‘the mother, when the pains of death first came upon her, whispered in my ear that if her baby was born alive, and thrived, the day might come when it would not feel so much disgraced to hear its poor young mother named. “And oh, kind Heaven!” she said, folding her thin hands together, “whether it be boy or girl, raise up some friends for it in this troubled world, and take pity upon a lonely desolate child, abandoned to its mercy!”‘

‘The boy’s name?’ demanded the matron.

‘They called him Oliver,’ replied the woman, feebly. ‘The gold I stole was — ‘

‘Yes, yes — what?’ cried the other.

She was bending eagerly over the