good livin' all the same by my apple-stand. I tell you, my dear," she continued in a confidential tone, "there is a good dale of profit in sellin' apples. It's better than sewin' or writin'. Of course, a young leddy like you wouldn't like to go into the business." Florence shook her head, with a smile. "No, Mrs. O'Keefe," she said. "I am afraid I haven't a business turn, and I should hardly like so public an employment." "Lor', miss, it's nothin' if you get used to it. There's nothin' dull about my business, unless it rains, and you get used to havin' people look at you." "It isn't all that are worth looking at like you, Mrs. O'Keefe," said Dodger, slyly. "Oh, go away wid your fun, Dodger," said the apple-woman, good-naturedly. "I ain't much to look at, I know." "I think there's a good deal of you to look at, Mrs. O'Keefe. You must weigh near three hundred." "I've a good mind to box your ears, Dodger. I only weigh a hundred and ninety-five. But I can't be bothered wid your jokes. Can you sew, Miss Florence?" "Yes; but I would rather earn my living some other way, if possible." "Small blame to you for that. I had a girl in Dodger's room last year who used to sew for a livin'. Early and late she worked, poor thing, and she couldn't make but two dollars a week." "How could she live?" asked Florence, startled, for she knew very little of the starvation wages paid to toiling women. "She didn't live. She just faded away, and it's my belief the poor thing didn't get enough to eat. Every day or two I'd make an excuse to take her in something from my own table, a plate of meat, or a bit of toast and a cup of tay, makin' belave she didn't get a chance to cook for herself, but she got thinner and thinner, and her poor cheeks got hollow, and she died in the hospital at last." The warm-hearted apple-woman wiped away a tear with the corner of her apron, as she thought of the poor girl whose sad fate she described. "You won't die of consumption, Mrs. O'Keefe," said Dodger. "It'll take a good while for you to fade away." "Hear him now," said the apple-woman, laughing. "He will have his joke, Miss Florence, but he's a good bye for all that, and I'm glad