That was a hard summer for Nora. They had to go every day out of town: and wearisome work it was, climbing fences, and walking over the rough ways; and very few pennies did they get.
When winter came, they fared still worse. Nora begged a few clothes for herself and Paul; but all they could get were not enough to prevent them from suffering with cold. On nights when they had not even a penny apiece to pay for a place on the floor in some filthy garret or cellar, they piled up what old straw the cartmen would give them, and crept under that, in the best place they could find.
One very cold evening, when they had no shelter, Paul said, “Now to-night we shall surely freeze to death.”
“Oh, no!” said Nora: “I know where there are such heaps of straw! A man came and emptied a whole bedful on a vacant lot just back of a church.”
And when it grew dark they brought bundles of this straw, and made a bed of it in an archway under the church.
“Now, if we only had something for a blanket!” said Paul: “can’t you beg something for a blanket?”
“Oh, no!” said Nora; “it is so cold! Let me stay here.”
“Go, I tell you,” said Paul.
“Oh! I don’t want to beg in the evening,” said Nora.
“You shall go,” said Paul; and he gave her a push.