We turned quickly round, as a matter of course, and saw two persons descending the steps.

We could not help stopping and observing them.
They were an elderly woman, of decent appearance, though evidently poor, and a boy of about fourteen or fifteen.

The woman was crying bitterly; she carried a small bundle in her hand, and the boy followed at a short distance behind her.

Their little history was obvious.

The boy was her son, to whose early comfort she had perhaps sacrificed her own--for whose sake she had borne misery without repining, and poverty without a murmur--looking steadily forward to the time, when he who had so long witnessed her struggles for himself, might be enabled to make some exertions for their joint support.