'We'll get on somehoo, Lord knaws hoo. We never starved yet, an' you've got a good place. It'll all be right, an' Christmas day to-morrow!'
'I got a good place! Oh, father!'
'Why, Jane, I thought so. Doan' they use her well?'
'Yes, they do,' quickly answered the girl; 'I don't know why I spoke so. I'm a bit discontented, perhaps, but don't you fear for me, father; and we mustn't fret—anyway, till after to-morrow.'
'She's nawt content, is she?' said the stoker, settling his head into his hands. 'I've hed my frets, too, alone here, thinkin' summut like I should liked to knaw books, an' been defferent, but it's like I'd nawt been content. Lord knows. 'Deed I loves them doors an' the old place here, but seems as if summut was sayin' there's better things; it's like there is, but nawt for such as me. I doan' care for mysel', but I'd like to hev more to gev my little girl.'
'You give me all you've got, father, and I ought to be satisfied. But I'm not—it's not your blame, father, but I know I'm not,' she said, with sudden energy. 'I don't know what I want; it's something—it seems as if I was hungry.'
'Nawt hungry, Jane! She's nawt starvin'!'
'No, I don't want any more to eat, nor better clothes,' she said, getting out the words painfully. 'It's something else; I can't tell what it is, unless I'm hungry.'
'Well, I knaw I doan' understan' her,' said the man sadly. 'I doan' knaw my little girl. Is it him she's thinkin' of?'
The fire-glow on the girl's face hid any change that may have come there, and she only drew a little farther away, without answering.