"Nearly twenty years older than you," he reminded her.
"Yes."
He went on: "I've lived abroad most of my life, and that ages a man, you know. I've slept under the sky for months at a time and never spoken to a living soul for weeks. I've starved and begged." He laughed. "Once I even robbed a man. But I paid him back when I got the money. Are you shocked?" he asked.
"Oh, no!" She thought him the most wonderful person she had ever met.
"Tell me something about yourself," said the Beggar Man abruptly.
She told him the little she knew—how that her father had been "a gentleman"; how his people had cast him off for marrying her mother; how that he had died three years ago, leaving them without a penny.
"And I work at Heeler's," she added.
"Yes, you told me that yesterday. And they treat you—well?"
"Peg says it might be worse. Peg is my best friend and I love her," said Faith fervently.