Disclaimer: Little Dorrit, all characters, places, and related terms belong to Charles Dickens and BBC.

Cinderella's Shoe

The drowsiness descending on Amy instantly fled when Maggy started to shift restlessly in her arms. Gently she rubbed her hand over her friend's back. "What is it?" she asked quietly. "Are you cold?"

The girl nodded. "Aye. And the steps are uncomfortable," Maggy murmured a little crossly, shivering.

Amy helped her tuck her shawl more tightly around her shoulders and pressed her palm against the girl's cold feet. "The air is not as chilly now. Morning will be here soon," she encouraged, her voice soothing. She embraced her friend. "Would you like a story to help you go back to sleep?"

Maggy's face brightened. "Oh, a story, Little Mother! Lets have a good one!"

Amy thought for a moment, gaze resting on the dark, still gate of the Marshalsea across the street before lifting to the cloudy night sky. Then she nodded her head once, and a smile played at the corners of her mouth.

"Once upon a time," she began, "there was a little lady who lived in the country."

"She was a rich lady, aye?"

"No, Maggy."

"No...," the girl repeated, her tone puzzled.

"She made her living by sewing," was the explanation. "And every evening she would go to the river bank and follow the river, dancing to the music of its gentle lapping waves."

"Ah! Well? Go on."

"One day the little lady was invited to a party. It was a very pleasant party, held in a room nice and warm--"

"With a fire?" interrupted Maggy.

Amy nodded, smiling at her friend. "Yes, a very large fire. There was merry music, cake, wine, and dancing."

The girl sighed dreamily, "She must have danced very beautifully."

"Oh, indeed she would have! But she did not dance, for you see she had lost one of her shoes by the river. And it would have been wrong to dance with only one shoe." And Amy sighed deeply.

"Poor little lady!"

"For a time she sat by herself, watching the dancing. Then a person arrived at the party. This person had come down with the river, searching for something. And it was to the little lady the person returned her lost shoe that he had found."

"Then someone was a gentleman," yawned Maggy.

"Aye," Amy admitted after a pause, a faint glow in her cheeks. Shaking her head slightly, she continued.

"How joyful she was to have her shoe! Now she could dance. And very gaily and light-heartedly did she, twirling around and around the room with the person who had made it all possible.

"And every evening after, the little lady was never alone when she went to the river bank, but was accompanied by the person who had discovered her shoe."

A soft snore from Maggy drew Amy's attention, and she smiled fondly and kissed her friend's brow. "And they lived happily ever after," she finished quietly. A wistful look in her face, she softly hummed the Chinese tune she and Maggy had heard at Mr. Clennam's, hoping he passed a peaceful night.

THE END