"No, no, God forbid!" answered the dame, brushing a plump hand across her eyes.
"I have," said the child, with a sob, "and it was this that made me think that begging, after all, was not so very, very mean. So, this morning, I asked them to let me go out; but grandpa said he might go himself, if he were strong enough; but I never should—never—never!"
"Nice old man—nice old man!" said the huckster-woman.
"I did not ask again," resumed the child, "for an idea had come into my head in the night. I have seen little girls, no older than I am, selling radishes and strawberries, and things."
"Yes—yes, I understand!" said the old woman, and her eyes began to twinkle the more brightly that they were wet before.
"But I had no strawberries to sell, nor a cent of money to buy them with!"
"Well! well!"
"Not even a basket!"
"Poor thing!"
"But I was determined to do something. So I went to a grocery, where grandpa used to buy things when he had money, and they trusted me with this basket."