He had crossed from Regent Street through Hanover Square, and as he came out by the iron gates into Oxford Street, a poor wretched girl, lightly clad in thin raiment, into whose bones the sharp freezing air was penetrating, asked him for money. Would he give her something to get drink, so that for a moment she might feel the warmth of her life renewed? Such midnight petitions were common enough in his ears, and he was passing on without thinking of her. But she was urgent, and took hold of him. "For love of God," she said, "if it's only a penny to get a glass of gin! Feel my hand,--how cold it is." And she strove to put it up against his face.

He had crossed from Regent Street through Hanover Square, and as he came out into Oxford Street, a poor wretched girl in thin clothing asked him for money. Would he give her something to get drink, so that for a moment she might feel warm?
Such midnight petitions were common, and he was passing on when she took hold of him.
"For love of God," she said, "it's only a penny to get a glass of gin! Feel my hand, how cold it is." And she put it up against his face.
