"Part with her," answered Pigott, in hot indignation, "part with my
little beauty? I would rather part with my head. The love, there never
was another like her, nor never will be, with her sweet ways; and, if
I know anything about girls, she'll be the beauty of England, she
will. She's made for a beautiful woman; and look at them eyes and
forehead and hair--where did you ever see the like? And, as for her
queer ways, what can you expect from a child as has got a great empty
mind and nothing to put in it, and no one to talk to but a common
woman like me, and a father"--here she dropped her voice--"as is a
miser, and hates the sight of his own flesh and blood?"

"Hush! you should not say such things, Pigott! Now I will tell you
something; I am going on to ask your master to allow me to educate
Angela."

"I'm right glad to hear it, sir. She's sharp enough to learn anything,
and it's kind of you to teach her. If you can make her mind like what
her body will be if she lives, somebody will be a lucky man one of
these days. Good-night, sir, and many thanks for bringing missy home."

Next day Angela began her education.



CHAPTER XVI

Reader, we are about to see Angela again, and to see a good deal of
her; but you must be prepared for a change in her personal appearance,
for the curtain has been down for ten years since last you met the
child whose odd propensities excited Pigott's wonder and indignation