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The daughter, Ziza, has long ago given up the profession, and has been struggling to maintain herself and her father by painting fire-screens, and making artificial flowers; but the work is severe and ill paid, and I see quite well that if the poor girl is not relieved in some way she will not be able to bear up."
"It's so like a scene in a play," continued Willie. "Only much more real," suggested the fairy. "Now, then, Ziza, have a cup o' tea, fresh from the market o' Chiny, as your dad would say, if he was sellin' it by auction. He's a knowin' codger your dad is, Ziza. There. I knowed I forgot somethin' else the cream!" "I don't mind it, indeed I don't," said Ziza earnestly.
Of course Willie here diverged into a graphic account of the fire in Beverly Square, and, seeing that Ziza listened with intense earnestness, he dilated upon every point, and went with special minuteness into the doings of Frank. When he concluded, Ziza heaved a very deep sigh and closed her eyes.
Willie felt a wonderfully strong sensation within his heart as he looked into the sufferer's large liquid eyes; and for a few seconds he could not speak. Suddenly he exclaimed, "Well, you ain't one bit like what I expected to see. You're more like a angel than a fairy." Ziza smiled again, and said she didn't feel like either the one or the other.
I was glad to have had an opportunity of seeing these audience-halls of the dead, but still I rejoiced when I hastened upwards to sojourn once more among the living. From here I drove to Olivuzza, to view the Moorish castle of Ziza, celebrated for the beauty of its situation and of the region around.
"Eh! another cup, Ziza?" exclaimed the self-accused nurse, as he put out his hand to seize the tea-pot. "Hallo! I thought it was the fairy," he added, looking up with a sleepy smile; "I do believe I've gone and fell asleep." "Why, lad, where got ye all those things?" inquired the senior Cattley, laying aside his cloak and cap, and speaking in a low tone, for Ziza was still sleeping soundly.
She sighed as she spoke, and shut her eyes. "Ziza," said Willie in a careless tone, "you won't object to my leavin' you for a few minutes; only a few; I want to get a little fresh air, an' see what sort of a night it is; I won't be long gone." Ziza, so far from objecting, said that she was used to being left alone for long, long hours at a time, and wouldn't mind it.
"Now, then, go at it, Ziza," he said, when all was arranged. Ziza, who received his attentions with looks that were wonderfully gleeful for one in her weak state of health, went at it with such vigour that the bread was eaten and the tea drunk in a few minutes, and the supply had to be renewed. "Why don't you go on?" asked Willie. "Because you have not eaten or drunk one mouthful yet."
"Perhaps," replied Willie, "but I doubt it, for he's a blunt old fellow in his feelings, however sharp he may be in his business; besides, Loo is so weak now that very few are allowed to see her except Ziza, and Miss Tippet, and Emma Ward."
"I've tired you, Ziza," exclaimed Willie, jumping up, with a look of anxiety, and removing the tea-board and jacket, as the child slipped down under the clothes. He asked if she wanted to go to sleep. "Yes, for I'm very tired," she sighed languidly; then added, "but please read to me a little first."
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