Here followed the description of a few of the public-houses and their natural beauties, and my narrative proceeded—
“In this way the wicked woman reached Euston Square. She was greatly intoxicated, and not able to play the tunes on her organ correctly. Nobody gave her anything, which was not surprising, and the police moved her on all round the square.
“At last it was plain she would have to do something to get some money.
“After thinking over all the different things, she thought she would steal a baby and get money that way. So, seeing a baby lying on a seat close by, whose nurse had gone off to see a militia band marching towards Gower Street, she stole it and went off as fast as she could.
“There was a cradle hanging on to the organ, and when people saw the baby in it the wicked woman got as much money as she liked.
“My reader will have guessed by this time that the baby, which was of the feminine gender, is the heroine.
“She was really high-born.
“Her father was a retired coal merchant. He was a very little man and dropped his h’s.
“Her mother was what the vulgar would call a ‘whopper.’ Let not the reader think she whopped her baby or her husband. On the contrary, she was kind, but big.
“They lived at Highbury, and the nurse always took the baby out for walks before breakfast.”