I
can't take you back to the cottage, dearie, for it's let, and I'm not
living there. I've a little bit of a place of my own in the village of
Teckford and I keep a small shop, and don't do so bad. You must come
home now with me, darling. Oh, yes, you must--not a word must you say
against it; then, when you've rested, and have had some nice bread and
milk, you shall tell old Hannah your story; and if so be as you're in
any trouble, why, your old nurse Hannah will set her wits to work to
find a way out of it. Now, my darling, I'm going to carry you to my
cottage."
Daisy was certainly very weak. She tried to expostulate with
Hannah--she tried to say that her one and only duty was to try and get
tidings of Mrs. Ellsworthy's whereabouts, and then to follow her on
foot if necessary; but if the little spirit was willing, the flesh was
weak. The comfort of seeing her nurse again was too much for
Daisy--the knowledge that those were the very arms which had carried
her as a baby, and soothed her and tended her as a little child, was
quite too cheering to be resisted. Daisy made a valiant effort to say
"No," but instead, her lips formed a faint "Yes, Hannah, take me to
your home," and then Hannah, who was a strongly-built woman, lifted
the slight little girl in her arms, and carried her across the fields
to her tiny cottage at Teckford.
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