The Story of Little Sandy

One very cold day， in Edinburgh， I was standing at the door of a hotel.

A little boy with a thin blue face， his feet bare and red with the cold， and with nothing to cover him but a bundle of rags， came to me and said：“Please， sir， buy some matches.”

“No， I don’t want any.”I answered.

“But they are only a penny a box.”plead- ed the poor little fellow.

“Yes， but you see， I don’t want a box.”I said again.

“Then I will give you two boxes for a pen- ny.”the boy said.

At last， I decided to buy a box to get rid of him.

Then， finding I had no change， I said to him，“I will buy a box tomorrow.”

“Oh， please buy them tonight.”the boy pleaded again： “I will run and get you the change， for I am very hungry.”

So I gave him a shilling， and he started away. I waited for him， but no boy came.

I thought I had lost my shilling. Still， there was something in the boy’s face I trusted， and I did not like to think bad of him.

Late in the evening， I was told that a little boy wanted to see me. I found， when he was brought in， it was a smaller brother of the boy who took my shilling.

那是非常冷的一天，在愛丁堡，我站在一家旅館門前。（剩余2176字）