IN THE FIELD.
Poor little Daisy, very faint and tired, and with a feeling of almost
despair in her little heart, presently crept through a gap in one of
the hedges, and sat down on the grass in a large field. She was so
foot-sore she could not walk another step; she was also terribly weak
from long fasting, and as she now had no hope at all of bringing
Primrose back her money, she felt disinclined to walk another step.
"I suppose I'll soon die," she said to herself. "I wonder if God will
take me to heaven? I know I was very selfish about the dungeon. I
might have gone to the dungeon, and dear Primrose would have had her
money, and she and Jasmine would not have starved; but Mr. Dove did so
terrify me I really had not courage. Please, dear Jesus, I had not
courage. I'm only a very weak, frightened little girl, and I gave Mr.
Dove Primrose's money, and now I can't get it back from him, and I
think my heart is broken. I know, Jesus, you are angry with me, but
please don't go on being angry; please forgive me, for I am all alone
now without Primrose and Jasmine, and I think I'll soon die, for I
feel so very weak. I didn't tell a lie, either, Jesus; I never told
any one about Mr. Dove and the sticky sweetmeats--no, though I am a
coward about the dungeon, I would not go so far as to break my word. I
often longed to tell the Prince, for I felt he would deliver me from
the ogre, but I couldn't tell a lie even to be saved. Please, Jesus,
forgive me for being such a cowardly little girl."
By this time the drizzling mist of the early morning had passed away,
the sun had come out, and the robins and thrushes in the hedge close
to Daisy began to sing. They poured out full notes of thrilling
sweetness and their music comforted the child, and she began to smile
very faintly to herself, and to hope that as God had let the sun come
out, and the birds sing, so He had forgiven her.
The poor little Pink began to mew loudly in her basket, and Daisy let
her out of her prison, and when kitty rubbed her soft head against her
little mistress's sleeve the child felt some fresh thrills of comfort.
She felt terribly disinclined to move, however, and was really more
weak and exhausted than absolutely hungry. The day wore on, and the
little girl and her cat remained unnoticed in their corner of the
large field. There was a right of way through the field, and
foot-passengers came and went, but Daisy in her sombre little black
dress failed to attract any attention. She was quite in the shade
under her hedge-row, and it is to be doubted if any one saw her. At
last from utter weariness she sank down on the ground and fell asleep.
The Pink curled herself up by her little mistress's side and slept
also. It was then that the sun, slowly travelling across the heavens,
found them out in their shady corner, and kissed them, and made
pussy's soft little grey coat shine. The child and the cat were thus
made visible, and attracted the attention of a woman who was walking
across the field with a market-basket on her arm. She came up at once
to examine the little group; then she bent down close, then she gave
an exclamation half of horror, half of delight, and then she took the
sleeping child up in her arms, and covered her with passionate kisses.
[Illustration: SHE CAME UP TO EXAMINE THE LITTLE GROUP. Palace B]
"Oh! my own little Miss Daisy--my own little darling precious lamb!
And is it thus you have come back to your poor old Hannah again!"
Nothing could have comforted Daisy more under present circumstances
than to find herself in her old nurse's arms. She quite gasped with
the joy and relief, and putting up her little hand to Hannah's face,
she stroked it fondly.
"Now, my darling, where have you come from? and what are you doing?
and--why, if that isn't the little Pink, I declare! Now, my pet, tell
me, have you all three come back to Rosebury again?"
"No, Hannah, I'm the only one who has come back. Oh Hannah, will you
please take me to our little cottage for a few hours--I should so like
to die there--I was born there, wasn't I, Hannah?"
"Yes, love, but you're not going to die there, nor nowhere else. 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. All the time, while she was being
carried in those kind arms, Daisy kept repeating to herself, "I'll
have some bread and milk, for I am a little hungry, and I'll rest for
perhaps an hour, and then I'll go away on foot with my dear Pink to
find Mrs. Ellsworthy."
But when the child and the woman reached the house in the village
Daisy was too faint and weary to take more than a spoonful or two of
bread and milk, and long before the night arrived she had forgotten
that she meant to undertake any journey, and lay with burning cheeks
and bright, feverish eyes on Hannah's bed in her little home.