“Have you any parents?”
“Dunno, mister. Mother hired me out er to Missus Bowen a year ago. I live at Woolloomooloo Bay. Buy a ‘Noose,’ sir?”
“And if you don’t sell all your papers, what then?”
“Guess I’d get a lickin’, or p’r’aps have ter sleep in er yard.”
“Was that your brother hit you?”
“Dunno, sir. He’s got ter look after me. That’s all I know. Buy a ‘Star,’ sir? Mother Bowen has three gurls as sells papers. ‘Star,’ sir? ’ere you hare. Jack, he’s got ter look arter two gurls, and Johnnie, that’s he, he looks arter another down the Royal Arcade.”
“How old are you?”
“’Bout ten, sir.”
“Do you go to school? Can you read?”
“No, sir. I hain’t swell enough. I used ter, when huncle sended me, but the missus at the school, she said, ‘Yer a dirty little gal, yer are,’ that what she said. ‘Yer a dirty little gal, and yer must get a tidy gownd afore yer come agin.’ I hain’t been since, sir. Buy a ‘Noose’?”