"Yes!"
"I am going to turn over a new leaf."
"I wish you would, with all my heart. Oh, I have brought you something nice for supper!"
"What?"
"A little, precious, precious pot of bovril. You must make it go as far as you can. I doubt if I can get you another."
"I was hungry at dinner-time—we had a very poor dinner—but I am not hungry now," said Kitty; "only I am thirsty," she added.
"Well, you shall have a drink, but you must eat too. A cup of bovril and some bread will make quite a nice supper for you. Don't throw away good food now."
"Is food really scarce in Ladysmith?" said the girl.
"Not yet; but we don't know how long the siege will last. I think Sir George White is anxious; he wants relief to come quickly. It is being strangely delayed. Oh, we are all right, of course, but our enemies are the sort who will sit down and wait for any length of time. They are not a foe to be despised. We are hemmed in, and the provisions cannot last for ever. Milk is the most pressing want just now. I was passing a house, when a mother came out and asked me if I could get her even a very little milk. She said her baby was dying for want of it. I went in and looked at the poor little thing. It had lived for a week on sugar and water. And the orders now are that all the milk is to be kept for the sick, I could not get her any. While I was with her the child had a slight convulsion, and died. That is the sixth baby that has died in Ladysmith to-day."
"How gloomy!" said Kitty.