book2

84 HENRY'S BIRTHDAY.
The old man was almost angry, and walked
quickly away.
He was, no doubt, a little lame,
but not half as lame as he pretended to be. He
could have done half a day's work in a day, of
certain easy kinds; but he preferred to get his
living by begging from door to door.
" " What a strange way of living ! said Henry,
as he followed his father back into the diningroom.
" But, father," he added,
" how can the
poor old man get along at night without
money ?"
" Sometimes he meets with people who will
give him food, as you know we were willing to
do ; others, with equal cheerfulness, give him a i
bed when it is night ; and " —
Here he was interrupted, for once, by Henry :
" But might it not so happen, father, that no one