Page 76 - An Australian Lassie

"But--some hours T may make more, so it's about equal."

"T wish we could have some breakfast," said John, reverting to his trouble. "T'm jolly hungry, T can tell you."

"So am T," said Betty. "Twelve shillings a day--six days in a week. Oh, can T sing on Sundays, John?"

"Hymns," quoth the boy.

"Um! T could sing 'Scatter seeds of kindness' and 'Yield not to temptation.' Um! T never thought of hymns. T
think T'll sing hymns to-day as well, 'cause T'm not very sure of my song yet, and every now and then T have to
stop to look at the words. Can T sing hymns on other days than Sundays, John?"

"Better not," said the cautious John; "better keep the proper things for the proper days. Well, Betty Bruce, if
you're going to stay here all day, T'm not. T'm getting awfully hungry."

At last Betty's motherliness awoke.

"My poor John!" she said, "of course you're hungry. We'll go to a shop and get a really good breakfast. T
wasn't thinking. When a person begins to make a lot of money, they generally forget other things, don't they?"

"Um!" said John, who had made nothing at all. "We'll go and get a good breakfast and then we'll be fit for
anything, won't we. Come on."

They turned round the corner into King Street, and there to their delight found the shops one by one opening
their eyes--drapers, chemist, fruiterers, and then at last a shop with cakes in the window.

The children stood at the door and peeped in. They saw myriads of white tables and a couple of sleepy
looking girls. One girl held a broom and was leaning on its handle and surveying the stretch of floor to be
swept. Her eyes at last went to the door, and Betty, seeing they had been observed walked slowly in, leaving
John outside.

"No," said the girl, shaking her head.

"We want some breakfast," said Betty, and added "please," as her eyes fell on a trayful of pastry on the
counter.

Again the girl shook her head.

"Can't give you any here," she said; "now run away."

Then Betty's face flushed; for though one may sing to earn an honest livelihood and competency, it is quite
another thing to be taken for a beggar.

"We'll pay for it," she said, and then forgot her pride and urged, "Go on, we're so hungry! We've been walking
about since five o'clock."

Something in the child's face touched the girl's heart. She herself had been up at half-past five and knew a
great deal about poverty and privation.

"Well, come on then," she said. "Go and sit down at one of them tables and T'll fetch you something."

Betty ran to the door and called "John," in an ecstatic tone, "come on."