she asked, turning to the table; 'thou art wet to the skin. What hast been doing?'
'Shooting wild ducks,' said the boy.
'O,' said his hostess, 'thou art one of the keepers' boys, then, I reckon?'
He followed the direction of her eyes, and saw two portions of bread set upon the table, with a small piece of bacon upon each.
'My master be very late,' she observed, for charity did not make her use elegant language, and by her
